ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED KINGDOM
The Argus

A bishop will appear in court on further sex abuse charges after two new victims came forward accusing him of offences dating back 30 years.

Peter Ball will appear at Brighton Magistrates’ Court on Thursday charged with two new offences alleged to have been carried out during his tenure as the Bishop of Lewes.

The 82 year-old, who now lives Aller in Somerset, will appear in court charged with an indecent assault on a man over 16 between 1990 and 1991 in Berwick and on a boy under 16 between 1984 and 1985 in Litlington near Seaford.

He is also set to appear at Lewes Crown Court on August 1 over charges of misconduct in public office between October 1977 and December 1992 by misusing his position and authority to “manipulate and prevail upon others for his own sexual gratification”.

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IRELAND
Daily Mail (UK)

By PRESS ASSOCIATION

Survivors of Magdalene Laundries are getting an average compensation pay-out of almost 36,000 euro (£29,000), Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has revealed.

Before a United National human rights watchdog, Ms Fitzgerald said 12.4 million euro (£9.9m) has been paid so far to 346 women who were incarcerated in the institutions.

Although some have sought a review of the amount of compensation offered to them under the publicly-funded scheme, the minister suggested it was working well.

“Women are coming to the redress scheme, are using it and payments are being made,” she said.

“There are some issues for some of the women, obviously, in terms of records and documentary evidence which can be very difficult.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, July 14, 2014

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 503 0003, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )

A new and startling one hour documentary by Minnesota Public Radio – titled “How three archbishops hid the truth about abuse” – is available now online.

[Minnesota Public Radio]

It includes:

– painful interviews with Louisiana clergy sex abuse victims and their family members who contradict the carefully-crafted but patently false image of Archbishop Harry Flynn as a “reformer” on abuse,

– part of a never-released tape in which an angry Twin Cities priest calls Archbishop John Nienstedt “a liar, a thief and a coward” while being booed by other priests (at the 54 minute mark),

–a victim who discloses that he is incapable of having children because his perpetrator, Fr. Patrick Ryan, crushed his testicles (at the 43 minute mark),

–a man who died of AIDS after having been sexually violated as a child by a priest (He did not get the disease from the cleric.)

Several chilling lines stand out:

–“In sworn testimony in May 2014 Flynn falsely claimed that (convicted predator Fr. Gil) Gustafson was no longer a priest.”

–“At the time (whistleblower) Jennifer Haselberger resigned (in April 2013), some accused priests were still in ministry. Despite all their public promises, church officials showed no interest in removing them.”

–“More than a decade ago, Catholic officials vowed to change. Haselberger revealed that the cover up never ended.”

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VATICANO
Correio do Estado

Em entrevista ao jornal italiano “La Repubblica”, o papa Francisco teria afirmado que 2% dos membros dos clérigos da Igreja Católica podem estar envolvidos em abusos sexuais. Mas um comunicado divulgado neste domingo (13) pelo Vaticano desmente partes da entrevista, incluindo o trecho em que o pontífice afirma que muitos cardeais estariam dentro desse percentual. Na reportagem do “La Repubblica”, o pontífice teria classificado o fato como uma “lepra” dentro da Igreja. O artigo é a transcrição de uma conversa de cerca de uma hora entre o papa e o fundador da publicação, Eugenio Scalfari, ateu que já escreveu algumas vezes sobre encontros com o pontífice. Scalfari, 90, é um dos jornalistas mais conhecidos da Itália.

“Muitos dos que lutam comigo (contra os abusos sexuais) me asseguram com estatísticas confiáveis de que o nível de pedofilia na Igreja é de cerca de 2%”, teria dito o papa.
Também é atribuída ao pontífice a declaração de que, enquanto muitos dos casos de pedofilia ocorrem dentro de dinâmicas familiares, “até nós temos essa lepra dentro de casa”.

Segundo dados de 2012 da Igreja, há cerca de 414 mil padres católicos em todo o mundo.
O padre Federico Lombardi, um dos porta-vozes do Vaticano e autor do comunicado, afirma que nem todas as frases podem ser atribuídas “com certeza” ao pontífice. Segundo ele, isso vale particularmente para a fala de que cardeais estariam entre os estupradores, uma tentativa de “manipular leitores ingênuos”.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Jason Om

A key Catholic Church body says 4 per cent of priests in Australia have been paedophiles, double the number estimated by the Pope.

Pope Francis has reportedly described paedophile priests as a leprosy infecting the Church, saying the problem will be met with severity.

“It’s a no-nonsense, a zero-tolerance attitude,” Francis Sullivan from Australia’s Truth, Justice and Healing Council, said of the Pontiff’s approach.

“He is probably ruffling feathers within the Vatican and good on him.”

In an interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Pope Francis said 2 per cent of clergy, including bishops and cardinals, were paedophiles.

That would equate to 8,000 of the 400,000 Catholic clergy worldwide.

In Australia, the Truth, Justice and Healing Council is compiling statistics on abusers for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

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COLORADO
TheDenverChannel

Anica Padilla
9:12 AM, Jul 14, 2014

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. – A Westminster pastor accused of sexually assaulting a teenager faces a judge Monday.

Gerald Leroy Clark, 52, is charged with two counts of sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust and involving a pattern of abuse. Clark has an arraignment hearing scheduled for 1 p.m. in Jefferson County.

The arrest affidavit reveals that the victim was an aspiring member of the church’s ministry team who was helping out the pastor and his wife at their home.

“In one of the charges he’s alleged to have committed this offense against a child who was under 15 and the second offense covers the time when the teenager was older than 15 but under 18,” explained Pam Russell, spokeswoman for the District Attorney’s Office.

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UNITED STATES
Seth H. Langston

Is the Pope Parsing Words?

Pope Francis told an interviewer that two percent of Catholic Priests were “pedophiles”. For decades Dioceses around the country have routinely claimed in priest sex abuse cases that they had absolutely no idea that the abusing priest was a “pedophile”. Of course, they never informed the public that pedophilia is defined as the fantasy or act of sexual activity with prepubescent children..

If a priest was attracted to, or abused older children, he would be accurately described as suffering from ephebophilia. This term applies to adults whose primary sexual interest is in children between fifteen and nineteen years old. This often meant that the Church’s pronouncements on the lack of knowledge of the priest being a pedophile was often technically correct.

Studies by the Catholic Church and data collected by Bishop Accountability show that the percentage of child molesting priests was significantly higher than two percent.

Is the pope relying on flawed data or merely continuing the Catholic Church’s long history of parsing words? Will Pope Francis state that the number of priests who are child abusers, pedophiles or suffer from ephebophilia, was also two percent. I will not hold my breath.

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NEW MEXICO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, July 14, 2014

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 503 0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )

For almost two weeks, a toll free phone line giving information to victims of clergy sex abuse in the Gallup Catholic Diocese has malfunctioned.

This is problematic for several reasons, including the fact that there’s a rigid deadline by which victims must come forward to get help, because Gallup Catholic officials are exploiting U.S. bankruptcy laws to keep clergy sex crimes and cover ups covered up.

Never mind what lawyers do or don’t do. The person responsible for the crimes of child molesting clerics is the bishop. The person whose duty it is to reach out to those hurt by predator priests is the bishop.

Bishop James Wall of Gallup must step up efforts to find and help victims now. He should personally visit every parish where pedophile priests worked, begging victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to speak up. He should post the names of every proven, admitted and credibly accuse child molesting cleric in every parish bulletin. He should apologize profusely for his error and more aggressively than ever seek out those who are in pain because Catholic priests assaulted kids and Catholic officials hid those crimes.

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UNITED STATES/ISRAEL
Frum Follies

Israeli Beit Din Announces Removal of Meisels from His Seminaries and Gives Green Light for Attendance

On Friday I posted a 7/10/14 Chicago Beit Din ruling about an investigation into sexual misconduct by Elimelech Meisels which advised against sending girls to Meisels’ four Israeli post-high-school seminaries. Last night (7/13/14) an Israeli Beit Din issued a ruling reporting “the removal of the party responsible” [i.e., Elimelech Meisels] and a legally binding agreement empowering the Israeli Beit Din to make, supervise, and control changes in the ownership and management of the seminaries. Based on these interim measures, the Israeli Beit Din advises parents and principals of US and Canadian girls’ high schools to feel comfortable sending students to these seminaries.

Below is an image of the Israeli ruling and my rough translation.

A few observations are in order about this Israeli Beit Din ruling:

1. I am aware of the reputations of Rabbis Shafran and Malinowitz as men of great intelligence and integrity. This is not to say that they are right, but I do believe they are being honest to the best of their understanding.

2. This ruling was a rush job in response to the pressures created by the Chicago ruling. I know they had been in session for a while trying to reach some agreement with Meisels to remove himself. Rabbi Malinowitz, one of its members was in the US sitting shiva for his brother, Rav Zalman Malinowitz when this ruling was issued and they must have secured his signature by fax. Yet under this pressure they got some interim agreement with Meisels and produced a ruling.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Alan Travis, home affairs editor
theguardian.com, Monday 14 July 2014

In just a week, Lady Butler-Sloss, Theresa May’s choice to chair the inquiry into historical child sex abuse, has been swept aside by a media tide of allegations of personal conflicts of interest.

When the home secretary first announced her appointment in the Commons only last Monday it had seemed there were few people more qualified than the retired appeal court judge, who had been the highest-ranking female judge in Britain and the president of the family division, and had chaired the Cleveland inquiry into child abuse.

May had made clear that as far as she was concerned the inquiry was not being set up to replicate a police investigation into claims of a child sex ring at Westminster. Instead she said its job was to consider whether public bodies such as the NHS, the BBC and non-state institutions such as the churches “had taken seriously their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse”.

It was widely expected that Butler-Sloss, 80, would convene a panel of legal and child protection experts, and come up with recommendations on child policy to ensure that a Jimmy Savile or a Stuart Hall could not get away with what they did for so long ever again.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

In a statement published by Italian blog “Il Sismografo”, Fr. Federico Lombardi clarifies that certain expressions “La Repubblica”’s founder Eugenio Scalfari attributes to Francis regarding paedophile cardinals and priestly celibacy, apparently never left the Pope’s mouth

FEDERICO LOMBARDI
VATICAN CITY

“In the Sunday edition of La Repubblica an article by Eugenio Scalfari was prominently featured relating a recent conversation that took place with Pope Francis. The conversation was very cordial and most interesting and touched principally upon the themes of the plague of sexual abuse of minors and the Church’s attitude toward the mafia.”

“However, as it happened in a previous, similar circumstance, it is important to notice that the words Mr. Scalfari attributes to the Pope, “in quotations” come from the expert journalist Scalfari’s own memory of what the Pope said and is not an exact transcription of a recording nor a review of such a transcript by the Pope himself to whom the words are attributed. We should not or must not therefore speak in any way, shape or form of an interview in the normal use of the word, as if there had been a series of questions and answers that faithfully and exactly reflect the precise thoughts of the one being interviewed.”

“It is safe to say, however that the overall theme of the article captures the spirit of the conversation between the Holy Father and Mr. Scalfari while at the same time strongly restating what was said about the previous “interview” that appeared in La Repubblica: the individual expressions that were used and the manner in which they have been reported, cannot be attributed to the Pope.”

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio – Betrayed by Silence

[with audio]

Story by Madeleine Baran · Produced by Sasha Aslanian · July 14, 2014

For decades, the archbishops who led the Catholic archdiocese in the Twin Cities maintained that they were doing everything they could to protect children from priests who wanted to rape them.

Reporters picked up those assurances and repeated them without question. Police and prosecutors took the assurances at face value. Parents believed the assurances and trusted priests with their children.

But the assurances were a lie, and the archbishops knew it. Three of them — John Roach, Harry Flynn (pictured above) and John Nienstedt — participated in a cover-up that pitted the finances and power of the church against the victims who dared to come forward and tell their stories.

The radio documentary above draws on dozens of interviews, thousands of never-before-published documents and insider accounts to explain how and why powerful men protected priests who abused children.

The deception began in southern Louisiana, where Flynn arrived in 1986 as bishop of the Diocese of Lafayette. He was there to fix the first national clergy sexual abuse scandal in the U.S. Catholic Church. Flynn pledged to protect children and restore the faith of parishioners. In fact, he rarely met with victims, and used attorneys to fight victims in court and protect the financial assets of the church.

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IRELAND
Journal

THE DEATH RATE of babies at the Tuam mother and baby home was almost double the rate of other homes around the country.

Figures from National Archives seen by TheJournal.ie show that 31.6% of babies under the age of one in Tuam died over the course of one year.

This compares to an overall death rate in other homes around the country of just over 17% among babies of the same age.

The return from Galway Local Authority shows that in the Tuam mother and baby home 49 babies were born in the institution in 1947. A further 30 children under the age of one were admitted to the institution, making there a total of 79 children under the age of one in the care of the maternity home.

In that year, 25 babies under the age of one died in the home.

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NEW MEXICO/MONTANA/CALIFORNIA
Gallup Independent

(NOTE: The phone lines for the Diocese of Helena and Diocese of Stockton were also affected.)

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, NM, July 12, 2014:

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Independent correspondent
religion@gallupindependent.com

GALLUP – A toll free phone line, set up to provide information to people with clergy sex abuse claims against the Diocese of Gallup, was discovered to be malfunctioning for nearly two weeks because of a phone system snafu.

The phone line failure, which apparently occurred between June 25 and July 7, also affected two other similar toll free numbers that were set up to serve individuals with sex abuse claims against the Diocese of Helena in Montana and the Diocese of Stockton in California.

All three telephone lines were being monitored by the California law firm of Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones. Attorney James I. Stang, a founding partner in the firm, serves as legal counsel for the Unsecured Creditors Committees in all three church bankruptcies. The committees advocate for the interests of clergy sex abuse survivors who file claims against the Roman Catholic dioceses in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

The Gallup Diocese filed its Chapter 11 petition on Nov. 12, 2013. It was followed this year by the Stockton Diocese on Jan. 15, and the Helena Diocese on Jan. 31.

The toll free phone lines, which are being advertized to the public, were set up in the three cases to provide information to sex abuse survivors wanting to file abuse claims before the “bar date” deadline next month. The Gallup and Helena abuse claim deadline is Aug. 11, and the Stockton deadline is Aug. 15.

Inoperable phone line

The Diocese of Gallup’s phone line was discovered to be not working on Monday by a reporter seeking to provide information to an abuse survivor. The line’s answering machine prompt transferred callers to dead air and silence.

Stang and other officials in the Diocese of Gallup’s bankruptcy case were notified of the inoperable phone line Monday.

In an email Thursday, Stang said the problem was caused when his office changed phone systems at midnight on June 25. Once notified that the toll free lines were not working, he said, the telephone programming was corrected July 7 at 3 p.m., Pacific Time.

According to Stang, during those 13 days, only one other phone number besides the reporter’s was listed on the Diocese of Gallup’s caller identification equipment. Stang said his staff was attempting to track the second number, which he said may have been made by a “robo-marketing” number in a foreign country.

“My office took immediate steps to correct the error and to determine its cause,” Stang said. “The Committee is glad that no abuse survivor or member of the public was injured by the error.”

Stang was not asked about the number of calls made to the Diocese of Helena or the Diocese of Stockton’s phone lines.

From now on, Stang said, his office will call Gallup’s toll free number each day to make sure the line is working properly.

Impersonal processes

In light of the phone failure, Stang and diocesan attorney Susan G. Boswell, were asked about the appropriateness of using a telephone answering machine to record the names and contact information of clergy abuse survivors rather than having a trained person answer the toll free phone line.

“Your question goes to fundamental issues of the best means of communication with an abuse survivor,” Stang said. “I do not believe that your question is appropriately answered in this setting.”

Boswell, the lead bankruptcy attorney for the Gallup Diocese, said she agreed with Stang.

“I would also point out that Mr. Stang and I used this same process in the Fairbanks Diocese case without concerns or problems being expressed or identified,” she said.

David Clohessy, the executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, was contacted for comment.

“It’s extraordinarily hard for many victims to summon the strength to speak to others about their horrific pain,” Clohessy said in an email Friday. “When they do, they should be dealt with in the most compassionate way possible. This foul up exacerbates the already often dreadfully impersonal processes that characterize church bankruptcies.”

Obtaining information

Because of the absence of calls to the Gallup number, both Stang and Boswell said they did not see the need to notify the public that the toll free phone line was not working those 13 days.

Boswell pointed out that the toll free number is not the only method by which individuals can obtain information about the bar date and how to file an abuse claim against the Gallup Diocese. The information is also posted on the diocese’s website, she said, and contact information for the case’s attorneys is included in the legal pleadings.

Boswell said the Diocese of Gallup will be publicly advertising the bar date deadline and claims process one more time at the end of July.

Diocese of Gallup claim information:
1-888-570-6269
Abuse claims forms and instructions: http://voiceofthesouthwest.org/2014/04/11/notice-of-deadline-to-file-claims/

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

It is not a surprise that Lady Butler-Sloss has stepped down as chair of the independent inquiry panel into child abuse: a critical mass of stories had built up against her which meant it was impossible for her to continue leading an inquiry that is partly about conspiracy theories without herself becoming the target of conspiracy theories which would eventually weaken her findings.

A resignation before the inquiry has even kicked off is a serious blow to the government, which had been trying so hard to play conspiracy whack-a-mole, to stay ahead of the critics by acting fast and appointing big names to lead big investigations into historic allegations. But it is not quite right to say that this is a blow to David Cameron’s authority. Of course by extension everything that the government gets wrong is a blow to the Prime Minister. But more specifically this is a blow to the Home Office, who appointed Butler-Sloss in a hurry. They would have announced her appointment to the panel even quicker than they did if she’d responded by the time Theresa May stood up in the Commons to give her statement on the matter on Monday afternoon. There seems to have been a rush to make the appointment – perhaps a naivety, even – that meant the links journalists were able to dig up very quickly indeed were missed.

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UNITED KINGDOM
ITV

MP Keith Vaz, who raised questions over Baroness Butler-Sloss’ appointment to the abuse inquiry last week, has said the process has become “shambolic”.

The Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee said he was “not surprised” by Lady Butler-Sloss’ decision to stand down, adding that “it is the right one”.

“As I pointed out to [Home Office permanent secretary Mark] Sedwill, the public would be concerned that a member of Parliament, no matter how distinguished, had been appointed to head this important panel.

“The whole inquiry process is becoming shambolic: missing files, ministers refusing to read reports and now the chair resigning before the inquiry has even commenced.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
ITV

A law firm representing alleged victims of assaults in institutions linked to the child abuse inquiry has welcomed Baroness Butler-Sloss’ decision to stand down.

“We are relieved that Lady Butler-Sloss has taken this decision to stand down,” Alison Millar of Leigh Day said.

“This was the only sensible decision to ensure that survivors and the public could feel confident that the inquiry was not going to be jeopardised by accusations of bias,” she added.

The issue was never the integrity of Lady Butler-Sloss or what she knew of her brother’s actions as the chief legal adviser to the Government. It was always the fact that she would ultimately have to judge those actions.

This would never have been acceptable for an inquiry which requires not only to be transparent but to be seen as such by those who have in the past been so badly failed by the establishment.

– ALISON MILLAR, LEIGH DAY LAW FIRM

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UNITED KINGDOM
International Business Times

By Nick Assinder Political Editor
July 14, 2014

The decision by Lady Butler-Sloss to stand down as head of the major inquiry into child sex abuse in Britain has pitched the entire process into disarray and underlined the shambles that marked its creation in the first place.

And it raises significant questions over the judgement of the prime minister and home secretary in apparently failing to see the glaring conflict of interest created by the appointment.

It was met with an instant barrage of criticism over the fact Butler-Sloss was not only part of the very establishment she would be investigating but more specifically that her brother, the late Sir Michael Havers, had been attorney general at the time of the abuse and cover-up claims.

The weekend saw more claims about both his role in failing to pursue evidence of a paedophile ring in Westminster in the 1980s, but also that she previously wanted to exclude a bishop’s name from a child abuse report because she wanted to protect the reputation of the church.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By PRESS ASSOCIATION

The resignation of Baroness Butler-Sloss as the chair of an inquiry into allegations of historic child sex abuse within the establishment comes after days of pressure on the Home Office over her appointment.

These were the main events:

Monday, July 7:
Home Secretary Theresa May announces that she will establish an independent inquiry under an expert panel to examine the handling of allegations of paedophilia by state institutions as well as bodies such as the BBC, churches and political parties.

It will be chaired by “an appropriately senior and experienced figure”, she tells the House of Commons.

Tuesday, July 8:
Baroness Butler-Sloss is named as the chair.
Prime Minister David Cameron’s official spokesman tells reporters: “It is the very wide respect that her professional expertise as well as her personal integrity commands that makes her a very strong appointment for this role. It is the width and breadth of her experience that counts.”
Eyebrows are immediately raised by the choice however.

Home Affairs Select Committee chairman Keith Vaz questions the choice of a member of the House of Lords “no matter how distinguished” to investigate the establishment – pointing out that her brother was Lord Chancellor during the era being probed.

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CIUDAD DEL VATICANO
Hispantv

[con video]

[Summary: The word of God in the Catholic Church in many cases has become abuse of innocent children. This video is about the facade of the Vatican todayas it rows against the tide.]

La palabra de Dios en la Iglesia católica en muchos casos se ha convertido en la palabra seductora que lleva a niños inocentes o a incautos a caer en las garras del sacerdote hambriento de la fechoría. Esta es la fachada del Vaticano hoy con la que tiene que remar a contracorriente.

Esta es la fotografía de decenas de casos de violación y abuso sexual cometido por sacerdotes que abusando de la confianza de la fe, satisfacen su deseo más carnal, lo que hace que el delito moral, penal y espiritual sea peor.

Ante todo ello al Papa Francisco no le quedó más remedio que aceptar y hasta pedir perdón. Pero ¿Esto es un perdón real o un cambio de estrategia? Esta noche desde Teherán, capital iraní, en “Detrás de la Razón”.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – Religion and Ethics

Francis Sullivan
ABC RELIGION AND ETHICS 11 JUL 2014

Last week, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse released its interim report. Much of the attention so far has focused on the first volume of the 700-page plus report. It is the second volume, however, that brings together what is a truly horrifying litany of abuse and suffering. It is this volume that tells the individual stories of abuse and the treatment survivors subsequently received from the institutions in which they were abused.

The stories have been chosen as a representative group to help the community understand the accounts the Royal Commission is receiving and the experiences of survivors. Well over half of the stories involve abuse which occurred in Catholic Church institutions. The stories have been selected in the hope they will contribute to a better understanding of the profound consequences of child sexual abuse on the lives of survivors and their families

The volume also brings together some of the more prominent, and consistent, themes which have emerged from these and other stories. Many survivors reported a culture of fear in institutions, created by severe physical abuse which allowed for an environment in which sexual abuse was both possible and unlikely to be disclosed.

The stories also reveal the long-term effects of abuse – including physical and mental damage, failed relationships, limited education and career prospects. It was reported that perpetrators commonly prepared a child with the intention of sexually abusing them. They did this by building a relationship of trust with the child and their family or carer and by isolating the child.

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LOUISIANA
The American Conservative

[with video]

By ROD DREHER • July 14, 2014

This might seem like inside baseball to some of you, but the above report from WBRZ, the ABC affiliate in Baton Rouge — if the video doesn’t embed, you can watch it here — is exactly the kind of thing that worries me so much about how this seal-of-the-confessional case is going to play out in the media and in popular culture. It’s a good thing that it is impossible under libel law to libel the dead, or the family of George Charlet Jr. might have a case against the station for that biased report on the abuse allegations at the heart of a controversy with potential national implications for religious liberty.

Background: Rebecca Mayeux, now 20, claims that when she was 14, she was subject to groping and other unwanted sexual attention from Charlet, a much older man who was a prominent businessman and beloved community figure. At least some of the harassment took place on the grounds of Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Church, where both families attended. Mayeux says on three separate occasions, she told Father Jeff Bayhi in confession that Charlet was coming on to her sexually, and that he told her this was her own problem, that she should sweep it under the rug. Mayeux eventually told her parents, who went to the police. Charlet died of a heart attack during the criminal investigation, which was dropped upon his passing.

Now, Mayeux has filed a civil lawsuit against Charlet’s estate, his family’s business, Father Bayhi, and the Diocese of Baton Rouge. She wants Fr. Bayhi to testify that he heard her speak of this in confession, and what the content of the confessions were. He refuses even to acknowledge that the molestation conversations took place, because to do so would be to violate the seal of the confessional, the rock-solid obligation Catholic (and Orthodox) priests have to go to their deaths before revealing to anyone what they learned in confession. The Louisiana Supreme Court ruled that under state law, Bayhi could in principle be compelled to reveal those conversations (or go to jail for contempt of court), because the law only recognizes the priest-penitent privilege as protecting the penitent — who, in this case, releases the priest from that privilege. Under Catholic canon law, the obligation is binding on the priest, regardless of what the penitent later decides.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Conall Ó Fátharta
Irish Examiner Reporter

New research has cast “serious doubt” on one of the key findings of the McAleese report concerning the length of time women spent in Magdalene laundries.

The research, undertaken as part of the Justice For Magdalenes Research (JFM Research) Names Project, comes as the group reiterated its call for Magdalene laundries to be included in the Mother and Baby Home Commission of Investigation.

According to the McAleese Report, 61% of known entries spent less than a year in Ireland’s 10 Magdalene institutions.

However, JFMR say their research based on comparisons between Magdalene grave records and electoral registers, “cast serious doubt” on this assertion.

The research found that 63.43% of the women who appear on the electoral register for the High Park laundry from 1954-55 also appear on the laundry’s headstones at Glasnevin Cemetery — indicating that they spent a minimum of nine years confined there. Some 61.43% of the women from 1955-56 were there for a minimum of eight years.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Claire McGettrick

One thing that would help rectify the failings of the McAleese Report into the Magdalene Laundries would be to include them in the mother-and-baby home inquiry, writes Claire McGettrick

THE Inter-Departmental Committee (IDC) on the Magdalene Laundries vindicated Justice for Magdalenes’ (JFM, now JFM Research) contention of extensive state involvement with these institutions.

However, the IDC also went well beyond its mandate and produced a report offering an inaccurate and incomplete representation of the experiences of those who were incarcerated against their will.

The McAleese Report utterly failed the Magdalene women, both living and dead, and their families.

The ‘Magdalene Names Project’ is a JFM Research initiative which examines various archives and records, including gravestones, census records, electoral registers, exhumation orders and newspaper archives.

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VATICAN CITY/IRELAND
Irish Independent

Sarah Mac Donald, David Barrett and Nick Squires
PUBLISHED 14/07/2014

POPE Francis has been called on to release further details of Vatican research into clerical sex abuse, after stating that one in 50 Catholic clergy is a paedophile.

The Pope described child sex abusers as “leprosy” within the church, adding that the offenders include “priests and even bishops and cardinals”.

In an interview with ‘La Repubblica’ newspaper in Italy, the Pontiff cited aides as saying that “the level of paedophilia in the church is at 2pc”.

“I find this state of affairs intolerable,” he said.

With Catholic clergy numbers at 414,000, more than 8,000 priests fall into this category. Estimates of the prevalence of paedophilia in the wider population range from a fraction of 1pc to as high as 4pc.

In Ireland, the total number of priests and those in religious orders is almost 5,000 including those who are sick and retired.

That would suggest the number of paedophile priests in Ireland, on the basis of 2pc of the clergy, would be less than 100.

However, this would appear to be an underestimation based on the findings of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church reviews.

But a prominent child safeguarding expert said the figure raised more questions than it answered.

Speaking to the Irish Independent, the source said the Pope’s statistic did not indicate whether he was talking about priests convicted of abuse, priests who were paedophiles, or those who targeted teens.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

The Church of England has spent £190,000 handling a rift between the Channel Islands and the Diocese of Winchester, it has emerged.

The islands split with the diocese in a dispute involving the Dean of Jersey and the Bishop of Winchester about the handling of an abuse complaint.

The figure was revealed after the Dean of Portsmouth asked the CofE’s ruling body how much the rift had cost.

The money was spent on two inquiries and does not include legal fees.

The Dean of Portsmouth, the Very Reverend David Brindley, said the money could have been allocated to parishes elsewhere in the country.

“Those costs haven’t yet finished and don’t include legal costs incurred either by the Diocese of Winchester or by the Channel Islands,” he said.

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SOUTH AFRICA
Daily Maverick

The sexual abuse crisis that rocked the Catholic Church worldwide has been one of the most disillusioning things I have had to face as a Catholic Priest. It is a source of shame, anger and frustration for me and many other faithful Catholics. Abuse can and has happened in many contexts but is amplified when it occurs in the Church, an institution that many trust and seek help and protection from. Even more deplorable is the fact that accountability has not been what it should have. So how, then, do we move forward? By RUSSELL POLLITT.

Since the crisis erupted in the USA in 2001, the Church has put strict protocols in place to prevent such scandalous behaviour recurring. The South African Catholic Bishops’ Conference has had a Protocol in place for a number of years which is publicly available on their website. The Bishops in South Africa insist that every parish Church display, for all to see, an independent person’s contact details (a “contact person”) so that accusations of sexual abuse against Church personnel can be reported independently and efficiently. The Protocol insists that allegations of abuse be reported to civil authorities.

While these steps have been welcomed, many people – especially victims of abuse, feel that the Church has not taken full responsibility for what has happened. Some Church leaders stand accused of covering up abuse cases and others, after allegations were made, did not deal with offenders in a decisive manner. Shameful stories emerged of how offenders were moved from place to place when they were accused and so the abuse was perpetuated.

This week Pope Francis took an unprecedented step. He not only apologised and expressed his own “deep pain and suffering” at what happened but admitted that for too long abuse has been “hidden, camouflaged with a complicity that cannot be explained…” He calls this scourge a “crime and grave sin” and says that these “despicable actions” are like a “sacrilegious cult”. He pledged a zero tolerance approach to the abuse of minors by clerics and lay people working in the Church. These are the strongest words that have ever been used by a Pope to address the devastation caused by sex abuse in the Church.

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UNITED STATES
The New York Times

THE EDITORIAL BOARD
JULY 14, 2014

Pope Francis is showing that he means business — sound fiduciary business — in his campaign to clean up the Vatican Bank. Since the pope made his promise of credible reform last year, investigators and bank officials have vetted and closed out 3,000 suspect and unwanted accounts.

Francis continued the shake-up last week with the hiring of a veteran European fund manager, Jean-Baptiste de Franssu, to be the bank’s new president, the naming of an advisory board dominated by banking specialists, and the sweeping redesign of Vatican finances and assets under the direction of a trusted troubleshooter, Cardinal George Pell.

“Our ambition is to become something of a model for financial management rather than a cause for occasional scandal,” Cardinal Pell candidly explained. He announced that the Vatican would hand over management of its billions of euros to external banking specialists and be subject to regular reports by an auditor general.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Nicholas Watt, chief political correspondent
theguardian.com, Monday 14 July 2014

Lady Butler-Sloss, the retired high court judge, has resigned as chair of the panel that is due to examine the extent to which public institutions failed to investigate allegations of child abuse after admitting that she had failed to take into account a family conflict of interest.

Hours after the former solicitor general Vera Baird called on Butler-Sloss to stand down because her brother served as attorney general in the 1980s, when reports of child abuse were allegedly not examined properly, the former judge issued a statement announcing that she would withdraw from the post.

Butler-Sloss said she had been honoured to be invited to chair the inquiry. But she added: “It has become apparent over the last few days, however, that there is a widespread perception, particularly among victim and survivor groups, that I am not the right person to chair the inquiry. It has also become clear to me that I did not sufficiently consider whether my background and the fact my brother had been attorney general would cause difficulties.”

The retired judge had faced intense criticism from victims’ groups because her brother, the late Sir Michael Havers, was attorney general during the 1980s – the period due be examined by the panel. …

Keith Vaz, the chairman of the Commons home affairs select committee who raised concerns about the appointment with the Home Office permanent secretary, Mark Sedwill, last week, said that the inquiry was now becoming shambolic.

Vax said: “I am not surprised by this decision – it is the right one. As I pointed out to Mr Sedwill the public would be concerned that a member of parliament, no matter how distinguished, had been appointed to head this important panel. The whole inquiry process is becoming shambolic: missing files, ministers refusing to read reports and now the chair resigning before the inquiry is has even commenced.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Baroness Butler-Sloss has decided to step down as chairwoman of the inquiry into the historical cover-up of child abuse in response to widespread concern about her appointment.

The former High Court judge informed Theresa May, the home secretary, of her decision at the weekend and said in a statement today that she did not want to the inquiry to be hamstrung by the controversy over her nomination.

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UNITED KINGDOM
ITV

The full statement from Baroness Butler-Sloss confirming she will stand down as chair of an inquiry into allegations of historic child sex abuse within the establishment:

I was honoured to be invited by the Home Secretary to chair the wide-ranging inquiry about child sexual abuse and hoped I could make a useful contribution.

It has become apparent over the last few days, however, that there is a widespread perception, particularly among victim and survivor groups, that I am not the right person to chair the inquiry.

It has also become clear to me that I did not sufficiently consider whether my background and the fact my brother had been Attorney General would cause difficulties.

This is a victim-orientated inquiry and those who wish to be heard must have confidence that the members of the panel will pay proper regard to their concerns and give appropriate advice to Government.

Nor should media attention be allowed to be diverted from the extremely important issues at stake, namely whether enough has been done to protect children from sexual abuse and hold to account those who commit these appalling crimes.

Having listened to the concerns of victim and survivor groups and the criticisms of MPs and the media, I have come to the conclusion that I should not chair this inquiry and have so informed the Home Secretary.

I should like to add that I have dedicated my life to public service, to the pursuit of justice and to protecting the rights of children and families and I wish the inquiry success in its important work.

– BARONESS BUTLER-SLOSS

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

Baroness Butler-Sloss should be removed from Westminster abuse inquiry, says former solicitor general

By Alice Philipson 14 Jul 2014

Baroness Butler-Sloss should be removed as the head an inquiry into allegations of child sex abuse at the heart of the establishment, a former solicitor general has said.

Vera Baird, now the Labour police and crime commissioner for Northumbria, said the appointment was “an error” because the former judge’s family connections meant she had a conflict of interest.

Lady Butler-Sloss’s brother Sir Michael Havers, who was attorney general and lord chancellor in the 1980s, is alleged to have tried to prevent ex-MP Geoffrey Dickens airing claims about a diplomat in Parliament.

Pressure mounted at the weekend when she was reported to have told a victim of alleged abuse she did not want to include the allegations in a review of how the Church of England dealt with two paedophile priests because she “cared about the Church” and “the press would love a bishop”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

By Georgia Graham, Political Correspondent 14 Jul 2014

Baroness Butler-Sloss has stepped down as the head of a major inquiry into child abuse claims following criticism of her links to the establishment.

The retired senior judge quit less than a week after her appointment after a series of claims about her brother’s role in previous investigations more than 30 years ago.

Downing Street said that it was “her decision” to stand down but insisted that the Prime Minister still believes she was the right person to head up the inquiry.

Her decision will prove embarrassing for the Government and comes amid allegations of a Westminster “cover-up” over historic paedophilia allegations.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Independent

Westminster child abuse inquiry: Judge in charge of investigation bows to conflict of interest claims and quits role

Baroness Elizabeth Butler-Sloss has stood down as chairman of the government-ordered inquiry into allegations of child abuse involving senior public figures in the 1980s.

Her surprise decision came after she was put under growing pressure to step aside because her brother, the late Sir Michael Havers, served as Attorney General from 1979 to 1987.

Her panel would have had to investigate whether Sir Michael failed to act on allegations of child abuse involving senior establishment figures. He reportedly tried to prevent the late Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens from using parliamentary privilege to name diplomat Sir Peter Hayman as a paedophile.

Baroness Butler-Sloss said it had become apparent that there was “a widespread perception, particularly among victim and survivor groups, that I am not the right person to chair the inquiry”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
RTE News

Elizabeth Butler-Sloss has stepped down as chair of an inquiry into allegations of historic child sex abuse within the establishment, Downing Street has announced.

The UK Prime Minister’s official spokesman said the decision to stand down was entirely Ms Butler-Sloss’s.

Her departure comes after the former judge’s appointment became the centre of controversy because her brother Michael Havers, who was attorney general and lord chancellor in the 1980s, is alleged to have tried to prevent ex-MP Geoffrey Dickens airing claims about child abuse.

Critics said victims of child sex abuse would not have confidence in an inquiry led by someone from the heart of the establishment.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

Retired judge Baroness Butler-Sloss has said she is stepping aside as the head of an inquiry into allegations of historical child abuse.

Downing Street said “it was entirely her decision” and a new chair would be appointed within days.

Lady Butler-Sloss has been under pressure to quit from MPs and victims concerned about her family links.

Her late brother, Sir Michael Havers, was attorney general in the 1980s.

Downing Street said it would “take a few days” to appoint a new chairman and appeared to indicate that whoever was chosen would not be so closely linked to the establishment.

David Cameron’s spokesman said there had been no change in the view of the prime minister or Home Secretary Theresa May about Lady Butler-Sloss’s integrity or suitability for the job.

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UNITED KINGDOM
ITV

Downing Street says Baroness Butler-Sloss’ stepping down from the abuse inquiry was “entirely her decision”.

The Government’s view hasn’t changed, that she would have done a first-class job as chair.

The reasons for her appointment still absolutely stand in terms of her professional expertise and her integrity, which I don’t think has been questioned from any quarter whatsoever, and rightly so.

– PRIME MINISTER DAVID CAMERON’S SPOKESPERSON

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UNITED KINGDOM
ITV

By Chris Ship: Deputy Political Editor

It was becoming “unsustainable”.

That is the view of one of the MPs who has been leading the campaign to investigate the historic allegations of child abuse – many of which centre on claims of a cover-up at Westminster.

Simon Danczuk was referring to the decision by Baroness Butler-Sloss to stand down as head of the independent inquiry.

Questions have been raised about her appointment since it was announced last Tuesday.

Elizabeth Butler-Sloss is the sister of the last Sir Michael Havers – who was the Attorney General for much of the 1980s – the period in which the claims of a cover-up have centred.

Downing Street insists the decision was hers – and there was no pressure from the government.

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UNITED KINGDOM
ITV

Last updated Mon 14 Jul 2014

Home Secretary Theresa May has said she is “deeply saddened” but understands and respects Baroness Butler-Sloss’s decision to stand down as the chair of an inquiry into allegations of historic child sex abuse within the establishment.

I am deeply saddened by Baroness Butler-Sloss’s decision to withdraw but understand and respect her reasons. Baroness Butler-Sloss is a woman of the highest integrity and compassion and continues to have an enormous contribution to make to public life.

As she has said herself, the work of this inquiry is more important than any individual and an announcement will be made on who will take over the chairmanship and membership of the panel as soon as possible so this important work can move forward.

– HOME SECRETARY THERESA MAY

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UNITED KINGDOM
Exeter Express and Echo

Lady Butler-Sloss, who lives near Exeter, has stood down as chair of the child abuse inquiry

Lady Butler-Sloss is standing down as chair of the child abuse inquiry, Downing Street has announced this afternoon.

She decided over the weekend and is putting out a statement about now. The prime minister’s spokesman made the announcement at the Number 10 lobby briefing.

The Home Office was forced to defend the appointment of Devon peer Baroness Butler-Sloss to run the inquiry into allegations of an establishment cover-up of child abuse amid claims she refused to go public about a bishop implicated in a scandal.

Lady Butler-Sloss told a victim of alleged abuse she did not want to include the allegations in a review of how the Church of England dealt with two paedophile priests because she “cared about the Church” and “the press would love a bishop”, according to The Times.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
CBS Pittsburgh

[with video]

Christine D’Antonio

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – A local pastor has been arrested, accused of sexually assaulting a teenager.

Duane Youngblood with the “Higher Call World Outreach Church” in Homestead was charged Saturday with corrupting a minor.

The boy, now 21, told police Youngblood sexually abused him over a period of two-and-a-half years while Youngblood was supposed to be counseling him at the church. The assaults allegedly happened in the church office, bathroom and back room.

Reverend Scott Entwisle who lives directly across the street from Youngblood said, “If it is proven it’s horrendous it’s you know worse than horrible … what can I say?”

The victim told police that the abuse started in 2009 and ended in 2011 when he was a freshman in college and told Youngblood he didn’t want to be counseled by him anymore.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Portsmouth News

A REPORT into how a child sex offender was able to use church networks to abuse boys has been published – 10 years after it was completed.

The report, published by the Diocese of Chichester and Chichester Cathedral, was commissioned following the conviction of Terence Banks in May 2001, for a string of sex offences.

Banks was convicted of 32 sexual offences against 12 boys over 29 years.

The report was commissioned by the previous Bishop of Chichester, The Rt Revd Dr John Hind following the trial.

In a joint statement, the Bishop of Chichester, Dr Martin Warner and the Cathedral Chapter, said: ‘Today, as we publish this report, first and foremost our thoughts are with the survivors and their families. The effects of abuse can last a lifetime.

‘And the passing of the years may or may not have resulted in any kind of healing.

‘As Christians we are profoundly ashamed of abuse that has happened in church or church institutions.

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VATICAN CITY
Irish Times

Paddy Agnew

Mon, Jul 14, 2014

In a highly unusual move, senior Vatican spokesman, Fr Federico Lombardi, intervened yesterday to deny comments allegedly made by Pope Francis to Rome daily, La Repubblica, in relation to the issues of clerical sex abuse and priestly celibacy.

In an interview with one of the paper’s founders, former editor Eugenio Scalfari, Pope Francis was quoted as saying that cardinals had been involved in acts of clerical sex abuse, while he also allegedly said he would “find a solution” to the question of priestly celibacy. In a statement issued yesterday afternoon, Fr Lombardi suggested that, given Mr Scalfari had been working from his memory rather than from a recorded interview, some of the comments attributed to the pope were not accurate.

He said: “For example, this applies to two statements which have aroused a lot of interest but which are not attributable to the pope. That is when the pope says that there are cardinals amongst the ranks of paedophile priests and also when he says in relation to the question of priestly celibacy that he ‘will find a solution’.”

Accusation

Fr Lombardi even goes on to accuse Mr Scalfari of perhaps attempting to manipulate ingenuous readers by his use (or lack of) of quotation marks. Despite the Vatican spokesman’s denials, however, one can only conclude that whatever about the wording, there is much truth in the sentiments attributed to the pope.

For a start, there is nothing new about accusations of a cardinal being involved in clerical sex abuse. Remember that in March 2013, Scottish cardinal, Keith O’Brien, withdrew from the conclave that elected Francis because of his involvement in a sex scandal involving seminarians. The cardinal even issued a statement in which he confessed that “my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal”.

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VATICAN CITY
Tempo (Philippines)

Ignacio Bunye

Pope Francis recently backed with strong action his pronouncements to hold officials accountable in connection with the sex scandals that have shaken the Catholic Church.

On his assumption as pontiff, Pope Francis announced “zero tolerance” for the sex abuses which he called “the shame of the Church.” He further said that dealing with the sex abuse allegations was “vital to the Roman Catholic Church’s credibility.”

Last December, he announced the creation of a Vatican committee that will help fight child abuse in the Church.

Three weeks ago, BBC reported that the Vatican tribunal convicted a Polish archbishop and stripped him of his priesthood because of sexual abuse.

The archbishop is the highest ranking Church official so far investigated. He was found guilty of charges that he had abused boys in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, during his assignment in that city as a papal ambassador.

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VATICAN CITY
International Business Times

By Sounak Mukhopadhyay | July 14, 2014

Pope Francis said that one in every 50 clergymen is a paedophile.

The revelation came from the pontiff as he was quoted saying the around two per cent of all the clergymen in the Catholic Church are paedophiles. The claim is apparently based on reliable data. According to the pope, paedophilia is contaminating the church like “leprosy.” However, he claimed to have vowed to deal with it with “severity.” The pope’s claim also indicated that there were 8,000 paedophile priests in the world.

The pope’s statement appeared on Italian newspaper La Repubblica. He said in the interview that he would follow what Jesus did and “use the stick against the paedophile priests.” Paedophilia exists even among bishops and cardinals, he said. The pope said that the corruption of a child was the most terrible one. He also said that most of the child-victims came from the church family or from the community of old friends.

Father Federico Lombardi, one of the spokesmen from the Vatican, on the other hand, said that it was not exactly what the pope had said. The pope was interviewed by the editor of the newspaper, Eugenio Scalfari, on Thursday, July 10. It was presented more like a tête-à-tête rather than an official interview. Scalfari apparently does not have the habit of recording his interviews in digital recorders. On the other hand, Father Lombardi claimed that the pontiff had not checked how accurately the interview was presented before it got published. He also denied that Pope Francis had said that there were paedophile cardinals.

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VATICAN CITY
Christian Today

14 July 2014 | Carey Lodge

Pope Francis believes “about 2 per cent” of Catholic clergy are paedophiles, according to an Italian newspaper.

La Repubblica ran a three-page ‘interview’ with the Pope, in which he referred to the abuse of minors as like “a leprosy in our home” and branded the presence of paedophilia within the Church as “intolerable”.

It is “the most terrible and unclean thing imaginable”, the Pontiff continued, vowing to “confront it with the severity it demands”.

He said his advisors estimated that 1 in 50 members of clergy were involved in child sex abuse, and – allegedly – noted that it includes “even bishops and cardinals”.

“And others, even more numerous, know about it but keep quiet, they punish without saying the reason why.”

However, a Vatican spokesperson has criticised La Repubblica for presenting the Pope’s words as an interview without quoting Francis accurately.

Father Federico Lombardi released a statement highlighting that alleged quotes attributed to the Pope “come from the expert journalist Scalfari’s own memory of what the Pope said and is not an exact transcription of a recording nor a review of such a transcript by the Pope himself”.

Lombardi refutes the claim that Francis implicated “some cardinals” in the sex abuse scandal that has rocked the Church in recent years, despite the admission of Scottish Cardinal Keith O’Brien that his “sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal”.

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VATICAN CITY
Headlines from the Catholic World

Vatican City, Jul 13, 2014 / 05:49 pm (CNA).- The Vatican spokesperson said that Pope’s words reported in an article in the Italian newspaper “La Repubblica” cannot be considered with certainty Pope Francis words.

Fr. Federico Lombardi of the Holy See Press Office pointed out “explicit acknowledgment” of making “a manipulation for naive readers” in the interview.

“La Repubblica” published July 13 an article by his founder Eugenio Scalfari, reporting about a conversation he had with Pope Francis July 10.

The conversation is about the two hot topics of mafia and clergy sex abuses on minors, which Pope Francis recently dealt with.

“Pedophilia, Mafia: the Church, the people of God, priests, community, will be entrusted, among other things, of these very important issues,” Pope Francis reportedly said.

Pope Francis met with victims of clergy sex abuse in the Vatican July 7, asking forgiveness to the victims for the abuses and for the omissions of the hierarchy; and reiterated the excommunication to Mafia people July 5, during his one day trip to the small diocese of Cassano all’Jonio, Calabria, Southern Italy, in one of the territories most infiltrated by Mafia people.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

David Mellor says Tory ‘rent boy parties’ claim is improbable tittle-tattle: Former minister hits back at claims made by political activist

By SAM GREENHILL and JOHN STEVENS

A former political activist triggered a furious response yesterday by claiming Tory grandees attended rent boy parties in the 1980s.

Anthony Gilberthorpe alleged he witnessed top Conservatives having sex with boys at cocaine-fuelled romps in private rooms at seaside conferences.

He named four senior figures, all now deceased, among those he says were at the sordid parties. But his allegations were denounced as ‘improbable tittle-tattle’ by former minister David Mellor who accused Mr Gilberthorpe of smearing the dead.

The 52-year-old was an aspiring politician when he attended Tory party conferences, starting in 1978 when he was 17.

He claimed he was ‘manipulated and groomed’ to procure underage rent boys for private sex parties on the orders of senior figures in Margaret Thatcher’s government.

He alleged boys as young as 15 were plied with alcohol and cocaine before they had sex with powerful politicians.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Scotsman

AN INQUIRY into allegations of child sex abuse at the heart of the Establishment is likely to turn up fresh claims about the Church of England, the Archbishop of Canterbury has admitted.

The Most Rev Justin Welby said it was something he dealt with daily and it was becoming clearer that “for many, many years things were not dealt with as they should have been dealt with”.

Abuse survivors must now be shown justice and the Church must be “absolutely transparent” every step of the way, he said when interviewed yesterday.

Asked if he was braced for the inquiry to uncover “bad stories”, Archbishop Welby replied: “I would love to say there weren’t, but I expect there are. There are in almost every institution in this land.

“This is, it’s something I deal with every day and it is becoming clearer and clearer that for many, many years things were not dealt with as they should have been dealt with.

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UNITED STATES
Los Angeles Times

LAUREN RAAB

An interview that credits Pope Francis as saying about 2% of Roman Catholic clerics are pedophiles stirred controversy Sunday, as the Vatican sought to raise questions about the article’s accuracy and others called on the pope to take more action on the issue.

The remarks, reported in in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, came a week after the pope asked for forgiveness in his first meeting with victims of clerical sexual abuse.

The interview by Eugenio Scalfari, published Sunday, quotes the pope as calling the rash of sex abuse scandals “a leprosy in our home” and saying the pedophiles include “priests and even bishops and cardinals,” according to a CBS News translation. “And others, even more numerous, know about it but keep quiet, they punish without saying the reason why. I find this state of things untenable and it is my intention to confront it with the severity it requires.”

The Vatican has pushed back on some points. According to Vatican officials, Scalfari does not record his conversations with the pope nor transcribe them word for word. News.va, an official Vatican news source, cited Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi as saying Scalfari quotes Francis from memory alone, and that the pope does not review the results before publication.

Lombardi did not rebut any assertions Francis was said to have made, but raised questions about the lack of a closing quotation mark at the end of the paragraph that included the 2% figure.

“A lapse of memory or an explicit acknowledgment the naif reader is being manipulated?” he asked.

Meanwhile, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said the “real percentage of predator priests” is much higher than 2% and called on the pope to defrock clerics who participate in cover-ups.

“I’m convinced that no threat of penalty will deter a child molester,” David Clohessy, executive director of SNAP, told the Los Angeles Times. However, he said, “defrocking a bishop or cardinal who hides abuse would have an enormous deterrent effect.”

“I would challenge fans of this pope to name a single step he’s taken that has had a practical impact on the crisis,” Clohessy said. “He’s made significant, dramatic, quick effective steps to transform church governance and finances. He obviously has both massive power and the willingness to use it, but not on this crisis.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Bedfordshire on Sunday

Written by STEVE LOWE

AT long last there could be hope for those historically abused at a former Catholic boys home.
The Government, under pressure itself, is setting up an inquiry into historic abuse.

And the current Pope has also promised to listen and act on allegations of abuse by Catholic priests. St Francis Home, in Shefford, took boys from across the county and wider, where, instead of being cared for, they were systematically abused, both physically and sexually.

While we have been reporting this for more than a decade, so far no arm of the Establishment has taken any action.

They told us of a paedophile ring, which we reported and the Establishment ignored. They told us that at some homes, not necessarily St Francis, boys were ‘hired out’ to paedophiles, some of whom were high ranking and famous, which we reported and the Establishment ignored.

This newspaper also demonstrated that Savile visited the home. Two did take legal action and won out of court settlements. And many of them are currently taking out a class action against the Catholic Church. The police are also investigating claims of abuse, for the third time, but it does not look hopeful.

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VATICAN CITY
Huffington Post

Pope Francis has revealed “about 2%” of clergy in the Catholic Church are are paedophiles.

The astonishing claim is a result of research conducted by the Vatican.

Speaking to the Italian La Repubblica newspaper, the Pope said the abuse of children was like “leprosy” infecting the Church that needed confronting with “the severity it demands”.

He added: “I find this state of affairs intolerable.”

The 2% figure would mean 8,000 clergy out of a global number of about 414,000 are paedophiles including priests, bishops and cardinals.

But a Vatican spokesman claimed the quotes were not wholly accurate and did not correspond exactly to the Pope’s words.

Father Federico Lombardi denied the claims related to Cardinals

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PENNSYLVANIA
WPXI

PITTSBURGH — The pastor of a church in Homestead is facing charges for alleged sexual abuse, police said.

According to a criminal complaint, the unidentified 21-year-old victim claims Duane Youngblood, pastor of the Higher Call World Outreach church, molested him multiple times over a two-and-a-half year period when he was a teenager.

The victim told investigators that the alleged sexual abuse began when he started going to counseling with Youngblood at the age of 16, police said.

During the first counseling session at Youngblood’s church office, Youngblood allegedly took the victim to a back room and told him to pull down his pants. Youngblood then began touching the boy inappropri

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UNITED KINGDOM
Independent

PAUL PEACHEY Author Biography CRIME CORRESPONDENT Sunday 13 July 2014

Disgraced vicars convicted of child sex attacks have abused their former Church titles by posing as respected members of society, victims claimed last night, after the Archbishop of Canterbury warned that new cases of abuse by clergy were likely to emerge.

Justin Welby said the Church had to be absolutely transparent, after learning from victims of cover-ups, bungled investigations and the devastating long-term impact of abuse, at a fringe meeting of the Synod of the Church of England. His comments came as the Pope described child abuse as “leprosy” that affected 2 per cent of clergy in the Roman Catholic Church and was determined to confront the problem.

The figure would represent some 8,000 out of a global figure of more than 400,000 priests worldwide.

The intervention of two of Christianity’s most prominent religious figures highlighted the damaging legacy of long-term child abuse and the failure of organised religion to confront the problem.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

David Brown

Calls for Baroness Butler-Sloss to be removed as head of the inquiry into historical claims of child abuse intensified yesterday following further lurid allegations against political figures.

The government is considering appointing a co-chairman of the independent panel following growing concerns about the former judge’s close links to the establishment.

James Brokenshire, a Home Office minister, said the department was “working on” the idea of appointing a co-chairman from a panel of experts.

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VATICAN CITY
BBC News

Pope Francis has been quoted as saying that reliable data indicates that “about 2%” of clergy in the Catholic Church are paedophiles.

The Pope said that abuse of children was like “leprosy” infecting the Church, according to the Italian La Repubblica newspaper.

He vowed to “confront it with the severity it demands”.

But a Vatican spokesman said the quotes in the newspaper did not correspond to Pope Francis’s exact words.

The BBC’s David Willey in Rome says there is often a studied ambiguity in Pope Francis’ off-the-cuff statements.

He wants to show a more compassionate attitude towards Church teaching than his predecessors, but this can sometimes cause consternation among his media advisers, our correspondent adds.

Analysis: David Willey, BBC News, Rome

When is a papal interview not an interview? Sunday’s edition of La Repubblica devotes its first three pages to an account of a conversation between Pope Francis and editor Eugenio Scalfari, which took place last Thursday. Papal spokesman Federico Lombardi said in a sharp note that it was not an interview in the normal sense of the word, although he admitted it conveyed the “sense and the spirit” of the conversation.

Mr Scalfari does not use a digital recorder, and Father Lombardi said Pope Francis never checked the accuracy of the interview.

Until now, the Vatican has declined to quantify the extent of clerical sexual abuse scandals in the worldwide Church. Statistics are usually available only for countries in the developed world. In the developing world, information is usually only sketchy.

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AUSTRALIA
The Chronicle

Chris Calcino | 14th Jul 2014

THE long-awaited launch of former Toowoomba Diocese bishop Bill Morris’ tell-all book Benedict, Me and the Cardinals Three will happen tonight at the Empire Church Theatre.

The behind-the-scenes and often-secretive machinations of the Catholic Church will be thrust into the limelight, with Emeritus Bishop Morris going into detail about the Vatican dealings that led to his dismissal in 2011.

“It relates, from my perspective, the dealings I had with various congregations of the Vatican’s Curia, and with certain cardinals and officials, as well as with Pope Benedict XVI, regarding pastoral activities and a letter I wrote to the diocese in Advent of 2006 while the Bishop of Toowoomba,” he said.

“The book details the background and events which led to my being asked by Pope Benedict XVI to resign as Bishop of Toowoomba when I had a meeting with him in Rome on June 4, 2009.

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VATICAN CITY
New Zealand Herald

The level of paedophilia in Catholicism is at two percent, and includes bishops and cardinals, according to an Italian newspaper which had interviewed Pope Francis.

The interview also quoted the Pope as saying the Catholic Church could eventually lift a ban on priests being able to marry, but was quickly refuted by the Vatican.

Interviewed by Italy’s La Repubblica daily, Francis condemned child sex abuse as a “leprosy” in the Church and cited his aides as saying that “the level of paedophilia in the Church is at two percent”.

“That two percent includes priests and even bishops and cardinals,” the Pope was quoted as saying.

Asked whether priests might one day be allowed to marry, Francis pointed out that celibacy was instituted “900 years after Our Lord’s death” and that clerics can marry in some Eastern Churches under Vatican tutelage. ,,,

But Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said the quotations in the newspaper on the existence of paedophile cardinals and the possible reform of priestly celibacy did not correspond to what the Pope actually said.

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VATICAN CITY
New York Daily News

The spiritual leader made the comments to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica in a conversation that was published Sunday. The Pope likened the issue to a leprosy within the church and would do more to stop it. The Vatican issued a statement that said the published conversation is not a verbatim transcript and denied the Pope said the transgressors also included cardinals.

BY JOEL LANDAU NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Sunday, July 13, 2014

Pope Francis said he has been told that 2% of the Catholic priests engage in pedophilia, but vowed to do what he can to eradicate the problem within the church, which he compared to leprosy.

The spiritual leader made the comments in an hour-long conversation with Eugenio Scalfari, the 90-year-old founder and former editor in chief of the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, which were published in a story Sunday.

In the story, the Pope is quoted as saying the corruption of a child “is the most terrible and unclean (act) imaginable” — especially when committed by someone with a family or friend connection to the children.

Francis said he has studied “reliable data” that assesses pedophilia within the church at about 2% of priests, and even bishops and cardinals. …

But a few hours after the interview was published, the newspaper reported the Vatican’s spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, noted that the interviewer Scalfari did not make an official recording of the conversation and the story was published using the Pope’s words from his memory. The Vatican also notes the Pope did not approve the story.

The Vatican denied the Pope said there are pedophile cardinals and that he would find a solution to the topic of celibacy.

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UNITED STATES
Waiting for Godot to Leave

Kevin O’Brien

Pope Francis has recently stated that he’s been informed that 2% of Catholic clergy – 1 in 50 – are pedophiles.

But the number is certainly higher than that.

SNAP quotes BishopAccountability.org …

“U.S. bishops have reported receiving allegations of abuse by 6,427 priests in 1950-2013, or 5.9% of the 109,694 U.S. priests active 1950-2002, according to the John Jay report. Including the 5,356 priests ordained since 2002 brings the total to 115,050, of whom 5.6% have been accused of abuse,” according to BishopAccountability.org.

I have elsewhere read parts of the John Jay Report that indicate a figure closer to 4%.

There is apparently no telling how these rates compare with the prevalence of pedophiles in the general population, as that number is not known, though Time Magazine says …

Dr. John Bradford, a University of Ottawa psychiatrist who has spent 23 years studying pedophilia–which is listed as an illness in the manual psychiatrists use to make diagnoses–estimates its prevalence at maybe 4% of the population. (Those attracted to teenagers are sometimes said to suffer “ephebophilia,” but perhaps because so many youth-obsessed Americans would qualify, psychiatrists don’t classify ephebophilia as an illness.)

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

By Steven Swinford, Senior Political Correspondent 13 Jul 2014

The former judge leading an investigation into an establishment cover-up of child abuse could be joined by a co-chairman after criticism of her links to the establishment.

Theresa May, the Home Secretary, appointed Baroness Butler-Sloss to lead the investigation despite the fact that her late brother, Sir Michael Havers, was Attorney General at the time of the alleged abuses in the 1980s.

Sir Michael, father of the actor Nigel Havers, reportedly tried to stop Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens from using parliamentary privilege to name diplomat Sir Peter Hayman as a paedophile. He was accused of a “whitewash” after failing to criticise Sir Peter.

Baroness Butler-Sloss, 80, has said that she “knew absolutely nothing” about her brother’s role in the controversy and both she and Downing Street have rejected suggestions she should step down.

However James Brokenshire, a Home Office minister, yesterday suggested said that the Home Office is “working on” the idea of appointing a co-chairman.

Asked about the idea, he said: “Well I think it’s this precise detail that we are working on at this stage because it is important that we do draw on the right experts.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

The retired judge – whose appointment as the head of a major review of child sex abuse allegations is under fire – said warnings could not be issued about dangerous paedophiles

By David Barrett, Home Affairs Correspondent 13 Jul 2014

Baroness Butler-Sloss, the retired judge appointed to investigate claims of an establishment child sex abuse cover-up, was responsible for a controversial ruling which prevented warnings being issued about dangerous paedophiles.

Senior social workers attacked her decision – made when she was an Appeal Court judge – and warned that it would have “major ramifications”.

As the Government faced growing pressure to review its decision to appoint Lady Butler-Sloss to the major new inquiry, one child protection expert said the peer’s involvement in the ruling had the unintended consequence of allowing paedophiles to get away with their crimes.

Lady Butler-Sloss was appointed by Theresa May, the Home Secretary, last Tuesday to lead an overarching review of allegations of child sex abuse by prominent politicians and other figures in institutions such as the Church and the BBC.

But critics have claimed the judge cannot be impartial because her late brother, a former Attorney General, played a key role in the affair in the early 1980s, and it has also been claimed she kept allegations about an Anglican bishop out of a report she wrote three years ago into a paedophile scandal in the Diocese of Chichester.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Independent

Alderman Alfred Roberts, revered father of Margaret Thatcher and inspirer of her Victorian values, sexually harassed young female assistants working in the grocer’s shop where she grew up, according to the distinguished political biographer Professor Bernard Crick.

Writing in the satirical magazine Punch, the political theorist, commentator and biographer of George Orwell recounts claims from contemporaries of the one-time Methodist preacher, pillar of society and Mayor of Grantham, Lincolnshire, that he “was a notorious toucher-up”.

The assaults supposedly took place about 60 years ago, behind the counter of the shop, next to the “splendid mahogany spice drawers with sparkling brass handles (and) large, black, lacquered tea canisters”, recalled in her autobiography by Baroness Thatcher, whose decisive endorsement of William Hague as Conservative leader last week has renewed her influence with the Tory right.

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VATICAN CITY
International Business Times

Pope Francis has described child abuse among Catholic priests as “a leprosy” among the Catholic clergy, and revealed an analysis by the Church claims that as many as one in 50 priests may be a paedophile.

The extraordinary admission by the leader of the Catholic Church, made in an interview in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, comes after Pope Francis met with victims of child abuse by Catholic priests, and after he pleaded for forgiveness for abuses by priests.

In the interview, Pope Francis was quoted as saying that his advisers had told him that 2% of Catholic priests are paedophiles, or around 8,000 priests worldwide.

“Among the 2% who are paedophiles are priests, bishops and cardinals. Others, more numerous, know but keep quiet. They punish without giving the reason,” Pope Francis is quoted as saying.

“I find this state of affairs intolerable,” he went on, and vowed to root out and punish paedophilia by Catholic priests “with the severity it demands”.

La Repubblica ran the headline: “Pope says: Like Jesus, I shall use a stick against paedophile priests.” But a Vatican spokesman said the Pope had been misquoted in the interview.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) In yet another conversation with former editor and founder of the Italian daily ‘La Repubblica’, Eugenio Scalfari, Pope Francis has touched upon a series of issues including pedophilia in the church, the mafia, the education of young people and knowledge.

In an article published Sunday in ‘La Repubblica’, Scalfari points out that it is the third time he has been to Casa Santa Marta in the Vatican for an open-hearted conversation with the Pope.

Scalfari reports that Pope Francis is extremely sensitive to and preoccupied by the question of pedophilia in the Church. He says Francis revealed that, intending to reassure him, some point out that reports show that there is only a tiny percentage – 2% – of priests affected by pedophilia in the Church, but Francis considers even this figure extremely serious and unacceptable. And regarding this same issue, the Pope forcefully condemns those who, within the Church are silent or perhaps mete out punishment without publically denouncing the crime. And he reaffirms his intention to continue tackling without compromise what he calls “the leprosy of pedophilia”.

Another theme with which the Pope is very concerned – Scalfari says – is the problem of the mafia which he will continue to denounce constantly. And he expressed his desire to get to know better the way the mafia thinks and the way “Mafiosi” profess to practice their religion.

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VATICAN CITY
Al Jazeera America

In an interview, the pontiff also hinted that ban against marriage for priests may one day be lifted

July 13, 2014

One in 50 clerics are pedophiles, Pope Francis said in an interview published Sunday, in which he also hinted that the mandate of priestly celibacy may one day be lifted.

Francis condemned child sex abuse as a “leprosy” in the Church and cited his aides as saying that “the level of pedophilia in the Church is at two percent.” That figure includes priests “and even bishops and cardinals,” Italy’s La Repubblica daily quoted Francis as saying.

The figure represents around 8,000 priests out of a global number of about 414,000, according to the latest statistics from the Vatican.

Pope Francis also promised “solutions” to the issue of priestly celibacy, the Italian publication reported, raising the possibility that the Catholic Church may eventually lift a ban on married priests.

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VATICAN CITY
Mirror (UK)

Jul 13, 2014 By Katie Davies

Many survivors of abuse by priests are angry at what they see as the Vatican’s failure to punish senior officials who have been accused of covering up scandals

The Pope today claimed around 2 per cent of clergy in the Catholic Church are paedophiles according to reliable data.

Pope Francis said that abuse of children was like “leprosy” inflicting the church and that the estimation – which would represent around 8,000 priests out of global number of about 414,000 – came from advisers.

He vowed to “confront it with the severity it demands” and said he believed “solutions” existed to problems posed by the prohibition on priests marrying, in an interview with the Italian La Repubblica newspaper.

“Among the 2% who are paedophiles are priests, bishops and cardinals,” said Pope Francis.

“Others, more numerous, know but keep quiet. They punish without giving the reason. I find this state of affairs intolerable.”

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VATICAN CITY
Express (UK)

POPE Francis has reportedly said today that thousands of priests in the Catholic Church are paedophiles and described the child abuse as “leprosy”.

By: Dion Dassanayake
Published: Sun, July 13, 2014

The Pontif allegedly said it was infecting the “house” of Catholicism and that reliable data showed one in every 50 clergy members are paedophiles.

The Pope also vowed to confront child abuse within the church “with the severity it demands”, according to the Italian La Repubblica newspaper.

He was quoted as saying: “Among the two per cent who are paedophiles are priests, bishops and cardinals.

“Others, more numerous, know but keep quiet.

“They punish without giving the reason.

“I find this state of affairs intolerable.”

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VATICAN CITY
Daily Mail (UK)

By HANNAH ROBERTS

Pope Francis has revealed that one in every fifty Catholic priests is a paedophile, it has been reported.

The pontiff was quoted as saying that advisors had told him that reliable figures show that ‘paedophilia inside the church is at the level of two per cent.’

The Pope reportedly told Italian newspaper la Repubblica that abuse of children was like ‘leprosy’ infecting the Church.

Francis said the ‘corruption of a child is the terrible and unclean thing imaginable’ and vowed to ‘confront it with the seriousness it demands’.

He said that paedophilia was unfortunately common and widespread. He said: ‘The church is fighting for the eradication of the habit and for education that rehabilitates. But this leprosy is also present in our house.’

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VATICAN CITY
Sun

(VATICAN CITY, ROME)

Pope Francis has revealed that “reliable data” collected by the Vatican suggests that one in every 50 members of the Catholic clergy is a paedophile.

Speaking in an interview with La Repubblica, the Pope said his advisers had tried to “reassure” him that paedophilia within the Church was “at the level of two per cent”.

He pledged that he would drive away the “leprosy” of child abuse that was infecting the “house” of Catholicism.

“I find this state of affairs intolerable,” he said.

Pope Francis said his advisers at the Vatican had given him the 2 per cent estimate, which included “priests, bishops and cardinals”.

He also warned of much greater figures for people who were aware of the existence of abuse – sometimes within their own families – but who stayed silent because of corruption or fear.

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VATICAN CITY
Sky News

Pope Francis has condemned child sex abuse as a “leprosy” and believes one in 50 people in the Church is involved in paedophilia.

In an interview with Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper, he also promised “solutions” to the issue of priestly celibacy and raised the possibility the Catholic Church may eventually lift its ban on married priests.

The Pope, who has previously said he would show zero tolerance for clergy who abused children, cited his aides as saying that “the level of paedophilia in the Church is at 2%”.

“That 2% includes priests and even bishops and cardinals,” he said.

Asked whether priests might one day be allowed to marry, Francis pointed out that celibacy was instituted “900 years after Our Lord’s death” and that clerics can marry in some Eastern Churches under Vatican tutelage.

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VATICAN CITY
La Repubblica

Once again, Pope Francis appears to be out of step with conventional wisdom in the Vatican. In his third conversation with Eugenio Scalfari, La Repubblica’s founder and former editor-in-chief, the pontiff implied that there was room for manoeuvre on the issue of celibacy, that there were paedophiles among the cardinals, and that not enough priests condemned the mafia. But the Vatican immediately issued a statement suggesting he had been misquoted.

The Pontiff recalled that celibacy for priests was not instituted until the 10th century, “900 years after Our Lord’s death”, something which the church usually prefers to overlook. He also recalled that clerics could marry in some Eastern Catholic Churches. There were solutions to the “problem” of celibacy, “and I will find them.”

This unusually open approach to the issue follows on from his comments in May, when he told reporters on the plane returning from Israel that “celibacy is not a dogma”. He added: “It is a rule that I appreciate very much… but since it is not a dogma, the door is always open.”

This is the third time that Scalfari has met Francis since the pontiff first shocked the paper’s newsroom last September with his open letter to the paper’s eminence gris. A few weeks later, he invited the confirmed atheist for an extensive and unprecedented interview.

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CITTA’ DEL VATICANO
La Repubblica

di EUGENIO SCALFARI
13 luglio 2014

Sono le 5 del pomeriggio di giovedì 10 luglio ed è la terza volta che incontro Papa Francesco per conversare con lui. Di che cosa? Del suo pontificato, iniziato da poco più di un anno e che in così breve tempo ha già cominciato a rivoluzionare la Chiesa; dei rapporti tra i fedeli e il Papa che viene dall’altra parte del mondo; del Concilio Vaticano II concluso 50 anni fa solo parzialmente attuato nelle sue conclusioni; del mondo moderno e la tradizione cristiana e soprattutto della figura di Gesù di Nazaret. Infine della nostra vita, dei suoi affanni e delle sue gioie, delle sue sfide e del suo destino, di ciò che ci aspetta in uno sperato aldilà o del nulla che la morte porta con sé.

Questi nostri incontri li ha voluti Papa Francesco perché, tra le tante persone di ogni condizione sociale, di ogni fede, d’ogni età che incontra nel suo quotidiano apostolato, desiderava anche scambiare idee e sentimenti con un non credente. Ed io tale sono; un non credente che ama la figura umana di Gesù, la sua predicazione, la sua leggenda, il mito che egli rappresenta agli occhi di chi gli riconosce un’umanità di eccezionale spessore, ma nessuna divinità.

Il Papa ritiene che un colloquio con un non credente siffatto sia reciprocamente stimolante e perciò vuole continuarlo; lo dico perché è lui che me l’ha detto. Il fatto che io sia anche giornalista non lo interessa affatto, potrei essere ingegnere, maestro elementare, operaio. Gli interessa parlare con chi non crede ma vorrebbe che l’amore del prossimo professato duemila anni fa dal figlio di Maria e di Giuseppe fosse il principale contenuto della nostra specie, mentre purtroppo ciò accade molto di rado, soverchiato dagli egoismi, da quelle che Francesco chiama “cupidigia di potere e desiderio di possesso”. L’ha definito in una nostra precedente conversazione “il vero peccato del mondo del quale tutti siamo affetti” e rappresenta l’altra forma della nostra umanità ed è la dinamica tra questi due sentimenti a costruire nel bene e nel male la storia del mondo. È presente in tutti e del resto, nella tradizione cristiana, Lucifero era l’angelo prediletto da Dio, portatore di luce fino a quando non si ribellò al suo Signore tentato di prenderne il posto e il suo Dio lo precipitò nelle tenebre e nel fuoco dei dannati.

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VATICAN CITY
Inquisitr

Pope Francis is known for being one of the more outspoken and candid Popes of recent times but this time it seems the Pontiff has gone even further and admitted that the Catholic church has a problem with peadophilia, a big problem.

In a frank interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, the Pope is quoted as saying that in his opinion at least one in 50 Catholic priests are paedophiles. As he confirmed that his advisors had informed him that: “Paedophilia inside the church is at the level of two per cent,” and is a “leprosy” for the church, in his own words.

The Pope continued that: “Corruption of a child is the terrible and unclean thing imaginable,’”and promised to, “confront it with the seriousness it demands.”

In saying that, the Pontiff added that: ‘The church is fighting for the eradication of the habit and for education that rehabilitates. But this leprosy is also present in our house,” admitting for the first time officially that the Catholic church has issues in this area.

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VATICAN CITY
Huffington Post

Reuters | By Philip Pullella
Posted: 07/13/2014

ROME, July 13 (Reuters) – About two percent of Roman Catholic clerics are sexual abusers, an Italian newspaper on Sunday quoted Pope Francis as saying, adding that the pontiff considered the crime “a leprosy in our house”.

But the Vatican issued a statement saying some parts of a long article in the left-leaning La Repubblica were not accurate, including one that quoted the pope as saying that there were cardinals among the abusers.

The article was a reconstruction of an hour-long conversation between the pope and the newspaper’s founder, Eugenio Scalfari, an atheist who has written about several past encounters with the pope.

“Many of my collaborators who fight with me (against pedophilia) reassure me with reliable statistics that say that the level of pedophilia in the Church is at about two percent,” Francis was quoted as saying.

“This data should hearten me but I have to tell you that it does not hearten me at all. In fact, I think that it is very grave,” he was quoted as saying.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Sunday, July 13

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 503 0003, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )

Today, Pope Francis called the on-going clergy sex abuse and cover up crises a “leprosy” and said Vatican officials believe that two percent of the world’s priests are pedophiles.

Once again, on abuse, Francis talks when he should act.

Enough with the gratuitous and distracting denunciations of clergy sex crimes. It’s time for dramatic decisions about the continuing cover ups of those crimes. Increasingly shrill words do not save one boy from being sodomized or one girl from being raped.

There have always been, and will always be, predators in the priesthood. Decreasing their numbers will be harder to do.

There needn’t be, however, “enablers” in the church hierarchy. Decreasing their numbers could not be more easier. They should be fired, period. And fired now, not years from now when the latest in a seemingly-endless string of church abuse panels proposes some superfluous protocols. And dozens of them must be fired, not one or two scapegoats.

Finally, “U.S. bishops have reported receiving allegations of abuse by 6,427 priests in 1950-2013, or 5.9% of the 109,694 U.S. priests active 1950-2002, according to the John Jay report. Including the 5,356 priests ordained since 2002 brings the total to 115,050, of whom 5.6% have been accused of abuse,” according to BishopAccountability.org.

Here are more specific numbers, from BishopAccountability.org:

–After the March 2009 release of audit documents by the NH AG, the names of 74 accused Manchester priests are known, or over 8.9% of the 831 diocesan priests, which extrapolates to 9,768 nationally

–Covington diocese states that 9.6% of its priests have been accused, which extrapolates to 10,531 nationally

–Over 10% of Providence RI priests have been accused, which extrapolates to over 10,969 nationally

–Richard Sipe estimates that 9% of U.S. priests have offended, which extrapolates to 9,872 priests nationally

The real percentage of predator priests is of course much higher. And in the far larger developing world – where the power imbalance between clergy and congregants is far greater and where bishops enjoy far more status and deference – we believe the rate is higher still.

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SOUTH AFRICA
IOL

Durban – A pastor has been arrested for the murder of a three-year-old boy after his body parts were found at a church in Pongola, KwaZulu-Natal police said on Wednesday.

Police received information about a body at a church in Ncontshane and when they went there on Saturday they found a plastic bag containing body parts, said Captain Thulani Zwane.

“It is suspected that the parts were of a boy who was reported missing on 2 July [the previous Wednesday] in the area,” he said.

Some body parts of the child were still missing and police were searching for them.

A case of murder was opened. Zwane did not say when the pastor was arrested, or disclose the name of the church.

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SOUTH AFRICA
IOL

July 13 2014
By Liam Joyce

Durban – The police are on high alert after the pastor accused of murdering four-year-old Lungisani Ntuli was released from police custody.

The army, and the Public Order Policing unit have been sent to the area after threats were issued by members of the community.

Angry Pongola residents threatened to avenge the murder of the boy after the pastor who was arrested in connection with the crime was released from police custody on Friday.

Lungisani went missing on July 2 and parts of his dismembered body were found last Saturday, in a green shopping bag in a rondavel on the property of St John’s Apostolic Faith Mission church. The child’s torso is still missing.

Residents in Ncotshane village, who spent Friday waiting outside Simdlangetshe Magistrate’s Court for the pastor’s appearance, said they would continue burning public and municipal buildings in the area.

In the past week residents destroyed the church where the body parts were found, the pastor’s home and a resident’s home after they accused her of witchcraft. They also set alight part of the magistrate’s court, destroying a building and van. Not even an intervention by politicians earlier in the week could deter them from violence. …

Mabongi Khuzwayo, a member of St John’s Apostolic Faith Mission church, which was destroyed, defended the pastor, “It can’t be him, I do not believe it at all. Let us just allow the law to sort this out and not destroy things,” she said

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SOUTH AFRICA
eNCA

DURBAN – Police in KwaZulu-Natal are searching for the limbs of a Pongola toddler whose mutilated body was discovered last weekend.

Four-year-old Lungisani Ntuli disappeared last Wednesday. His body was found, at the weekend, stuffed in a plastic bag with some of his limbs missing.

The family says it’s hard to find closure if they only get to bury parts of their child’s body.

A local priest has been arrested in connection with his death and angry community members reacted by burning the church down.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Express

By: Helen Barratt
Published: Sun, July 13, 2014

The Most Rev Justin Welby said he was braced for horror stories to materialise saying there were bad stories “in almost every institution in this land”.

He has called for transparency in the Church from now on, admitting “for many, many years things were not dealt with as they should have been dealt with”.

Asked about the potential for damning revelations to be made as part of the inquiry, Archbishop Welby told The Andrew Marr Show said: “I would love to say there weren’t, but I expect there are. There are in almost every institution in this land.

“It’s something I deal with every day and it is becoming clearer and clearer that for many, many years things were not dealt with as they should have been dealt with.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

Fresh allegations of child sex abuse against the Church of England (CofE) are likely to surface, the Archbishop of Canterbury has warned.

The Most Rev Justin Welby said he was braced for an abuse inquiry to reveal “bad stories” about the Church.

He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show that he dealt with the issue daily and that the Church needed to be transparent.

It comes after the Home Office backed Baroness Butler-Sloss as the right person to lead that inquiry.

Concerns have been raised about her over a previous review role in which she is alleged to have told an abused choirboy that she wanted to exclude some of his allegations in order to protect the CofE.

She has said she never put institutions before victims.

Archbishop Welby said abuse survivors needed to be shown justice and called for transparency from the Church in how it dealt with the issue

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UNITED KINGDOM
Mirror

Jul 12, 2014
By Nick Buckley, Keir Mudie

Margaret Thatcher personally covered up child abuse ­allegations made against one of her senior ministers, according to explosive new claims.

The Sunday People reports Tory Prime Minister is said to have held a high-powered meeting with the rising star, who was being tipped for promotion, and told him: “You have to clean up your sexual act.”

It followed an allegation that the minister had sexually abused young boys at the home of one of his political allies in 1982.

However the minister apparently ignored the warnings.

It is claimed that four years later he was spotted by police seeking young boys for sex at Victoria railway station in London.

But no action was taken.

The extraordinary claims – made to the Sunday People by a source with inside knowledge of Scotland Yard in the early 1980s – are now expected to be put before the Westminster child abuse ­inquiry announced last week by the Prime Minister. …

The Home Office was forced to defend Baroness Butler-Sloss, 80, after it was claimed she buried allegations about a bishop from a child-abuse review in 2011.

She reportedly told a victim she did not want to include the allegations in a review of how the Church of England dealt with two paedophile priests because she “cared about the Church” and “the Press would love a bishop”.

A Home Office spokesman said: “The integrity of Baroness Butler-Sloss is beyond reproach and we stand by her appointment unreservedly.”

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VATICAN CITY
Channel News Asia

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis promised “solutions” to the issue of priestly celibacy in an interview on Sunday that raised the possibility the Catholic Church could eventually lift a ban on married priests, but was quickly refuted by the Vatican.

Interviewed by Italy’s La Repubblica daily, Francis also condemned child sex abuse as a “leprosy” in the Church and cited his aides as saying that “the level of paedophilia in the Church is at two per cent”.

“That two per cent includes priests and even bishops and cardinals,” the pope was quoted as saying.

Asked whether priests might one day be allowed to marry, Francis pointed out that celibacy was instituted “900 years after Our Lord’s death” and that clerics can marry in some Eastern Churches under Vatican tutelage.

“There definitely is a problem but it is not a major one. This needs time but there are solutions and I will find them,” Francis said, without giving further details.

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NEDERLAND
Trouw

[Abuse victims again feel insulted by the Catholic Church. The Wim Deetman committee in 2011 issued a report about sexual abuse of minors in Catholic institutions between 1945 and 1981. It was a bomb. Deetman investigated 2,100 reports of abuse but said the actual number is many times higher and could be 10,000 or 20,000.]

Misbruikslachtoffers voelen zich voor de zoveelste keer geschoffeerd door de katholieke kerk. Nu omdat de klachtencommissie definitief stopt. ‘Dit is zó arrogant.’

Van de in totaal 1600 meldingen moet het meldpunt er nog 500 afwikkelen
Het is 16 december 2011. De commissie-Deetman komt met haar eindrapport over seksueel misbruik van minderjarigen in katholieke instellingen tussen 1945 en 1981. Het rapport slaat in als een bom.

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UNITED STATES
NYR

Garry Wills

Pope Francis has acted fast on his preferred issues—poverty and economic justice. Nothing in that to criticize. He has been slower—too slow, say some—to deal with the long-festering problem of sex abuse by priests. He has at last taken some of the steps people were calling for—see victims and apologize to them, authorize a panel to study the problem, promise reforms that will prevent a recurrence of these crimes. OK so far—but Pope Benedict had begun all that before him.

Why did Francis hesitate to continue what was already being done? Is it because all these things are beside the point? Very likely, they are. Without addressing structural issues in the Vatican, meaningful action to restore trust in the priesthood and church authority cannot get far. There are four such interlocking problems:

1. Celibacy. Yes, celibacy does not directly and of itself lead to sexual predation. There are many unmarried men and women who are not predators. But Catholic celibacy is not simply an unmarried state. It is a mandatory and exclusive requirement for holding all significant offices in the Church. This sets up a sexual caste system that limits vision, empathy, and honesty. It enables church rulers to be blithely at odds with the vast majority of their own people. According to a 2011 Guttmacher Institute study, 98 percent of American Catholic women of child-bearing age have had sex—and, of that 98 percent, 99 percent have used or will use some form of contraception. Yet celibate priests tell us they know what sex is really about (by their expertise in “natural law”), and in their view it absolutely precludes birth control. There is an induced infantilism in such cloistered minds, an ignorance that poses as innocence. This prevents honesty at so many levels that any trust on sexual matters begins in a crippled state, handicapping all treatment of sexual predation in the Church.

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CANADA
Our Love and Support to Archbishop Seraphim (Storheim)

With tears of joy and deep gratitude we publish the official letter of support to Archbishop Seraphim from the HOLY SYNOD OF BISHOPS OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH OF PORTUGAL

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UNITED KINGDOM
Sunday Mail

By PRESS ASSOCIATION

An inquiry into allegations of child sex abuse at the heart of the establishment is likely to turn up fresh claims about the Church of England, the Archbishop of Canterbury has admitted.

The Most Rev Justin Welby said it was something he dealt with daily and it was becoming clearer that “for many, many years things were not dealt with as they should have been dealt with”.

Abuse survivors must now be shown justice and the Church must be “absolutely transparent” every step of the way, he told BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show.

Asked if he was braced for the inquiry to uncover “bad stories”, Archbishop Welby replied: “I would love to say there weren’t, but I expect there are. There are in almost every institution in this land.

“This is, it’s something I deal with every day and it is becoming clearer and clearer that for many, many years things were not dealt with as they should have been dealt with.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

Esther Rantzen, the founder of ChildLine, has added her voice to those who think that Baroness Butler-Sloss may be the wrong person to lead an inquiry into how the government handled allegations of child abuse by senior politicians in the 1980s.

Last week Phil Johnson, who was abused by a paedophile priest in Sussex, claimed Baroness Butler-Sloss wanted to exclude some of his allegations in a bid to protect the Church of England.

Baroness Butler-Sloss said she had never put institutions before victims. The Home Office has backed her as the right person to lead an inquiry.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Observer

Andrew Rawnsley
The Observer, Saturday 12 July 2014

It is a question of our age – arguably the question of our age – which links every story that is probably interesting you right now. It screams out of the allegations that a paedophile ring operated at Westminster. It is triggered again by the government’s desire to rush through emergency surveillance legislation in the name of combatting terrorism. It is at the heart of the debate about the future of the NHS. It bedevils the arguments over independence for Scotland. It will be up front and central and decisive at the next British general election. Whom do you trust?

Comes an answer that is as popular as it is succinct: trust no one.

Trust me, I’m a banker. Don’t think so. Trust me, I’m a doctor. Did you ever work at Mid-Staffs? Trust me, I’m from the intelligence services. And what did you have to do with rendition and torture? Trust me, I’m a police officer. How many innocent people did you shoot or stitch up to today? Trust me, I’m a bishop. Catholic or Anglican? Child abuser or investor in Wonga? Trust me, I’m a supermarket. How much horse is there in your burgers? Trust me, I’m from the newspapers. When does your trial begin? Trust me, I’m from the BBC. And what did you know about Jimmy Savile? Trust me, I’m a celebrity. How much tax are you avoiding? And were you mates with Rolf Harris?

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UNITED KINGDOM
Irish Mirror

Jul 13, 2014 By Vincent Moss, Matthew Drake

Margaret Thatcher was warned that senior ministers were involved in a child sex ring, a former Tory activist claims.

Anthony Gilberthorpe says he sent her a 40-page dossier in 1989 accusing Cabinet members of abusing underage boys at drug-fuelled conference parties.

Mr Gilberthorpe, who claims he was ordered to recruit boys for the ministers, says he posted the “graphic” allegations to Mrs Thatcher after befriending her. …

Her former Parliamentary Private Secretary Sir Peter Morrison has already been named in connection with a probe into the Bryn Estyn children’s home in Wrexham where Jimmy Savile allegedly molested boys.

Mrs Thatcher lobbied for Savile to be given a knighthood and he visited her at Chequers on at least 11 occasions. …

Details of Mr Gilberthorpe’s evidence emerged as retired judge Baroness Butler-Sloss came under growing ­pressure to stand down as head of the Westminster child abuse inquiry.

She is accused of keeping allegations about a bishop out of a review of how the Church of England dealt with two paedophile priests because she “cared about the church.”

In a statement yesterday, Lady Butler-Sloss insisted that she has “never” put the reputation of an institution ahead of justice for victims.

In another ­development yesterday a former social ­services official said his warnings about the threat of a Westminster-based paedophile network were ignored because “there were too many of
them there”.

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IRELAND
Bray People

BRAY native Marie Kane met Pope Francis at the Vatican on Monday where they discussed her abuse.

Bray native Marie Kane met Pope Francis at the Vatican on Monday where they discussed her abuse.

Marie (43), who now lives in Carlow, was one of a group of six victims to meet the pope.

She asked him to allow priests marry and sack bishops who do not act on abuse in their diocese.

She said that the meeting was a very positive experience and a huge vindication for her, according to the Irish Independent.

‘I am 11 years trying to get justice in some shape or form and it hasn’t happened,’ she told the newspaper, adding that the Pope ‘seemed genuinely sorry.’

She reported that he listened intently to what she had to say, at times seeming frustrated by what he was hearing.

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LOUISIANA
The Advocate

[state supreme court ruling]

HEIDI R. KINCHEN
hkinchen@theadvocate.com

A legal battle over whether a Louisiana priest should have reported a teenager’s claims of sexual abuse by a parishioner is pitting state laws meant to protect children against the age-old secrecy surrounding religious confessions.

The case involves a woman who claims that in 2008, when she was 14, she told her pastor she was sexually abused by a now-deceased church parishioner, but that the priest, the Rev. Jeff Bayhi of Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Church in Clinton, told her to “sweep it under the floor and get rid of it.”

Rebecca Mayeux — whom recent court rulings in the sealed case did not name but who identified herself as the alleged victim in a TV interview with WBRZ — has sued Bayhi and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge, arguing that the priest neglected his duty under state law to report the alleged abuse to the authorities.

The Baton Rouge Diocese has said Bayhi responded appropriately because the information came to him through confession, a sacrament that includes a seal of confidentiality no priest can break.

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NEW MEXICO
ABQ Journal

By Olivier Uyttebrouck / Journal Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: Sunday, July 13, 201

New Mexicans first met Michael Sheehan in April 1993 when the 53-year-old bishop was tapped by the Vatican to lead the Archdiocese of Santa Fe in a time of mounting crisis.

The leaderless archdiocese had been rocked by allegations of clerical sexual abuse.

Just three weeks earlier, the popular Archbishop Robert F. Sanchez had resigned after five women alleged he had sexually molested them when they were teenagers. New Mexicans were shocked to hear several women describe those abuses on “60 Minutes,” CBS’ news program.

Sanchez was one of at least 14 priests accused of sexual abuse at the time Sheehan arrived and lawsuits were beginning to pile up. Sheehan ultimately dismissed an estimated 20 priests as a result of the scandal.

Then-Bishop of Lubbock, Sheehan was met by a phalanx of reporters at his first news conference in Albuquerque.

“I want to put the household of faith in order,” Sheehan said following a flight from Texas. “But I cannot do it alone, nor can I do it overnight.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Sunday Mail

I was asked to find underage boys for sex at drink and drug-fuelled Tory party conferences, claims former activist

By MATT CHORLEY, MAILONLINE POLITICAL EDITOR

Senior Tory politicians took part in drink and drug-fuelled sex parties with underage boys during seaside conferences, it was claimed today.

Former activist Anthony Gilberthorpe says he was handed cash and told to ‘fetch entertainment’ – code for young boys – by members of Margaret Thatcher’s government.

But the claims were today rejected as ‘tittle-tattle’ by former Conservative minister David Mellor, who insisted those named were dead and unable to defend themselves. …

He told the Sunday Mirror how boys as young as 15 were plied with alcohol and cocaine at Conservative gatherings in Blackpool and Brighton in the 1980s.

He named former former-Education Secretary Keith Joseph, ex-local government minister Rhodes Boyson, and Michael Havers, the former attorney general who is the brother of Baroness Butler-Sloss. All of those Mr Gilberthorpe names are now dead. …

Mr Gilberthorpe alleges that in 1981 he went to a party in Blackpool where ‘several boys who were clearly aged between 15 and 16’ were performing sex acts on MPs.

He claims he saw Sir Michael Havers there. Baroness Butler-Sloss has faced calls to stand down from her role leading the panel inquiry because her brother was in the Cabinet at the time many of these allegations date from.

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PHILIPPINES
Sun.Star

By Atty. Ignacio R. Bunye
Speaking Out
Sunday, July 13, 2014

POPE Francis recently backed with strong action his pronouncements to hold officials accountable in connection with the sex scandals that have shaken the Catholic Church.

On his assumption as pontiff, Pope Francis announced “zero tolerance” for the sex abuses, which he called “the shame of the Church.” He further said that dealing with the sex abuse allegations was “vital to the Roman Catholic Church’s credibility.”

Last December, he announced the creation of a Vatican committee that will help fight child abuse in the Church.

Three weeks ago, BBC reported that the Vatican tribunal convicted a Polish archbishop and stripped him of his priesthood because of sexual abuse.

The archbishop is the highest ranking Church official so far investigated. He was found guilty of charges that he had abused boys in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic during his assignment in that city as a papal ambassador.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Scotsman

by DANI GARAVELLI
Published on the 13 July 2014

Ensuring victims of child abuse have a voice is just as important as uncovering any evidence of a mass cover-up over historic cases, writes Dani Garavelli

WHEN IAN McFadyen saw the former head­teacher of Caldicott Prep School in Slough jailed for child abuse in February, he expected to feel a sense of closure. After all, Peter Wright had been at the centre of a paedophile ring that had preyed on prepubescent boys at the school for almost a quarter of a century – a ring that McFadyen had dedicated several years of his life to exposing.

McFadyen had not been abused by Wright, now 83, but by several other teachers, one of whom, John Addrison, is also in prison. His principal abuser, George Hill, who assaulted him repeatedly, committed suicide without being charged, while another teacher, Hugh Henry, threw himself in front of a train hours before he was due to be sentenced. …

The confusing tangle of scandals at the heart of the new inquiries has been on the radar for several decades, but, it is alleged, covered up to protect the reputations of those involved. The allegations against Smith were first investigated by Lancashire Police in the 1960s, until, according to retired detective Jack Tasker, those involved were told to back off by Special Branch. Allegations about child abuse at Elm Guest House, a gay brothel shut down after a raid in 1982, surfaced eight years later during the inquest of co-owner Carole Kasir. And in 1992, officers investigating paedophile Peter Righton, a consultant to the National Children’s Bureau convicted of importing images of child abuse, are said to have gathered box-loads of evidence pointing to the existence of a nationwide paedophile ring.

The catalyst for their re-investigation was, of course, the death of Jimmy Savile. As the scale of his offending emerged, those involved in other scandals began to raise their heads above the parapet. Most significantly, former child protection officer Peter McKelvie, who helped convict Righton and had spent 20 years wondering why important leads had not been followed up, took his concerns to MP Tom Watson, who has been questioning the government ever since.

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VATICAN CITY
Boston Globe

By John L. Allen Jr. | GLOBE STAFF JULY 12, 2014

As anyone who paid attention in history class knows, when Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés landed in what’s now Mexico in 1519, he promptly scuttled his ships, thereby leaving his men no choice but to press on in conquest of the Aztec empire. For centuries, that rash act has loomed as an object lesson in total commitment.

This week Pope Francis scuttled some ships of his own, on two fronts which have been sources of scandal and heartache for the Catholic Church: sex and money.

On Monday, Francis held his first meeting with victims of clerical sexual abuse. Two days later, the Vatican announced a sweeping financial overhaul, including new leadership and a sharply limited role for the troubled Vatican bank.

There’s such hunger in the world to believe Francis is the real deal that it’s tempting to confuse announcing a plan for reform with actually implementing it. To be clear, what happened this week was not reform itself — it was more like a prelude to action, an attempt to create the conditions for something good to happen.

In both cases, the key effect was to commit Pope Francis definitively to a particular course of action.

On the abuse front, the fact that Francis met with victims was no novelty, as Benedict XVI held such encounters six times. Likewise there was no breakthrough in his plea for forgiveness, since such apologies date all the way back to 1993 when John Paul II voiced sorrow for the sins of “some ministers of the altar.” They became sharper under Benedict XVI, who first used the magic words “I’m sorry” in Australia in 2008.

Nor was Francis’ pledge of zero tolerance a novelty. The classic papal statement comes from an April 2002 speech by John Paul II to American cardinals: “There is no place in the priesthood and religious life for those who would harm the young.”

Yet the July 7 meeting wasn’t entirely old hat, because Francis had something groundbreaking to say on accountability. Here’s the line: “All bishops must carry out their pastoral ministry with the utmost care in order to help foster the protection of minors, and they will be held accountable.”

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UNITEDKINGDOM
Scriptonite Daily

Scriptonite Daily / December 18, 2013

For decades, vulnerable children from care homes and other institutions were booked to order by rich and powerful men, for sex. This is the allegation put forward in ‘Nightmares at Elm Guest House’, in an interview with Chris Fay of the National Association for Young People in Care. As another significant member of the Conservative party is about to be outed this weekend, we take a closer look at these allegations and ask: how much longer can the UK establishment keep this story suppressed?

In 1974, a group of child sex abusers launched the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE). This group was legal at the time, and sought to promote the rights of ‘paedophiles’. The group espoused the view that children had the right to indulge in their sexual feelings with adults, and argued the age of consent should be lowered to four years old, or abolished altogether.

This was not some fringe group, hidden away. They had thousands of members, many from senior positions in the media, the security services, politics and other establishment positions.

The members were public and built affiliations with the Gay Liberation Front, the Campaign for Homosexual Equality, mental health charity Mind, and even human rights organisation Liberty (previously named The National Council for Civil Liberties). The leaders of PIE shared platforms with Harriet Harman, Patricia Hewitt, and others.

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UNITED KINGDOM
RT

A former official from the UK’s social services has said that an alleged pedophile network in Westminster and Whitehall was ignored because “there are too many of them over there.”

David Tombs, a former official who ran Hereford and Worcester social services for 20 years, warned the government about the possible pedophile network after the arrest of notorious pedophile Peter Righton in 1992.

Tombs claims he became aware of the pedophile behavior through a police investigation.

“I had no particular names, but that was the impression I was getting,” he told a BBC Radio current affairs program.

“It was coming across to me at the time that there were names linked into the establishment, if you like,” he said.

But when he approached representatives from the Department of Health, he was told that he was “probably wasting his time” as there were “too many of them over there” in Westminster and Whitehall.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Frances Gibb Legal Editor

July 12 2014

Baroness Butler-Sloss was facing the toughest battle of her long career last night after it emerged that she withheld allegations against an Anglican bishop from a report she wrote into paedophile priests in 2011.

The decision this week to appoint the former president of the Family Division of the High Court, 80, to head a new overarching inquiry into child sex abuse has been criticised because her brother was the
late Lord Havers, attorney general from 1979 to 1987, the periods of some of the present controversy over the failure to prosecute child abuse.

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