Abuse crisis in the Catholic Church shows no signs of abating
Clerical abuse has been in the news again lately. For more than two decades, horrific stories of abuse and coverup have been a mainstay of the news in the English-speaking world and beyond. The most recent round of stories raises the the question of whether the church will ever really address the root of the problem.
Earlier this month, a Western Australia parliamentary committee gave its final report after examining the support available to survivors of institutional child abuse, saying the Catholic Church and other religious entities had put their own institutional and financial wellbeing over the needs of victims.
In New Zealand last month, the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care lambasted the Catholic Church in its report to the abuse of children and vulnerable adults in care facilities.
Former Jesuit Father Marko Rupnik, who is accused of abusing some 30 adult women, is still a priest in good standing. Rupnik’s artwork continues to be used on the Vatican’s website—a matter of policy defended by the Prefect of the Dicastery for Communication of the Holy See, Italian layman Paolo Ruffini, in June.
Rupnik is not an isolated case. Last year, Pope Francis called Bishop Rosario Gisana of Piazza Armerina in Sicily “good.” The bishop had been accused of protecting Father Giuseppe Rugolo, who at the time was accused of aggravated sexual violence against minors. Rugolo was convicted earlier this year.
Read more on
https://cruxnow.com/news-analysis/2024/0...of-abating
Clerical abuse has been in the news again lately. For more than two decades, horrific stories of abuse and coverup have been a mainstay of the news in the English-speaking world and beyond. The most recent round of stories raises the the question of whether the church will ever really address the root of the problem.
Earlier this month, a Western Australia parliamentary committee gave its final report after examining the support available to survivors of institutional child abuse, saying the Catholic Church and other religious entities had put their own institutional and financial wellbeing over the needs of victims.
In New Zealand last month, the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care lambasted the Catholic Church in its report to the abuse of children and vulnerable adults in care facilities.
Former Jesuit Father Marko Rupnik, who is accused of abusing some 30 adult women, is still a priest in good standing. Rupnik’s artwork continues to be used on the Vatican’s website—a matter of policy defended by the Prefect of the Dicastery for Communication of the Holy See, Italian layman Paolo Ruffini, in June.
Rupnik is not an isolated case. Last year, Pope Francis called Bishop Rosario Gisana of Piazza Armerina in Sicily “good.” The bishop had been accused of protecting Father Giuseppe Rugolo, who at the time was accused of aggravated sexual violence against minors. Rugolo was convicted earlier this year.
Read more on
https://cruxnow.com/news-analysis/2024/0...of-abating
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
