Global church Archives

Summit drives home that clerical sexual abuse is a global problem

February abuse summit
Feb 25, 2019

Though Pope Francis’s high stakes anti-abuse summit has not yet yielded any major policy moves, one message was clear throughout the four-day gathering: the problem of child sexual abuse is a global one, and no one can leave thinking it’s not a concern in their own backyard.

February abuse summit will have to navigate waters of a global church

News Analysis
Nov 25, 2018

A major challenge the planning committee for Pope Francis’s Feb. 21-24 summit on sex abuse will face is taking account of differing instincts inside a global Church.

Understanding why the Synod of Bishops blinked on ‘zero tolerance’

News Analysis, Synod of Bishops on Youth
Oct 30, 2018

For Americans and Catholics from other places scarred by clerical sexual abuse scandals, it’s almost incomprehensible that a global summit of bishops could pull back from endorsing a policy of “zero tolerance.”

Peru scandal showcases need for oversight of lay movements

Church in the Americas, Global Church, Vatican
Aug 6, 2018

Among other take-aways, the case of Luis Fernando Figari and his Sodalitium Christianae Vitae illustrate the need for lay movements to get the same oversight as dioceses and religious orders.

Chilean cardinal may be next test for Pope on sex abuse reform

Global Church
Aug 1, 2018

In part one of a three-part series, Elise Harris examines the rise to power of Chilean Cardinal Francisco Errazuriz and why he may be the next test Pope Francis faces in terms of accountability for clerical sexual abuse.

German abuse report ‘shocking’ and not the end, Church expert says

Interviews
Jul 28, 2017

Jesuit Father Hans Zollner, a leading anti-abuse expert and a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, called a report documenting hundreds of cases of physical and sexual abuse at a German boys’ choir “shocking,” and warned that as the taboo lifts in other parts of the world, similar accounts are likely to keep emerging.