ABUSE TRACKER

ITALIA
La Repubblica

ROMA – Il vescovo della diocesi di Cassino-Sora, monsignor Gerardo Antonazzo, sarebbe indagato – secondo quanto riporta l’Agi – per presunte molestie sessuali a carico di 8 seminaristi. La procura precisa che “non è stato emesso alcun avviso di chiusura indagini”.

L’inchiesta era stata avviata nello scorso dicembre quando alla Procura di Casino era arrivata una lettera firmata da un giovane seminarista che raccontava delle presunte molestie che lui e altri 7 ragazzi, tutti maggiorenni, avrebbero subito parte del vescovo. Del procedimento è titolare il procuratore capo Luciano d’Emmanuele che nei giorni scorsi ha concluso le verifiche e ha chiesto il rinvio a giudizio. Gli atti sono stati inviati alla Santa Sede, per il vaglio di eventuali provvedimenti da adottare nei confronti del vescovo Antonazzo.

L’alto prelato in una nota fa sapere di essere “sorpreso e sconcertato” dopo la notizia dell’indagine a suo carico. “Sento il dovere di dichiarare la totale infondatezza delle accuse che mi vengono attribuite” dice Gerardo Antonazzo. “Posso, inoltre, assicurare – aggiunge il monsignore – che ad oggi non ho ricevuto alcuna comunicazione da parte delle autorità competenti circa l’esistenza di un’indagine a mio carico”. Secondo alcune fonti vaticane le accuse sarebbe state mosse da persone respinte dal seminario perché considerate non adatte. Ma intanto l’inchiesta sugli abusi prosegue.

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ITALIA
L’Huffington Post

Otto presunte molestie sessuali sui seminaristi. Monsignor Gerardo Antonazzo, vescovo della diocesi di Sora-Cassino-Aquino-Pontecorvo, sarebbe indagato per presunte molestie sessuali a carico di otto seminaristi. Lo riportano alcune agenzie di stampa.

L’inchiesta era stata avviata nello scorso dicembre quando alla Procura di Casino era arrivata una lettera firmata da un giovane seminarista che raccontava presunte molestie che lui insieme ad altri giovani seminaristi avrebbe subito da parte del vescovo sessantenne. Il sacerdote avrebbe ricevuto nei giorni scorsi l’avviso di conclusione indagini.

Sul caso indaga il procuratore capo Luciano d’Emmanuele che nei giorni scorsi ha concluso le verifiche e ha chiesto il rinvio a giudizio. Gli atti sono stati inviati alla Santa Sede, per il vaglio di eventuali provvedimenti da adottare nei confronti del vescovo.

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ITALIA
Secolo di Italia

Un altro scandalo nell’Abbazia di Cassino, dopo quello dell’abate che rubava i fondi per festini e viaggi all’estero. Molestie sessuali ai seminaristi: con questa accusa il vescovo della diocesi di Cassino-Sora, monsignor Gerardo Antonazzo, sarebbe indagato per presunte molestie sessuali a carico di 8 seminaristi. L’alto prelato, di origini salentine, avrebbe ricevuto nei giorni scorsi l’avviso di conclusione indagini. ‘inchiesta era stata avviata nello scorso dicembre quando alla Procura di Casino era arrivata una lettera firmata da un giovane seminarista che raccontava delle presunte molestie che lui e altri 7 ragazzi, tutti maggiorenni, avrebbero subito parte del vescovo. Gli atti sono stati inviati alla Santa Sede, per il vaglio di eventuali provvedimenti da adottare nei confronti del vescovo Antonazzo. Monsignor Gerardo Antonazzo è nato a Supersano (Le) il 20 maggio 1956, ed è stato ordinato sacerdote a Supersano (Le) il 12 settembre 1981.

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ITALY
Business Standard

AFP | Rome
April 3, 2016

An Italian bishop is being investigated for the alleged sexual abuse of eight student priests, media reports said today.

Prosecutors in Cassino, south of Rome, opened a probe into monsignor Gerardo Antonazzo after receiving a letter from a seminarian accusing the bishop of sexually molesting him and seven other adults, La Repubblica said.

“I must stress how utterly unfounded the accusations are,” Antonazzo was quoted as saying, adding that he had not been informed that he was under investigation.

Prosecutors said the probe was ongoing, refuting earlier reports that they were ready to arrest the bishop.

“The documents (on Antonazzo) have been sent to the Holy See, so it can evaluate eventual measures to be taken,” the online newspaper Il Tempo said.

Sex abuse scandals have dogged the Catholic Church in recent years with alleged victims breaking their silence in the United States, Ireland, the Netherlands, Australia France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Mexico and Poland.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

April 3, 2016

Rory Callinan
Investigative journalist

The Catholic Church’s insurance company, which is keeping secret an archive of clergy child abuse records, had a long-standing director who allegedly failed to report a paedophile priest.

Last week, Fairfax revealed Catholic Church Insurance Limited , which provides insurance cover to the church, had amassed hundreds of files on paedophile clergy.

But lawyers for victims of the paedophiles say they are struggling to get access to the documents, which could prove vital to obtaining compensation, bringing perpetrators to justice and exposing cover-ups.

It has now emerged that up until September last year, one of the directors of CCI was Father Brian Lucas, a senior clergyman who has been criticised over his handling of child abuse complaints involving notorious priest Denis McAlinden​ in NSW in the 1990s.

McAlinden was an Irish priest who transferred to Australia in the late 1940s. He abused numerous children over decades but when complaints surfaced in the 1970s, top-level clergy transferred him to other parishes without warning and despite him making admissions.

He spent most of his time in the Maitland-Newcastle diocese in NSW but was briefly transferred to Western Australia and to New Zealand and Papua New Guinea after complainants came forward.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

04/01/2016

Jennifer Haselberger

That is the message the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis is trying to communicate in advance of an avalanche of lawsuits about to be filed against parishes. As was mentioned here in an earlier post, in the absence of a mediated agreement regarding the resolution of victims’ claims, attorneys representing victims of sexual abuse by clergy have been planning to file lawsuits against individual parishes as a means of preserving their clients’ claims prior to the May 2016 deadline established by the Minnesota Child Victims Act.

The Archdiocese is anticipating that the suits against parishes will be filed in the next two to six weeks, and so it has begun to prepare pastors and parish staff to respond. Parishioners of impacted parishes can expect to receive letters from Archbishop Hebda and others this weekend, and parish staff have been given ‘talking points’ for responding to calls from angry or worried parishioners. Parishes that are sued have been advised to consult an attorney, meaning that significant costs could accrue to parishes as a result of the lawsuits.

Significantly, MPR reported yesterday that the Archdiocese told a federal bankruptcy judge that it hopes to file a reorganization plan by the end of May, but that would be after the deadline. Moreover, attorneys for victims made it clear that the Archdiocese has not shared the proposed plan with nor secured the support of the unsecured creditors committee, which represents victims of sexual abuse.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

BY LAUREN HENSLEY FRIDAY, APRIL 1ST 2016

Friday marked one month since the grand jury reported sexual assault at the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown.

Reports said religious leaders allegedly sexually abused hundreds of child victims and incidents were covered up by diocese leaders.

“The church needs to come clean and be honorable and be truthful. That is what we need to do for these victims,” Rosalind Merrits, of Hollidaysburg, said.

6 News received a statement from U.S. Attorney David Hickton that said there may be a federal investigation after a loophole was found in the system that may result in charges.

“While we cannot discuss the specifics of an active investigation, we can affirm that our investigation is ongoing. We have been and will continue to consider all resources available under federal law, including civil and criminal Racketeering Influence and Corruption Organization Act, to address the type of widespread misconduct alleged in the state grand jury report,” Hickton said.

The act allows leaders to be tried for crimes in which they ordered others to do or assisted in doing.

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CANADA
Canadian Jewish News

By Ron Csillag – April 1, 2016

Jews must put aside fear of shaming their community, their families and themselves, as well as perceived prohibitions of turning to secular authorities, to fight a growing wave of child sexual abuse, speakers told an audience at Shaarei Shomayim Congregation.

Speakers addressing a packed sanctuary on March 31 made blunt, often harrowing assessments of childhood sexual abuse in Jewish communities, saying the problem is rampant and is too often ignored or denied outright.

There was a large Orthodox contingent in attendance, and speakers stressed that Orthodox and chassidic communities offer much resistance to dealing with the sexual abuse of children. It is time to end the silence, they said.

MC Benny Forer, a graduate of Ner Israel Yeshiva north of Toronto, and now a deputy district attorney in Los Angeles, recounted how his best friend had been sexually abused and killed himself on Yom Kippur in 1993.

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CANADA
CBC News

By Liam Britten, CBC News Posted: Apr 01, 2016

In 1907, Peter Bryce wrote a report documenting the inhuman and unsanitary conditions of residential schools.

On Friday, a short documentary was released about his vocal criticism of the residential school system from his great-grandson, Victoria filmmaker Andy Bryce.

Finding Heart tells the story of how Peter Bryce, as a medical inspector for the Department of Indian Affairs, made a direct link between the conditions in residential schools and a deadly tuberculosis epidemic in First Nations children just after the turn of the century.

“About 24 per cent of all students in residential schools were suffering from tuberculosis or had died from tuberculosis,” Andy Bryce told All Points West guest host Khalil Akhtar.

“In one school, which was File Hills in Saskatchewan, the rate was about 75 per cent.”

Peter Bryce’s report was leaked to the media, but didn’t get much attention, Andy Bryce said, and none of the report’s recommendations were immediately implemented.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY KENNETH LOVETT NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Friday, April 1, 2016

ALBANY — One of the biggest obstacles to the push for justice for sex abuse victims is the 90-day window victims have to notify public schools or government entities of an intent to sue.

There’s no such requirement for filing a so-called notice of claim — the first step in a lawsuit — against religious organizations or nonprofit groups. Critics say that creates an uneven playing field where victims can sue the Catholic church, or the Boy Scouts, for example, until the accuser turns 23.

“What we’re seeing with the 90-day limit is the creating of two classes of victim, depending solely on where the abuse occurred,” said Dennis Poust, spokesman for the state Catholic Conference. “By any stretch of the imagination, that’s just inherently unfair.”

Eliminating the 90-day window would require legislative action, a change in the notice-of-claim law.

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UNITED STATES
Lancaster Online

EARLE CORNELIUS | Staff Writer

SPEAK OUT CAMPAIGN

How do churches deal with issues of domestic or sexual abuse within their congregations?

“Not well,” says Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz.

Amstutz is a longtime restorative justice coordinator with Mennonite Central Committee. Most of her career has been devoted to resolving issues between crime victims and offenders and helping churches in conflict.

Lately, however, her work has expanded to include aiding church members who are victims of domestic and/or sexual abuse and helping churches whose members are dealing with those issues. It is part of a three-year campaign — titled “We Will Speak Out” — begun in 2015 by a movement of faith-based groups.

The goal of the campaign, Amstutz explained to a gathering at the Parish Resource Center last week, is to raise awareness, care for victims, encourage law enforcement, change the culture of tolerance and inaction and ultimately provide resources to church leaders to help them support and assist those within their congregations who have been abused.

Anne Winslow, 53, of Lancaster, understands what it means to be a victim. A survivor of sexual and domestic abuse, the student at Biblical Theological Seminary in Hatfield, Montgomery County, says her goal is to help people who have been victimized and to raise awareness within the church.

‘Nobody wants to talk about it’

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PENNSYLVANIA
Washington Post

by Mary Kane April 1

Mary Kane is a freelance reporter who lives in Arlington.

Like many longtime reporters, I celebrated the Oscar victory for “Spotlight” and the fearless journalism that exposed the Catholic Church’s clergy sex abuse scandal.

I would soon see the story, and the scandal, from a very different perspective.

Two days after the Oscar ceremony, news broke about another widespread church coverup. I found myself poring over a grand jury report outlining in sickening detail the abuse of hundreds of children by at least 50 priests and religious leaders in western Pennsylvania’s Altoona-Johnstown Diocese — in my hometown.

I moved away long ago, but I still have family there. I visit regularly, and my mom was a devoted parish volunteer during her lifetime. I figured I might recognize a few of the accused or some of the churches. I quickly realized things stretched far beyond that.

The names of priests and parishes from my childhood appeared, one after another, all familiar. My grade school priest. Not one but two pastors from my neighborhood parish, a half block from my childhood home. The principal, vice principal and music director from my high school. A priest I once met with to consider officiating my wedding. The priest at the church my four nieces and nephews attended. The chaplain of the nearby Catholic hospital, where my mom volunteered.

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CANADA
The Sudbury Star

By Harold Carmichael, The Sudbury Star
Saturday, April 2, 2016

A now retired Roman Catholic priest preyed on him when he served as his altar boy, a Sudbury man alleges in a $3-million lawsuit that goes to trial on Monday.

The plaintiff, known only as “P.J.J.,” is seeking damages for pain and suffering, emotional and/or mental distress and aggravation from Rev. John Edward Sullivan and the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie,

The plaintiff alleges the sex abuse occurred when he served as an altar boy under Sullivan’s guidance.

None of the allegations contained in the lawsuit have been proven in a court of law.

Sullivan, who at one time served at the long-closed Falconbridge Canadian Forces Base in the Hanmer area, is a convicted sex offender.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Review

BY BRAD BUMSTED | Friday, April 1, 2016

HARRISBURG — After a grand jury report last month detailing widespread child molestation by priests, a state House panel next week will consider legislation to eliminate the statute of limitations in criminal child abuse cases and expand the time limit for civil litigation.

The statewide investigative grand jury under state Attorney General Kathleen Kane found that hundreds of children were molested for more than four decades by as many as 50 priests in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown. But no one was charged with crimes because many had died and laws that limit the amount of time that elapses between an alleged crime and an indictment barred prosecution.

Meanwhile, U.S. Attorney David Hickton, whose office convicted a Somerset County priest sentenced last month to 16 months in prison, is reviewing whether his office can use the Racketeering Influenced Corruption Organized Act — created by Congress to go after mob leaders — for civil lawsuits to provide compensation to victims.

It would be the first civil use of the RICO law in the nationwide priest abuse scandal, said Marci Hamilton, an expert on statutes of limitations. The Tribune-Review reported two weeks ago that state Rep. Mike Vereb, R-Montgomery County, a former law enforcement agent, wrote to Hickton asking him to explore use of the RICO statute.

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MINNESOTA
Fox 9

(KMSP) – When Twin cities Catholics go to church this weekend they will get more than just their weekly mass, they will also get a reminder of an upcoming deadline in the ongoing church abuse scandal.

Sources tell Fox 9 the new Archbishop Bernard Hebda has ordered parish priests to help parishioners remember the May 25 deadline for the Minnesota Child Victim’s Act, which lifts the statute of limitations for people who say they were sexually abused, to prepare them in case their parish is sued.

“We anticipate that some parishes will have lawsuits commenced against them and we have been working to make sure communications are clear and accurate and anticipate that parish leaders will address the possible legal action this weekend,” the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis said in a statement.

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UNITED STATES
The Wartburg Watch

“It’s reckless and callous when clergymen give prominent positions to colleagues who face charges of concealing child sex crimes. It actually makes churches more dangerous. It discourages other church members and staff who see, suspect or suffer child sex crimes from speaking up. It emboldens those who commit and conceal child sex crimes.”

David Clohessy, Director of SNAP (statement from recent press release)

Today may be April Fool’s Day, but it’s no joke that the ‘protest’ against C.J. Mahaney speaking at the upcoming T4G conference is growing by the day. Mahaney, who moved the Sovereign Grace Ministries Churches headquarters from Gaitherburg, Maryland to Louisville, Kentucky, plans to deliver a message entitled Sustained in Suffering by the Saga of Job. As senior pastor of Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville, Mahaney did a series on Job from which his talk will most likely be taken. I have listened to a number of those messages, and it sounded to me like he was playing the victim card.

With the recent arrest of an alleged pedophile at Covenant Life Church (CLC), attention is once again focused on Mahaney, who served as CLC’s senior pastor for 27 years. It hasn’t been that long since Nate Morales, a former youth group leader at CLC, was convicted of sexually abusing young boys and sentenced to 40 years in prison. Mahaney, who was named in a lawsuit that was dismissed on a technicality, has never been exonerated. To be clear, Mahaney has not been accused of pedophilia but of concealing pedophiles/failing to report them to the proper authorities at his former church.

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PENNSYLVANIA
CBS Philly

By Mark Abrams and Walt Hunter

RADNOR, Pa. (CBS) — Police say Villanova professor Christopher Haas, 60, has been charged with possessing child pornography.

Haas allegedly had over 400 images of child pornography on his computer. Authorities say the investigation began in 2012.

Radnor Township Police say Haas is in Delaware County Prison following his arrest on charges related to a nearly four-year investigation by federal homeland security officials of his computer activity at home.

Radnor Township Lt. Andy Block said “Dr. Haas was charged with 415 counts of sexual abuse of children and the possession of child pornography falls under that section of the crimes code, the Pennsylvania Crimes Code.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
Mainline

By Richard Ilgenfritz
rilgenfritz@21st-centurymedia.com
@rpilgenfritz on Twitter

Radnor police say a Villanova professor has been charged with possession of hundreds of child pornography images after investigators were alerted to his alleged activities by university officials.

Police say Christopher Haas, 60, of Paoli was arrested Monday and then charged with hundreds of counts.

David Tedjeske, director of public safety at Villanova University, outlined some details of the case during a press conference with Radnor police Thursday afternoon.

“The university takes the security of its electronic systems very seriously and monitors Internet activity across campus for inappropriate use of those resources,” Tedjeske said. “Our security alerted us to a suspicious condition involving Internet access in late March of this year. The subsequent investigation revealed that a faculty member in the History/Classical Studies department had accessed child pornography from a computer in a common area of an office in the [St. Augustine] center.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
CNN

(CNN) A Villanova University history professor is out of the classroom and behind bars on 415 counts related to child pornography.

Christopher Haas, 60, was arrested in his campus office Monday after the university notified local police that a computer in a common area had been flagged for visits to a child porn site, said Lt. Andy Block with the Radnor, Pennsylvania, police.

A search at Haas’ residence as part of a separate federal investigation also found more than 400 images of child pornography on a personal computer, Block said.

“It’s a very disappointing investigation or case when you get this, that someone is in the academic field and has the ability to shape students’ minds and then they’re engaged in this type of behavior,” Block said.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

David Barrett, home affairs correspondent
1 APRIL 2016

A victims’ campaigner who claims Kenneth Clarke failed to act on child sex abuse warnings has been denied a key role in the Government’s official inquiry, The Telegraph can disclose.

Nigel O’Mara, a leading figure in the sex abuse survivors’ organisation WhiteFlowers, applied last month to Justice Lowell Goddard to become a “core participant” in the inquiry.

However, his case has been rejected by Justice Goddard, the inquiry chairman, in a move described as “astonishing” by Mr O’Mara’s legal team.

Justice Goddard ruled the whistle-blower’s evidence will not have a “direct and significant role” in her examination of abuse allegedly committed by Lord Greville Janner, the late Labour peer, and Sir Cyril Smith, the late Liberal MP.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A former Bishop of Grimsby has said he is “disappointed” with police for not investigating a clergyman for child sex abuse 16 years ago.

Stephen Crabtree, 59, was jailed on Thursday for abusing a 15-year-old girl in Lincolnshire between 1992 and 1993.

The Rt Rev David Rossdale said the matter was reported to Norfolk Police in 2000 but no action was taken.

The force said “no formal complaint was ever made to us and therefore would not be recorded”.

Former Church of England minister Crabtree, from Bradford, was jailed for three years at Lincoln Crown Court after admitting six counts of indecent assault, which took place in the East Lindsey district area.

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CANADA
CBC News

A 30-year-old Ottawa teacher has been charged with sexual assault, sexual exploitation and making sexually explicit material available to a child, police say.

Jessica Beraldin was charged Thursday and appeared in court Friday, where she was released after a surety posted $1,000.

Police allege a “sexual relationship” began between Beraldin and one of her students while Beraldin was employed by the Ottawa Catholic School Board.

The court ordered her to have no contact with the alleged victim in person, electronically or through social media. She also can’t go near parks or anyplace where children under 16 are present unless her surety is with her.

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LOUISIANA
The Times-Picayune

By Kim Chatelain, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

An international non-profit organization for victims of clergy sexual abuse has taken issue with Archbishop of New Orleans Gregory Aymond’s plan for a special ritual seeking forgiveness from people hurt by the Roman Catholic Church. The group says tangible steps are needed more than “words, gestures and apologies.”

Aymond has set “a ritual of forgiveness and resurrection” as part of the annual Divine Mercy Sunday Mass that he will celebrate April 3 at St. Joseph Church in New Orleans. The rite “seeks forgiveness and reconciliation with those who have been hurt or alienated by the church either through institutional or individual offenses,” the archdiocese said.

In announcing what it called a historic and important Mass in the life of the local church, the archdiocese did not mention the series of lawsuits, criminal prosecutions and scandals since the mid-1980s over sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in the United States. It says only that “we as individuals, as members of the archdiocese and society as a whole have let people down.”

David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said Friday (April 1) that such apology services often sound good but are largely self-serving public relations events. “They don’t protect a single child, expose a single predator, punish a single concealer or deter a single cover-up,” Clohessy said. “The archdiocese should take tangible steps so that the church no longer will need to give apologies. The goal should be no more victims.”

He said Aymond should warn parents, parishioners, police, prosecutors and the public about two abusive priests who at some point in their careers were in the New Orleans area and have been convicted of sex crimes elsewhere:

* Mark Broussard, a former Lake Charles priest who on March 11 was sentenced to two life terms in prison, plus 50 years, for sexually abusing altar boys in the late 1980s and early ’90s.

* Robert Poandl, who lived in New Orleans in the early 1970s and was sentenced to prison after taking a Cincinnati boy to West Virginia and assaulting him in 1991. In 2010, Aymond heeded the advocacy group’s call to alert New Orleans area Catholics to allegations made against Poandl.

Clohessy also called attention to the Rev. Maurice Nutt, director of the Institute for Black Catholics Studies at Xavier University. In 2003, two St. Louis police officers reached a confidential settlement in their lawsuits alleging that Nutt, while a member of the St. Louis Police Board, sexually harassed them. Nutt has publicly denied any wrongdoing in the case and has never been charged with a crime.

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NEW YORK
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on New York State Senator Brad Hoylman’s response to my suggestion that his bill, which would eliminate the statute of limitations for the sexual abuse of minors, cover the public schools as well as private schools:

Ken Lovett of the New York Daily News asked Sen. Hoylman yesterday about my request to amend his bill, and he said that while he supports treating private and public schools alike, “it would be wrong to hide behind the issue to block legislation from being passed.”

Accordingly, the Catholic League will contact every member of the New York legislature today asking them to submit a bill that would suspend the statute of limitations for the sexual abuse of minors, with one caveat: that it cover only the public schools. If anyone objects, all they need do is take a page from Sen. Hoylman and say that private and public schools should be treated the same, “but it would be wrong to hide behind the issue to block legislation from being passed.”

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LONDRES
el Sexta

[Peter Saunders, who was abused by a priest said there are many people in the Vatican who do not want action against pedophilia.]

Gonzo ha viajado a Londres para entrevistar a con Peter Saunders, fundador de la Asociación Nacional de Personas que sufrieron abusos en la Infancia. Saunders, que sufrió abusos cuando era menor, fue llamado a formar parte de la comisión asesora de los casos de pederastia en la iglesia católica que inició el papa Francisco. Sin embargo, fue expulsado por denunciar públicamente la lentitud de esta comisión.

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PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive

By Ivey DeJesus | idejesus@pennlive.com

A bill that would have eliminated criminal and civil statutes on sex crimes going forward will not be taken up by the House Judiciary Committee next week.

Instead, Autumn Southard, spokeswoman for committee chairman Rep. Ron Marsico, on Friday told PennLive that the Dauphin County Republican planned to introduce his own legislation on Monday. That legislation will likely eliminate criminal statute of limitation, she said.

Southard said changes to the civil components of the law could be part of Marsico’s legislation, but the specifics are not clear. She said committee members were discussing the specifics.

“We’ll know Monday the specifics of that portion of the bill,” she said.

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UNITED STATES
Jewish Philanthropy

It’s time for the Jewish community to take a stand against child sexual abuse.

By Joshua Avedon, Dr. Shira Berkovits and Rochel Leah Bernstein-Deitcher

For a people that takes pride in creating community-wide systems to preserve tradition and ensure the future, we seem to have a major blind spot when it comes to one threat to our children: sexual abuse. Our children have always been a primary concern for the organized Jewish community. Millions of charitable dollars are invested in programs focused on raising the next generation of committed and engaged Jews. These places and programs, which are supposed to be safe and encouraging settings, have made transformational progress in ensuring the wellbeing of children with different backgrounds, orientations, identities, and abilities. Now they must do a better job of protecting all our children from sexual predators.

Movies such as Best Picture Oscar-winner Spotlight have told the story of how predators exploit relationships with families and children wherever adults work closely with kids. But the sexual abuse of minors isn’t a religious problem; it’s a human one. Experts agree that any organization that provides regular interaction between adults and children will attract sexual predators. Child molesters seek out these settings to gain access to their victims. In the Jewish world, those settings include Jewish schools, camps, youth groups, and synagogues.

Recent scandals in the Jewish media and in broader society have begun to focus attention on this issue. Yet despite the outrage that accompanies each new revelation, no systemic solution has been proposed or implemented to dramatically change the organizational landscape with regard to this issue. There are numerous advocates and organizations that have focused on child sexual abuse and done excellent work in areas such as training, education, victim-support, and advocacy. But they have largely been operating on their own, exerting herculean efforts with minimal resources, and helping one victim, one organization, at a time. Over many years, their hard work and persistence has shifted the conversation about what can and should be done in every organization that works with children, across the entire communal system.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Premier

Fri 01 Apr 2016
By Hannah Tooley

A Church of England minister was allowed to keep practicing after admitting sexual offences to his bishop.

Stephen Crabtree, 59, admitted to his bishop that he committed sexual offences against a girl, but was allowed to continue practicing for ten years after no information was passed onto police.

The offence dates back the early 90’s, Crabtree assaulted a 15-year-old following the breakdown of his marriage.

Lincoln Crown Court heard that the victim told Rt Revd David Rossdale, who was then Bishop of Grimsby, in 2000 and he visited Stephen Crabtre.

The vicar admitted that he was guilty, however no further action was taken.

In 2008 Crabtree said he was remorseful, but no action was taken, according to The Daily Telegraph.

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OHIO
Columbus Dispatch

Supposedly to give child sex-abuse victims a chance to expose their perpetrators, Ohio legislators passed a unique law in 2007. It’s called a “civil registry” for those found in a civil proceeding to have molested kids. There is just one problem: It doesn’t work.

We know this because recently The Dispatch was the first news outlet in seven years to follow up on the measure. It reported that the registry has never once been utilized.

I predicted it never would be because the registry was unfunded, complicated and likely unconstitutional. I also know how child sex-abuse victims think. That’s because I am one. The “ grooming” started when I was 12; the sexual abuse ended when I left for college. For years, I had silently suffered from shame, guilt and self-destructive behavior. And I had shouldered a quiet burden. I believed — and still believe — that if I didn’t speak up and another kid got hurt by the church leader who molested me, I was somehow responsible.

In 1996, I learned the man who assaulted me was still on the diocesan payroll and was taking young girls to the same places where he abused me. Consumed with fear, I went to my bishop in Toledo and painfully spared him no graphic detail. He didn’t tell me that 12 months prior, four other victims had already reported being abused by the same church official. I went to the police but was told that the statute of limitations had expired, and my perpetrator couldn’t be criminally charged. Like many, I had no recourse.

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PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive

By Ivey DeJesus | idejesus@pennlive.com

Just one month after a grand jury report shed light on the latest systemic child abuse case in a Pennsylvania Catholic diocese, the Legislature may be poised to reform some of the laws that extend rights to victims of sexual abuse to seek legal recourse.

The legislation likely to come out of the General Assembly may not be the overhaul reform advocates have been looking for, but the final product could just be a workable compromise.

According to state Rep. Mark Rozzi, (D-Berks), the House Judiciary Committee could next week advance on to the House floor for a vote a bill that would eliminate all criminal and civil statutes of limitations going forward.

The committee’s chairman, Rep. Ron Marsico, has, according to Rizzo, placed HB 655 on the calendar for Tuesday. PennLive made several attempts to speak to Marsico but requests for interview were denied. A representative from his office told PennLive that the Dauphin County Republican planned to put a written statement with regards to the statute of limitations.

The bill on the calendar for Tuesday, which is sponsored by Rep. Ed Gainey, D-Allegheny,would eliminate all civil and criminal statutes of limitations on sex crimes here on out. The bill would have no retroactive component, meaning that adults who were sexually abused as children would still get no recourse under the law.

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UNITED STATES
The Open Tabernacle: Here Comes Everybody

Posted on April 1, 2016 by Betty Clermont

“The Rebel Pope,” produced by FOX Telecolombia for National Geographic, was released on March 20. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation bought a controlling interest in FOX Telecolombia in 2007. Murdoch bought the National Geographic’s media in September 2015.

The “Rebel Pope” will be broadcast internationally by the National Geographic Channel in 170 countries and 45 languages.

Additionally, Greg Burke, former US Fox News correspondent in Rome, was named vice director of the Vatican Press Office in December. He was identified as “Vatican spokesman” in March.

Connections Go Around and Come Around

The week before he was appointed by Pope Francis as one of his principle advisers in April 2013, Australian Cardinal George Pell attended a “Gala Dinner” to honor Murdoch who “owns or controls print, cable and film outlets in so many places that his cultural and political views are fast becoming a feature of global geography.”

Robert Thomson, chief executive of News Corp, attended a January 17-18, 2016, conference along with Pope Francis’ secretary of state, foreign minister and president of the Vatican Bank. “The Global Foundation conference discussed a new governance model for the world economy.” Pell was the headliner. “If we are to truly mobilize the global economy in a sustainable fashion, it will require business, not regulators, to take a leading role,” Pell told the assembled business leaders.

Murdoch and Pell are both supporters of Australia’s right wing former prime minister, Tony Abbott, and are said to be two of the “three most influential people in Abbott’s political life.”

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DEUTSCHLAND
inFranken

[Interview with Alexandra Wolf of Germany, who alleges she was abused by a priest, who later became abuse officer, in the Wurtsburg diocese. She is speaking out.]

1988 sei sie als Teenager zum Sex gezwungen worden – von einem Priester, sagt Alexandra Wolf. Im “Spiegel” machte sie ihre Geschichte öffentlich. Nun spricht sie über die Reaktionen und darüber, wie sehr die Kirche sie verletzt habe.

Ihr Vater bereitete sich in einem Kurs im Exerzitienhaus Himmelspforten auf die Weihe zum Diakon vor. Seine 17-jährige Tochter begleitete ihn. Was dann geschehen sein soll, erzählte sie über ein Vierteljahrhundert später dem Spiegel-Redakteur Peter Wensierski. Er übermittelte die Fragen dieser Redaktion an Alexandra Wolf. Im Herbst 2012 erfuhr der Würzburger Bischof Friedhelm Hofmann erstmals von den Vorwürfen. Im Dezember 2015 wurde der Fall zu den Akten gelegt.

Was war der Auslöser, sich im Januar 2016 an Claudia Adams zu wenden, die in Trier den Missbrauchs-Blog ,MissBit’ betreibt?
Alexandra Wolf: Ich war in einer sehr ohnmächtigen und hilflosen Situation, die mich bewog, einen Weg an die Öffentlichkeit zu suchen. Ich habe Frau Adams Blog schon viele Monate still beobachtet und dachte mir, da wäre jemand, der sich auskennt und dem ich vertrauen kann. Sie wusste dann, dass es jemanden im ,Spiegel’ gibt, der sich schon seit Jahren mit Missbrauchsfällen befasst. Ich hab noch etwas überlegt, mich dann aber gemeldet, und es war eine gute Entscheidung. So etwas ist nicht so einfach für jemanden, der das, was er erlebt hat, eigentlich für immer verdrängen wollte.

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FRANKREICH
katholisch

[The Archbishop of Lyon, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, is facing further action. As the French radio station Europe 1 reported on Thursday a fifth suit was filed against Barbarin for failure to report an offense. The “Primate of Gaul” is alleged not to have suspended two priests who were accused of sexual abuse of minors.]

Fünfte Klage wegen Nichtanzeige einer Straftat eingereicht

Paris – 01.04.2016

Der Erzbischof von Lyon, Philippe Barbarin, sieht sich einer weiteren Klage gegenüber. Wie der französische Sender Europe 1 am Donnerstag berichtete, wurde gegen Barbarin eine fünfte Klage wegen Nichtanzeige einer Straftat eingereicht. Dem “Primas Galliens” wird zur Last gelegt, zwei Priester nicht suspendiert zu haben, denen sexueller Missbrauch von Minderjährigen vorgeworfen wird.

Bisher bezogen sich die Missbrauchsvorwürfe nur auf einen Priester. Nun wird ein zweiter Geistlicher aus der Erzdiözese Lyon des Missbrauchs beschuldigt. Ein mutmaßliches Opfer dieses Mannes reichte nun dem Bericht zufolge am Dienstag Klage gegen Barbarin wegen Nichtanzeige einer Straftat und Gefährdung anderer Kinder ein. Obwohl das Opfer Barbarin alarmiert habe, sei der zweite beschuldigte Priester erst im März dieses Jahres suspendiert worden, heißt es bei Europe 1.

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ESPANA
ABC

[Officials of the Ciudad Real diocese in Spain have gone to the public prosecutor with a new case of alleged sexual abuse of minors.]

La diócesis de Ciudad Real, a través del rector del seminario diocesano, ha puesto este jueves en conocimiento del Ministerio Fiscal el resultado de la investigación interna llevada a cabo sobre ciertos comportamientos de un sacerdote encargado de un grupo de alumnos de la ESO, por si fueran constitutivos de un delito de abusos sexuales. En un comunicado de prensa, la diócesis de Ciudad Real manifiesta su apoyo incondicional y la unión en el sufrimiento con las supuestas víctimas y sus familias.

Desde el inicio del proceso abierto en el ámbito eclesiástico, y siguiendo el procedimiento previsto para estos casos por la disciplina canónica, han indicado, «se ha estado en permanente contacto con los familiares, poniendo a su alcance no sólo toda la información de que se disponía sino también el apoyo y la ayuda de profesionales».

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FRANCE
24 Heures

[In Lyon, tongues wag: Justice is investigating a new priest suspected of sexual assault while the diocese and its bishop, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, are in turmoil since the other cases revelation.]

A Lyon, les langues se délient: la justice enquête sur un nouveau prêtre soupçonné d’agressions sexuelles alors que le diocèse et son évêque, le cardinal Philippe Barbarin, sont dans la tourmente depuis la révélation d’autres affaires.

Une source proche du dossier a confirmé jeudi soir à l’AFP qu’une enquête ouverte concernant ce prêtre il y a quelques années avait été «réactivée» il y a quelques jours, comme l’annonçait le site M6info.

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ESPANA
Religion Digital

[The Ciudad Real diocese in Spain has turned over to the public prosecutor a complaint of alleged child sexual abuse by a priest. This follows an internal investigation by church officials. The abuse allegedly happened at the diocesan seminary.]

La Diócesis de Ciudad Real ha denunciado ante la Fiscalía el resultado de una investigación interna sobre presuntos abusos sexuales a menores llevada a cabo a un sacerdote del Seminario Diocesano de Ciudad Real. Una actitud ejemplar que contrasta con la que, por desgracia, se siguen llevando a cabo en otras diócesis de nuestro país. “Con profundo dolor la diócesis de Ciudad Real manifiesta de manera firme y contundente su condena de cualquier delito de abuso de menores”, apunta el comunicado.

Así lo ha confirmado este jueves el propio Obispado a través de un comunicado en el que relata que la investigación interna se abrió ante “ciertos comportamientos del sacerdote encargado del grupo de alumnos de la ESO” ya que existían las sospechas de que podrían ser constitutivos de un delito de abusos sexuales.

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FRANCIA
Religion Digital

[French police are investigating a new complaint of abuse in the Lyon diocese.]

La policía francesa investiga un nuevo caso de agresión sexual en la diócesis de Lyon, en el este de Francia, presuntamente cometido por un párroco contra una adolescente, indicaron hoy medios locales.

Se trata de un nuevo caso abierto en esa misma diócesis, en la que la justicia investiga las presuntas agresiones sexuales cometidas por el cura Bernard Preynat sobre varios «scouts» entre 1986 y 1991.

Según la web «M6info», la nueva investigación se refiere a un sacerdote que oficia en el distrito 2 de Lyon.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Church Militant

by Joseph Pelletier • ChurchMilitant.com • March 31, 2016

ALTOONA, Pa. (ChurchMilitant.com) – A hotline for reporting clerical sex abuse in a Pennsylvania diocese is receiving hundreds of phone calls.

According to the state attorney general’s office, the phone line, established amid a growing scandal involving the systematic protection of actively homosexual clerics, has taken more than 250 calls reporting past molestations by diocesan priests and others. The line was set up in early March following the release of a state grand jury report, sourcing secret diocesan records, incriminating two of the Altoona-Johnstown diocese’s former bishops for sheltering dozens of homosexual priests and religious for nearly four decades as the predators sexually assaulted and raped hundreds of children.

The diocesan records are part of a series of classified chancery documents obtained by authorities through a search warrant in August revealing Bp. James Hogan, who led the Altoona-Johnstown diocese from 1966 to 1987, was aware of dozens of actively homosexual priests within his jurisdiction who had been molesting or were continuing to molest minors — the vast majority being post-pubescent males.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

Jasmine Stole | Post News Staff

The attorney general yesterday issued a response to the Department of Land Management reaffirming the course of action taken to correct land records for the controversial Redemptoris Mater Seminary property in Yona.

Attorney General Elizabeth Barrett-Anderson, in a letter to DLM Director Michael Borja, stated that a court petition was not necessary because there was no objection from the title holder, Archbishop Anthony Apuron, to the changes needed to be made in the four certificates of title. The letter was dated March 31.

At issue is the memorials in the certificates of title that the AG, DLM and former Sen. Robert Klitzkie agree were erroneous. The titles printed in the U’Matuna Si Yu’os late last year did not show a Declaration of Deed of Restriction, which Klitzkie pointed out to DLM in December last year. The Declaration of Deed Restriction was then added to the certificates in favor of the archbishop.

Klitzkie noted that the certificates of title needed to be added in favor of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary as a nonprofit organization. DLM agreed that the certificates were done in error and in January, Borja wrote to Klitzkie and said a court petition would be filed to correct the certificates.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Australian Associated Press
Friday 1 April 2016

Survivors of abuse in Salvation Army institutions plan to protest outside the hotel where the prime minister’s wife will launch the Salvos’ annual Red Shield Appeal.

Former Sydney lord mayor Lucy Turnbull will launch the charity’s major annual fundraising drive at the Westin Hotel in Sydney’s Martin Place on Wednesday 6 April at an event attended by NSW premier Mike Baird and other high-profile supporters of the Salvation Army.

Child sex abuse survivors’ support organisation Care Leavers Australia Network (Clan) announced on Friday it would hold a silent protest outside the hotel to draw attention to the Salvos’ failure to fully back a national redress scheme for abuse survivors.

Clan executive Leonie Sheedy says there is great sadness that “the wife of Clan patron prime minister Malcolm Turnbull is launching the Red Shield appeal while we are still waiting for a firm commitment from the Salvation Army” on a national redress scheme.

Clan represents hundreds of people who were physically and sexually abused as children when they were housed in now notorious institutions such as the Riverview training farm in Queensland, where boys were allegedly locked in a cage and made to eat food donated by townspeople for animals.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Lincolnshire Echo

Police probing a number of church sex abuse claims in Lincolnshire after an ex-vicar was jailed at Lincoln Crown Court.

Stephen Crabtree, who served as the rector of Washingborough and Heighington until 2014, was jailed for three years after admitting six counts of indecent assault on a 15-year-old girl.

He admitted the charges when he appeared before Lincoln Crown Court at an earlier hearing.

The offences were said to have occurred in the 12 months between April 1992 and April 1993.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY KENNETH LOVETT NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Thursday, March 31, 2016

ALBANY — The roadblock to justice for countless sex abuse victims in New York is the continued handiwork of Senate Republicans more concerned about the rights of pervs than their accusers — or too busy to even consider reforms.

Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan through his staff wouldn’t even discuss the matter this week despite repeated requests from the Daily News.

“We aren’t going to discuss it until after the (state) budget is settled,” Flanagan spokesman Scott Reif said in an email.

But several Senate GOPers told The News this week they have little appetite to change the law requiring child victims of sex abuse to seek legal recourse before their 23rd birthday.

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SOUTH AFRICA
IOL

01 April 2016
By: Kamini Padayachee

Durban – Sexual predators “live-streaming” incidents of child sexual abuse and being able to place online orders for the types of abuse they want to view are some of the disturbing trends emerging in child pornography.

Different types of child pornography were discussed at a lecture held at the University of KwaZulu-Natal on Thursday.

The speakers said while recent statistics were not available, their research had shown that the sharing of child pornography was prolific in the country.

Recently the police have made arrests under Operation Cloud Nine, working with their international counterparts to catch offenders.

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CALIFORNIA
Lompoc Record

Gina Kim gkim@leecentralcoastnews.com

A local youth pastor and coach has been charged with seven felony counts of sex crimes with a minor female, as well as using force to dissuade his wife from reporting his alleged actions to authorities, according to the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office.

Daniel James Moreno, 25, was arrested at an undisclosed location at 12:40 a.m. Monday in Santa Maria.

Authorities allege Moreno attempted to prevent his wife Katrina Moreno, a witness to the suspected crimes, from making a report to authorities, according to a felony complaint filed against him Wednesday by the District Attorney’s Office.

The victims are identified only as “Jane Doe” due to their ages.

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PENNSYLVANIA
We Are Central PA

By John Clay | jclay@wtajtv.com
Published 03/31 2016

Federal investigators are looking into the sexual abuse claims within the Altoona Johnstown Catholic Diocese.

The PA Attorney General’s investigation identified 50 priests and religious leaders for the crimes, but most were outside prosecution because too much time has passed. U.S. Attorney David Hickton tells KDKA that RICO, the Racketeering Influence and Corruption Organization Act is not bound by time limits, and could lead to civil penalties. He says those penalties are unlikely to include financial awards.

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PENNSYLVANIA
CBS Pittsburgh

March 31, 2016 By Andy Sheehan

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — The grand jury report sent shockwaves through the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese with revelations that 50 priests and religious leaders allegedly sexually abused hundreds of child victims.

But because of the statute of limitations, no criminal charges were filed.

“It leaves people with a hollow sense that there is justice that has not been dispensed or justice denied,” said U.S. Attorney David Hickton.

But now, Hickton says a federal investigation may go further than state prosecutors in seeking justice.

He tells KDKA that his office may address the findings in the grand jury report with a law that usually applies to criminal organizations, known as RICO, the Racketeering Influence and Corruption Organization Act.

“It would be appropriate in this instance if the evidence supported it,” Hickton said.

Because of a similar statute of limitations, it’s too late to prosecute anyone criminally under RICO, but Hickton says there is also a civil RICO statute with no time limit, which would carry civil penalties.

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UNITED STATES
Tribune-Democrat

The movie “Spotlight” was awarded an Oscar for the best motion picture of 2016, and it more than deserves such recognition. It brings a new level of attention to this outstanding film and the problems it addresses, especially the abuse of authority in the Roman Catholic Church.

It is a wake-up call for people in the United States and in countries around the world to recognize the egregious damage done to children and deal with the epidemic, the pandemic really, that is childhood sexual abuse.

“Spotlight” concerns heinous crimes of sexual abuse perpetrated upon innocent children by rogue priests in a powerful religious denomination while it addresses one institution’s corruption played out in Massachusetts by Cardinal Bernard Law, the archbishop of Boston.

Law covered up and protected such priests while supposedly “saving the church from scandal.”

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ROME
Crux

By Ines San Martin
Vatican correspondent April 1, 2016

ROME – A former colonel in the Illinois state police and former official of the U.S. bishops’ conference, recently tapped by the Vatican to help develop anti-sex abuse policies around the Catholic world, says she has “no doubt at all” that Pope Francis is personally committed to the cause.

“If the pope was wavering, I don’t think he’d give the commission the support he’s been giving it,” said Teresa Kettelkamp, referring to the Vatican’s Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, established by Francis in 2014 to advise him on anti-abuse measures.

Kettelkamp, a veteran law enforcement professional who headed the U.S. Bishops’ Child Protection Office from 2005 to 2011, was hired in January by the commission to develop a template for anti-abuse guidelines and a set of “best practices” for use by bishops’ conferences around the world, especially in places such as Africa, Asia and Latin America that have not yet developed strong policies.

Kettelkamp spoke in an exclusive interview with Crux on Thursday, her first since assuming her new Vatican position.

Of late, some critics have questioned Francis’ seriousness about reform on the Church’s clerical abuse scandals, pointing, among other things, to his appointment of a bishop in Chile known as an apologist for that country’s most notorious abuser priest.

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UNITED STATES
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor April 1, 2016

Today marks the first day of Crux’s new partnership with the Knights of Columbus, after 18 months as a site sponsored by The Boston Globe. Internally, we’ve been referring tongue-in-cheek to our new incarnation as “Crux 2.0”, and above all else I want to thank our readers for sticking with us during this transition.

If we did this right, most of you won’t have noticed any dramatic changes today.

We’re still breaking news, such as our exclusive first interview with the Vatican’s new anti-sex abuse expert, Teresa Kettelkamp, a former Illinois police colonel and then head of the U.S. bishops’ child protection office. I’ve also got an analysis unpacking why it’s a welcome bit of good news for Pope Francis on the sex abuse front.

We’re still featuring exclusive pieces by some of the most influential voices in the Catholic conversation, such as today’s contributions by Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane, Australia; Carolyn Woo, president of Catholic Relief Services; and Tom Williams, a Rome-based theologian and commentator on religion and Catholic affairs (not to mention one of the city’s finest mixologists, but that’s for another time).

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor April 1, 2016

Let’s face it: Pope Francis may be a smash hit in plenty of other areas, but in the eyes of many survivors of clerical sexual abuse and their most prominent advocates, his track record so far leaves something to be desired.

In that context, news that the pope’s Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors has hired Teresa Kettlekamp, the former executive director of the U.S. bishops’ Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection, to help lead the Vatican’s own anti-abuse effort, is a badly needed dose of good news.

Kettlekamp spoke to Crux on Thursday, marking her first interview since taking her new Vatican position.

Anyone who knows the global situation of the Catholic Church with regard to the sexual abuse issue realizes two things:

* First, whatever its shortcomings, the Catholic Church in the United States has adopted tougher and more sweeping policies than most nations in the world, and for sure has invested greater resources in developing cutting-edge abuse prevention and detection programs.

* Second, Kettelkamp is clearly a reformer on the abuse issue, a former Illinois police colonel who has no tolerance for law-breakers or lax enforcement procedures.

The fact that Kettelkamp has been taken on by the Vatican is thus another sign that reformers are in the ascendant in Rome, and deniers are on the run.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By Andy Rosen GLOBE STAFF MARCH 31, 2016

The Vatican has defrocked a priest after a church investigation found he was guilty of abuse of a minor, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston said Thursday.

Thomas H. Maguire, who was ordained nearly 40 years ago, had in the past bemoaned the personal and spiritual effect the church sexual abuse scandal had taken on his colleagues and the archdiocese.

Maguire had been removed from public ministry since 2012, when he faced an allegation of inappropriate sexual conduct in the presence of minors.

At that time, Maguire was pastor at St. Helen Mother of the Emperor Constantine in Norwell, and church officials said the alleged behavior had happened near the time he was removed from ministry.

Law enforcement reviewed the case, and could not substantiate the accusations against Maguire, the archdiocese said. But church officials said other accusers came forward with reports of “inappropriate sexual conduct which had occurred in the mid-1990s and before.”

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VATICAN CITY
Wall Street Journal

By JAVIER MARTÍNEZ-BROCAL and ADAM O’NEAL
March 31, 2016

Mercy has been the animating force of Pope Francis’ three-year pontificate. And the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, which the Catholic Church has been celebrating since December, is the greatest expression of the pope’s interest. Millions of Catholics are taking the opportunity to renew their faith and receive plenary indulgences during what Francis has called “a true moment of encounter with the mercy of God.”

Vatican City’s judicial system, however, is not taking the year off. Msgr. Lucio Ángel Vallejo Balda has spent the Jubilee in a Vatican City jail cell, and he could face up to eight years behind bars for crimes against the Vatican City State. He and his co-defendants won’t be the first to be prosecuted by the world’s smallest state.

There are two types of courts within the Vatican: religious and civil. Religious courts punish heretical priests, for example, and their jurisdiction extends beyond the Vatican’s walls. Penalties follow the principle of salus animarum, the salvation of souls. They come in the form of invitations to repentance, expulsion from the priestly state or, in severe cases, excommunication.

The Italian civil code of 1929, however, is the foundation of the Vatican City State’s civil law. Various popes have updated the code with prohibitions against new crimes like drug trafficking and financing terrorism. Francis overhauled the laws in 2013 to strengthen punishments against child sexual abuse and leaking confidential documents.

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