ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED STATES
Poynter

By Ben Mullin and Jim Warren • February 29, 2016

Walter Robinson is still a little hoarse.

It’s been less than 24 hours since “Spotlight,” the dramatization of The Boston Globe’s investigation into the Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandal, pulled off a stunning upset at the 88th annual Academy Awards.

Robinson, who led the depicted investigation as the editor of The Boston Globe’s Spotlight team, was in attendance Sunday night. When the movie won Best Picture, he did plenty of shouting.

“We’re just delighted,” said Robinson, who’s portrayed in the movie by Academy Award nominee Michael Keaton. “I think going into last night, we felt a little uncertain about Hollywood. We felt that ‘Spotlight’ was the most important movie of the year, but we didn’t know if Hollywood would equate that with Best Picture.”

Robinson and his Globe colleagues, who’ve been in Los Angeles since the end of last week, stayed out until after midnight celebrating the win with actors who portrayed them in the film. The festivities were a nice reminder that Hollywood, which often caters to America’s “baser desires,” has an appreciation for serious stories, Robinson said.

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MASSACHUSETTS
KIRO

by: DENISE LAVOIE, AP Legal Affairs Writer Updated: Feb 29, 2016

BOSTON (AP) — Victims of clergy sexual abuse are reveling in the Oscar won by “Spotlight” — the story of The Boston Globe’s investigation into the scandal — but say they don’t hold out much hope that the elevated status from the film’s Best Picture award will prompt changes at the highest levels of the Roman Catholic church.

“Spotlight,” starring Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams and Mark Ruffalo, covers the Globe’s work to uncover how dozens of priests in the Archdiocese of Boston had molested and raped children for decades while church higher-ups covered it up and shuffled abusive priests from parish to parish.

The film was released in November to accolades from victims who said it gave them a sense of validation after years of struggling in silence. Even Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley — appointed to replace Cardinal Bernard Law after he resigned in disgrace — called “Spotlight” a “very powerful and important film.”

But victims say they have little hope that the film’s new status as an Oscar winner will lead to some of the things they’ve called for over the years, including complete transparency by the church and the criminal prosecution of church leaders who knew about the abuse but didn’t report the perpetrators to police.

“I don’t think the Vatican or the archdiocese will necessarily do more,” said Robert Costello, 54, who was sexually abused by a Boston priest from the late 1960s through 1976.

“I think what (the film) is going to do is educate the general public as to what their response or lack of response has been,” said Costello, who agreed to a civil settlement with the archdiocese.

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ROME
The Guardian

Melissa Davey
@MelissaLDavey
Monday 29 February 2016 1

4m ago Audible shock heard in the room as Pell says rumours of abuse “wasn’t of much interest to me”

Another telling exchange

Furness is trying to get Pell to be clear on who was and was not responsible for protecting children in the care of the church at schools and other institutions. Furness says that surely all adults have a responsibility:

“So who isn’t responsible in the Church to ensure the safety of children who are taken in by the Church either as parishioners or as alter boys or in any other way operate within the Church? Who isn’t responsible?”

Pell: “Well it’s very difficult to answer these questions where we swing from one extreme to the other. Everybody has some sort of general responsibility. Individuals and especially office holders have particular responsibility for their areas of concern.

Furness: So if it was the case that a parish priest heard of events dangerous to children happening in a neighbouring parish or a parish distant from them, based on what you’ve said they’ve got no responsibility in relation to the children who are in danger ?Is that right?

Pell: Well very obviously I said nothing of the sort. I said that a person from a neighbouring parish or a distant parish has less responsibility for the care of children in those distant parishes than he does in his own. I’m not suggesting for a minute, especially in a neighbouring parish, that a neighbouring parish priest would have no responsibility at all. I never suggested that.”

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ROME
SBS

AAP

Cardinal George Pell has resumed giving his evidence to the child abuse royal commission from Rome.

Cardinal Pell is giving evidence via video link from Rome because he’s too ill to fly to Australia. He has appeared before the commission on two previous occasions in Australia.

The cardinal told waiting media earlier in the day that he had “the full backing of the Pope” after a weekly meeting with him earlier in the day.

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TEXAS
The Dallas Morning News

[Note: This is a 1993 story just reposted by The Dallas Morning News about the Rudy Kos investigation.]

By DANIEL CATTAU and JUDITH LYNN HOWARD
Staff Writers

The Catholic Diocese of Dallas had begun investigating a priest accused of sexually abusing minors before a lawsuit was filed Tuesday, an attorney for the diocese said Wednesday.

“It was not the lawsuit that prompted the investigation,” said Randal Mathis, a Dallas lawyer who is also serving as the diocesan spokesman. He said the investigation started several months ago and has no target date for completion.

Mr. Mathis added that the lawsuit was the first he knew of in the diocese that involves allegations of sexual abuse by the clergy.

Both the diocese and the Rev. Rudolph Kos, who is at a treatment center in Jemez Springs, N.M., were named in the suit, filed by Dallas lawyer Windle Turley. Mr. Turley is seeking unspecified damages for two unidentified men who say they were abused as boys.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Poynter

[with copy of the ad]

By Kristen Hare • February 29, 2016

Monday’s edition of The Boston Globe features a front-page image celebrating the actors who won the Best Picture Academy Award for “Spotlight.” On A3, the newspaper recognized everyone involved with the film — and the journalists who worked on the Pulitzer-winning investigation — with a full-page thank-you.

The possibility of running a house ad was brought up last week, but the paper didn’t finalize the decision until Sunday morning, said Boston Globe CEO Mike Sheehan. Because of print deadlines, the ad was running whether “Spotlight” won Best Picture or not. But it’s written in a manner that works either way.

“Generally, there’s a feeling throughout the organization that the movie really is a faithful telling of the story,” Sheehan said. “Everyone here is grateful for that.”

The ad also highlights the the team behind the journalism, not just the investigation seen in the movie.

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VATICAN CITY
Straits Times

VATICAN CITY (AFP) – Spotlight, the Oscar-winning film about sex abuse in the Catholic Church, faithfully portrays how the Church tried to defend itself despite a “horrible reality”, but is not anti-Catholic as such, the Vatican paper said Monday.

“Predators do not necessarily wear ecclesiastical vestments, and paedophilia does not necessarily stem from the vow of chastity. But it is now clear that, in the Church, too many people concerned themselves more with the image of the institution than the gravity of the act,” wrote an editorial in the Osservatore Romano.

“All of this cannot justify the very serious fault of whoever, as a representative of God, uses this authority to abuse innocents: it is well told in this film,” opined editorial-writer Lucetta Scaraffia, in the first official Vatican comment on the film’s Best Picture Oscar win Sunday night.

“The film is convincing by its narrative. And it’s not an anti-Catholic film,” she wrote.

But she did regret that the “long and tenacious fight” against paedophilia launched within the Church by Joseph Ratzinger, first as Dean of the College of Cardinals and then as Pope Benedict XVI, was not mentioned.

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VATICAN CITY
Religion News Service

Rosie Scammell | February 29, 2016

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Just hours after the movie “Spotlight” picked up the best picture prize at the Academy Awards, the Vatican newspaper praised the film for its portrayal of The Boston Globe’s investigation into clerical sex abuse in the U.S.

The Oscar win on Sunday (Feb. 28) was hailed by producer Michael Sugar as amplifying the voice of survivors. “Pope Francis, it’s time to protect the children and restore the faith,” he said in his acceptance speech in Los Angeles that was broadcast around the world.

Sugar’s voice apparently reached Rome as well, with a columnist for the Vatican’s semiofficial newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, asserting that the film had a compelling plot and should not be considered “anti-Catholic.”

“It manages to voice the shock and profound pain of the faithful confronting the discovery of these horrendous realities,” wrote journalist Lucetta Scaraffia.

Scaraffia said the movie did not go into detail on what she called the “long and tenacious battle” against clergy abuse by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI — formerly Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger — but she noted “one film cannot tell all.”

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ROME
news.com.au

[with video]

CARDINAL George Pell has met with Pope Francis at the Vatican ahead of his second day of testimony to the Australia Royal Commission into institutional responses to child sex abuse.

The 74-year-old’s discussion with the Catholic Church’s leader was prearranged, according to Italian media which is covering the hearing as it’s the first time a senior church figure has faced questions on sexual abuse since Józef Wesołowski.

The Polish former Vatican ambassador died of natural causes in August last year while awaiting trial over alleged sexual abuse of children committed in the Dominican Republic. He was also accused of possessing child pornography and seen as a key test of the Holy See’s commitment to investigating abuse within its ranks.

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ROME
USA Today

Rosie Scammell, Religion News Service February 29, 2016

ROME – Australian Cardinal George Pell met with Pope Francis on Monday, one day after he testified in a landmark clergy sex abuse inquiry that the Catholic Church made “enormous mistakes” in trying to deal with the scandal.

Speaking to an Australian commission investigating the church’s response to abuse, Pell, now a top adviser to the pope, testified Sunday that during the 1970s he was “very strongly inclined to accept the denial” of a priest accused of abuse. He has previously been archbishop in Sydney.

The 74-year-old Pell, who serves as the Vatican’s finance chief, appeared before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse via video link from a Rome hotel because he said a heart condition prevented him from traveling.

The decision to allow Pell to testify via video has been strongly criticized by abuse victims, and a crowdfunding effort in Australia enabled 15 of them to travel to Italy to be present in the hotel conference room with Pell.

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ROME
Sydney Morning Herald

Nick Miller
Europe Correspondent

Rome: The Pope may accept Cardinal George Pell’s enforced resignation in June, if evidence to Australia’s Royal Commission links him to the relocation of priests suspected of paedophilia, ‘Vaticanista’ journalists believe.

Pope Francis and Cardinal Pell met face to face at the Vatican on Monday, just hours after the Australian cleric’s first session giving evidence by video link to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

The Vatican gave no details of the meeting, but Corriere della Serra reported it was one of a regular series of ‘di cartelli’ briefings the Pope gets from department heads.

Cardinal Pell is the Vatican’s prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy – he described himself to the Commission as the ‘treasurer’ of the Vatican, and is widely called the third most powerful man in the Holy See.

Corriere said it was “difficult to imagine” that the interview would not have touched on the cardinal’s video evidence to the Commission which took place late Sunday night, Rome time.

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By Elise Harris
Angelus

February 29, 2016 – Catholic News Agency

On the first day of his video testimony to Australia’s Royal Commission investigating institutional responses to child sex abuse cases, Cardinal George Pell said that while the Church has made “enormous mistakes” in the handling of abuse cases, he had no role in covering them up.

“Let me just say this as an initial clarification: I’m not here to defend the indefensible,” Cardinal Pell said during the hearing.

The Church “has made enormous mistakes and is working to remedy those,” he admitted, adding that in many places, and certainly in Australia, the Church “has mucked things up, has let people down.”

However, he also recognized that “there are very few countries in the world who have advanced as far as the Catholic Church has in Australia in putting procedures into place nearly 20 years ago.”

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INDIANA
News-Sentinel

Monday, February 29, 2016

Fort Wayne should be in awe of D’Arcy

Local audiences may recognize the name “John D’Arcy” in one of the most pivotal scenes of “Spotlight,” nominated for six Academy Awards. A Fort Wayne native who lives in New York City, I felt soaring pride that former Bishop D’Arcy fought against sexual abuse in his beloved Catholic Church.

When visiting, I often attended D’Arcy’s Christmas Eve mass at the Cathedral of Immaculate Conception. Raised Methodist, I respected him, even though I disagreed with his conservative politics. During the Oscars, I will celebrate D’Arcy and his brief mention in “Spotlight,” the story of a Boston Globe reporting team. Gently paced, the film exploded when Mike Rezendes (Mark Ruffalo) opened sealed documents containing damning evidence against the church.

Breathless, Rezendes read to fellow reporters a 1984 letter recommending the removal of a predatory priest with a “history of homosexual involvement with young boys.”

D’Arcy, then Auxiliary Bishop of Boston, was the concerned author. In this spectacular scene, Ruffalo finally lost impartiality and shouted to his editor: “We gotta nail these scum bags! We gotta to show people that nobody can get away with this. Not a priest or a cardinal or a freaking pope!”

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MICHIGAN
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Feb. 29, 2016

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790, 314 645 5915 home,davidgclohessy@gmail.com)

We’re grateful that an ex-priest has pled guilty to more child sex crimes. We hope this news will prod others that he has hurt to come forward. (See attorney general’s news release below.)

Fr. James Francis Rapp has already been convicted on other child sex charges and is imprisoned. So it would have been easy for law enforcement to look the other way when more victims surfaced.

But Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette filed more child sex charges against him for molesting kids at Jackson Lumen Christi Catholic High School in Jackson in the 1980s.

Once a child molester is convicted, many people who could be helpful get complacent. They assume his sentence will stand, his appeals will fail, and he’ll be kept away from kids for many years. But often, child molesters – especially clerics – get top notch defense lawyers, exploit legal technicalities, and escape with little or no jail time. Then, when other victims, witnesses and whistleblowers find this out, it’s too late for them to really make a difference.

So we’re glad Schuette was prudent, pro-active and successful here. Now, the odds that Rapp will ever walk free are even slimmer. And more of his victims feel vindicated.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

NCR Editorial Staff | Feb. 29, 2016

With “Spotlight” awarded the Oscar for best motion picture, the public humiliation for the Catholic church is now as thorough as one might expect in a culture where what is on screen is often the most persuasive element in fashioning public opinion.

In the case of priests sexually abusing children and bishops and others hiding their crimes, the biblical resonance might now finally be felt: the first have been ushered, publicly, to their place in the last seats. The last have been made first — and given a special place (even on stage with Lady Gaga). No longer need victims hide or fear to explain themselves. The mighty, indeed, have fallen from their thrones; the humble have been exalted.

As Barbara Blaine, founder of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said on Oscar night: “Exposing hundreds of thousands of people across the planet to a compelling, reality-based film about this crisis — people who might otherwise not pick up a book, go hear a speech or search the Internet for information about abuse — is, in itself, an incredible achievement and a real, life-changing ‘win’ for countless children.”

The movie powerfully illustrates what the church utterly failed to realize about itself: that the act of abuse, horrible as it is in any circumstance, was magnified in its unspeakable specifics because an all-male, celibate culture was so protective of its own status and privilege, so closed in on itself, that it was deaf to the searing pleas of children, parents, congregations and the few souls within its ranks who dared to speak the truth.

In the end it was, indeed, about a “system,” one presumed to be about the pursuit of holiness, that turned out to be despicably corrupt. It took outsiders — journalists, particularly — to question the institution’s rationale and turn it on its head. It took as well those who removed themselves from the worst of the clerical culture, notably Dominican Fr. Thomas Doyle, who understood he was dooming his clerical career when he decided not to turn away from victims, and former Benedictine priest Richard Sipe, a psychotherapist who deeply studied the priesthood and understood the dynamics of the scandal.

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ROME
The West Australian

Amanda Banks
March 1, 2016

The man who some label Australia’s worst paedophile priest was given “chance after chance after chance”, Cardinal George Pell admitted yesterday.

Former Ballarat priest Gerald Francis Ridsdale was the subject of repeated allegations and complaints of child sex abuse but was ultimately given freedom to seek out new victims as he was shifted around from one parish to another.

Ridsdale, who went on to be convicted of committing 138 offences against 53 victims, was even shipped off to the US for “treatment” and “therapy”.

Questioned about the handling of Ridsdale’s case by his then superiors, in particular former Ballarat Bishop Ronald Mulkearns, Cardinal Pell said he had recently read the file on the child sex offender.

“The way he was dealt with was a catastrophe,” Cardinal Pell told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. “If action had been taken earlier, an enormous amount of suffering would have been avoided.”

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Feb. 29, 2016

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

Our hearts are filled with gratitude for the two outstanding Spotlight teams: the one that did the work and the one that did the film. At the same time, however, our hearts ache for every single victim of sexual violence, especially those whose perpetrators and enablers continue to live, work and cause more pain while under the radar.

The overwhelming majority of abuse victims never speak up. The overwhelming majority of predators and their allies are never “outed.” This must change if kids are to be safer.

We hope more journalists and editors and police and prosecutors will dig deeper and work harder. We hope every single person who has suspected or seen child sex crimes or cover ups – no matter how old, small or seemingly insignificant – will call independent, experienced sources of help, not church officials. And we hope every single survivor of these crimes and cover ups will overcome their fears, break their silence, expose the wrongdoers and help protect the children.

What else?

Let’s redouble our efforts to oust Fr. Joseph Jeyapaul, the convicted predator whose suspension from ministry was just overturned by Vatican officials and who is due back on the job soon.

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MICHIGAN
MLive

By Ryan Shek | rshek@mlive.com
on February 29, 2016

JACKSON, MI – On Monday, a former Jackson Lumen Christi High School priest pleaded no contest to six counts of criminal sexual conduct, which spanned a half decade of abuse at the school.

James Rapp, now 75, pleaded no contest to three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct as well as three counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct Monday, Feb. 29, before Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Susan Beebe.

As part of the plea, 13 counts of criminal sexual conduct were dismissed, while Rapp will face anywhere from 20 to 40 years in prison as part of a sentencing agreement, Assistant Attorney General Angela Povilaitis said.

Dressed in blue Michigan Department of Corrections attire, Rapp appeared before Beebe and pleaded to the charges, often lowering his head or inspecting his shackled wrists.

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MICHIGAN
CBS Detroit

February 29, 2016

JACKSON, Mich. (WWJ/AP) – A former Roman Catholic priest has pleaded no contest to sexual abuse charges connected to his years at a Michigan high school in the 1980s.

James Rapp likely faces at least 20 years in prison, although the 75-year-old already is in prison for similar crimes in Oklahoma.

Defense attorney Alfred Brandt told a Jackson County judge that Rapp coerced students into having sexual contact while working as a teacher and wrestling coach at Lumen Christi High School. He appeared in court Monday.

An investigation began three years ago when victims approached the sheriff’s department. Attorney General Bill Schuette says teens were “robbed of a normal childhood” by Rapp.

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MICHIGAN
Fox 47

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said Francis Rapp 75 has pleaded no contest to 19 child sexual abuse charges.

He was a priest and teacher at Jackson Lumen Christi High School in the 1980s.

The AG office says Rapp was charged in January 2015 with 13 felonies in Jackson’s 12th District Court.

He was charged with three counts of First Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct and 10 counts of Second Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct.

Rapp was also charged with another six felonies in June 2015.

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ROME
The Guardian

Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Rome
Monday 29 February 2016

The Vatican used to be impermeable to horrific stories of child sexual abuse by priests – and complicit in attempts to whitewash the perpetrators’ reputations. It was a place where men such as Cardinal Bernard Law, who became a pariah within the US Catholic church after it became clear that decades of sexual abuse had been covered up within his archdiocese, could go for a comfortable retirement and to escape glaring media attention or, even worse, possible investigation.

But an unexpected confluence of extraordinary events has changed all that this week. The film Spotlight, the tale of the Boston Globe’s dogged investigation into clerical sexual abuse, won Hollywood’s most coveted prize of the Oscar for best picture.

More importantly, hours before the Oscar win was announced, one of the most senior officials within the Vatican hierarchy, Cardinal George Pell of Australia, admitted under oath for the first time that he had heard that an Australian Catholic schoolteacher may have engaged in “paedophilia activity”, but never followed up on the “one or two fleeting references” he heard about the “misbehaviour”. The teacher in question, Edward Dowlan, a Christian Brother, was later convicted of abusing 20 boys and is serving a six-year prison sentence.

Pell, in an appearance by videolink before the Australian royal commission into institutional responses to sexual child abuse that began at 10pm in Rome and ended at 2am, sounded contrite and sullen as he testified, often using short sentences. He called the church’s response to clerical sexual abuse of children by one serial offender, Gerald Ridsdale, “a catastrophe” for his victims but also for the church.

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CHICAGO (IL)
DNAinfo

By Kelly Bauer | February 29, 2016

CHICAGO — A Chicago-based group that has fought to expose pedophile priests for years is heralding “Spotlight,” the film that won best picture at the Academy Awards this year.

In a statement released Sunday even before “Spotlight,” which focuses on a team of Boston Globe reporters working to expose the abuse scandal, won the Oscar, Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests founder Barbara Blaine said: “kids are the real winners.”

“They are safer because the movie Spotlight has prompted hundreds of thousands to think, talk and take action about child sex crimes and cover ups, even or especially in trusted institutions,” she said.

“These adults are more careful now with babysitters. They are more attentive to changes in kids’ behavior. They more skeptical about claims by officials about alleged ‘openness,’ ‘care’ and ‘prudence’ about kids’ safety.

“We are deeply, deeply grateful for this fact. As a result, more children will be protected. As a result, more victims will be believed and more crimes will be prevented,” said Blaine in the statement.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

A Catholic priest caught on video snorting what appeared to be cocaine has taken leave from the priesthood.

Fr Stephen Crossan is reported to have sniffed coke through a £10 note on a night of drinking in July 2015 in Banbridge, County Down.

He was in a room with Nazi memorabilia and seemed to say “I shouldn’t” as he snorted, the Sun on Sunday reported.

The bishop of Dromore said in a statement that he had no knowledge of the incident.
It allegedly occurred in the parochial house last July after a party.

The Sun on Sunday said it happened at what was then Fr Crossan’s parish home in the grounds of St Patrick’s Church, Banbridge, in July 2015.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Brian Roewe | Feb. 29, 2016

“Spotlight,” the film that follows The Boston Globe’s investigation into the clergy sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic church, won best picture at the 88th Academy Awards held on Sunday night.

“This film gave a voice to survivors, and this Oscar amplifies that voice, which we hope will become a choir that will resonate all the way to the Vatican,” producer Michael Sugar said in accepting the Oscar.

“Pope Francis, it’s time to protect the children and restore the faith,” he added.

“We would not be here today without the heroic efforts of our reporters,” said Blye Pagon Faust, another “Spotlight” producer. “Not only do they affect global change, but they absolutely show us the necessity for investigative journalism.”

In January 2002, the Globe published its first report from its Spotlight investigative team uncovering the sexual abuse scandal in the Boston archdiocese. The stories that followed helped place the issue of clerical sexual abuse of children on the nation’s conscience and ultimately beyond U.S. borders. The Globe’s reporting added a major metropolitan voice to the work of other smaller publications in uncovering the abuse scandal, including a Boston-area alternative weekly, the Phoenix, and National Catholic Reporter, which published its first story on the abuse crisis in 1985.

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ROME
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Feb. 29, 2016

ROME
One of the Catholic church’s highest ranking cardinals, Vatican official George Pell, faced four hours of questioning about his role in the clergy sexual abuse crisis in his native Australia in an extraordinary overnight hearing Sunday, in which he admitted the church “has made enormous mistakes” in its handling of dangerous priests.

The cardinal, who has been among Pope Francis’ closest advisors in reforming the Vatican and now leads the city-state’s new centralized treasury department, also said that evidence of abuse brought forward by victims in past decades “were dismissed in absolutely scandalous circumstances.”

Pell, who formerly served as an auxiliary bishop and then archbishop of Melbourne and then archbishop of Sydney, was testifying via video-link from Rome in the hours between Sunday and Monday in a hearing taking place in his home country on the church’s historic response to clergy sexual abuse.

For the 270 minutes between 10:00 p.m. and 2:30 a.m. in Rome, Gail Furness, the lead counsel assisting Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, led Pell through years of the church’s response to sexual abuse, fact by fact.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

by Ty Burr GLOBE STAFF
FEBRUARY 29, 2016

[with video]

The Oscars came home to Boston at the 88th Academy Awards Sunday night as “Spotlight,” a drama about the Boston Globe’s investigation of clergy sexual abuse and the cover-up by the Roman Catholic Church, was named best picture of 2015. In addition, the writing team of Josh Singer and director Tom McCarthy won the Oscar for best original screenplay.

“This film gave a voice to survivors and this Oscar amplifies that voice, which we hope will become a choir that will resonate all the way to the Vatican,” said “Spotlight” producer Michael Sugar as he accepted the award while the film’s cast — and some of the people they portray — stood behind him on stage.

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UNITED STATES
First Post

by Swetha Ramakrishnan Feb 29, 2016

Only an investigative journalism team could carry out a report like the one documented in the Oscar winning film Spotlight. It requires patience, authenticity and people skills that may be lost to the generation of breaking news.

Spotlight is a story about a team of investigative journalists from The Boston Globe — over months, they dug around for information about a child sex abuse racket involving pedophile priests who were backed by the Church and lawyers (through a systemic encouragement of the abuse, by settling cases out of court, sealing the records and maintaining absolute silence on the issue).

Perhaps, the most poignant scenes in Spotlight are a succession of shots showing the reporters compulsively fact checking their research for the Pulitzer prize winning campaign in 2001. A quick web search on the real Spotlight team will show you that the actors who play their parts (which includes Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams and Brian d’Arcy James) are cast so aptly that they have the mannerisms of the original reporters down to the most minute detail.

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USA
Katholisch

Kein Genre ist bei Kinogängern derzeit so beliebt wie Filme, die auf wahren Begebenheiten beruhen. Die Spanne reicht dabei von streng an der Realität orientierten Dokumentationen bis zu Dramatisierungen hochaktueller Ereignisse. Die Beschäftigung mit den Missbrauchsfällen katholischer Priester und deren weitreichende Publizität bot sich unter solchen Voraussetzungen geradezu an.

Regisseur Tom McCarthy widmet sich dem “heißen Thema” aber nicht zur Ausbeutung seines Sensationscharakters, sondern wie ein Forscher, der sich mit den allgemein zugänglichen Ermittlungen nicht zufriedengibt, weil er sich von den Vorgängen so aufgewühlt fühlt, dass er das ganze Ausmaß und die ganze Wahrheit offenlegen will.

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ROM
Kurier

Der ranghöchste Kardinal Australiens hat vor einer Regierungskommission eingeräumt, dass die Kirche Kindesmissbrauch durch Kirchenvertreter jahrelang heruntergespielt hat. “Ich bin nicht hier, um das Unhaltbare zu verteidigen”, sagte Kardinal George Pell, als Budgetverantwortlicher heute die Nummer drei in der Vatikan-Hierarchie.

Pell wird vorgeworfen, als Priester und Bischof selbst sexuelle Übergriffe von anderen vertuscht zu haben. Er hat dies stets zurückgewiesen. “Es waren meist persönliche Schwächen, kein Versagen der Struktur”, sagte Pell. “Der Instinkt war, die Institution, die Gemeinschaft der Kirche, vor Schande zu schützen.”

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ROM
Katholisch

Es sind denkwürdige Nachtgespräche in Rom. Der australische Kurienkardinal George Pell sagt diese Woche mehrere Tage hintereinander zu Missbrauchsfällen durch Kirchenleute in seiner Heimat aus. Da er wegen Herzproblemen den 21-Stunden-Flug nach Sydney nicht wagen kann, genehmigte ihm die australische Missbrauchskommission eine Aussage per Video-Schaltung. Kardinal Pell steht jeweils von 22 Uhr abends bis 2 Uhr morgens im römischen Hotel Quirinale unweit der Oper Rede und Antwort. Die erste Anhörung lief vergangene Nacht, die letzte ist für Mittwoch geplant. Wer will, kann im Konferenzraum des Hotels dabei sein. 14 Missbrauchsopfer aus Australien wollten das: via Internet sammelten sie umgerechnet 130.000 Euro Spenden und flogen damit nach Rom. Sie sagten, sie wollten dem Kardinal in die Augen sehen, während er spricht.

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ROM
Katholisch

Sydney/Rom – 29.02.2016

Der australische Kurienkardinal George Pell hat im Umgang mit Missbrauchsfällen “enorme Fehler” eingeräumt. Vor der australischen Missbrauchskommission erklärte er in der Nacht auf Montag, er werde “nicht das Unhaltbare verteidigen”. Die Kirche in Australien habe “die Dinge versaut und Menschen im Stich gelassen”, so Pell laut australischen Medienberichten.

Der Kardinal äußerte sich per Videoschalte aus Rom gegenüber der staatlichen Kommission zur Untersuchung des Umgangs von Institutionen mit Missbrauchsfällen in Sydney. Wegen eines akuten Herzleidens konnte er auf Anraten seiner Ärzte nicht zu der Anhörung nach Sydney fliegen.

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UNITED STATES
Newsmax

By Clyde Hughes | Monday, 29 Feb 2016

“Spotlight,” the surprise Best Picture winner at Sunday night’s Oscars, sent a message to Pope Francis: “it’s time to protect the children.”

The movie details the Boston Globe’s investigation into a sex abuse scandal at a local archdiocese, noted E! News, and producer Michael Sugar took advantage of his time on stage at the Academy Awards to blister the church on its sex abuse scandals.

“This film gave a voice to survivors, and this Oscar amplifies that voice, which we hope will become a choir that will resonate all the way to the Vatican,” Sugar said in his acceptance speech, “Pope Francis, it’s time to protect the children and restore the faith.”
Sugar continued on backstage, according to Entertainment Weekly, saying he hopes the movie will lead to reforms in the Catholic Church.

“I hope that you journalists in here and throughout the world will help resonate our message all the way to the Vatican, and maybe we can have some real change,” said Sugar. “That’s what we hope to accomplish. That’s what this is really about — for all of us is to talk about this film and what happened and because these things are still happening. The story of ‘Spotlight’ has really just begun.”

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CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times

Kenneth Turan

It was a year of two films. Until it wasn’t.

It was a year of small but well-placed surprises, right up to the end.

It was the year “Spotlight,” the third film on everyone’s list of top three finishers, came from behind and walked off with the best picture trophy.

An impeccable ensemble picture that polished classic Hollywood virtues to a splendid shine, “Spotlight” won the first Oscar of the night, for original screenplay, and then had to wait three-plus hours for another trip to the stage.

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CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times

Ryan Faughnder and Daniel Miller

20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. led their studio rivals at the Oscars on Sunday, thanks to robust showings from “The Revenant” and “Mad Max: Fury Road.”

Fox’s “The Revenant” took home three of the top prizes at the 88th Academy Awards: lead actor (Leonardo DiCaprio), director (Alejandro G. Iñárritu) and cinematography (Emmanuel Lubezki). Warner Bros.’ “Mad Max: Fury Road” scored six technical awards.

However, in a mild surprise, Open Road Films grabbed the biggest award of the evening — best picture — for the journalism drama “Spotlight.” The Tom McCarthy-directed picture also took home the Oscar for original screenplay. Open Road, a distributor based in Los Angeles, is co-owned by cinema chains AMC Entertainment and Regal Entertainment Group.

“Spotlight,” produced by Anonymous Content and Rocklin/Faust, and financed by Participant Media, represented the first best picture victory for Open Road, which was founded in 2011. “Spotlight” has grossed $62 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo.

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UNITED STATES
Counterpunch

by JOANN WYPIJEWSKI

I don’t “believe the victims”.

I was in Boston in the Spring of 2002 reporting on the priest scandal, and because I know some of what is untrue, I don’t believe the personal injury lawyers or the Boston Globe’s “Spotlight” team or the Catholic “faithful” who became harpies outside Boston churches, carrying signs with images of Satan, hurling invective at congregants who’d just attended Mass, and at least once – this in my presence – spitting in the face of a person who dared dispute them.

I don’t believe the prosecutors who pursued tainted cases or the therapists who revived junk science or the juries that sided with them or the judges who failed to act justly or the people who made money off any of this.

And I am astonished (though I suppose I shouldn’t be) that, across the past few months, ever since Spotlight hit theaters, otherwise serious left-of-center people have peppered their party conversation with effusions that the film reflects a heroic journalism, the kind we all need more of.

I don’t believe the claims of all who say they are victims – or who prefer the more tough-minded label ‘survivor’ – because ready belief is not part of a journalist’s mental kit, but also because what happened in 2002 makes it difficult to distinguish real claims from fraudulent or opportunistic ones without independent research. What editor Marty Baron and the Globe sparked with their 600 stories and their confidential tip line for grievances was not laudatory journalism but a moral panic, and unfortunately for those who are telling the truth, truth was its casualty.

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CALIFORNIA
Catholic Herald

The producer of Spotlight, which chronicles The Boston Globe’s investigation into the cover-up of clerical abuse, spoke out after the film won best picture at Sunday’s ceremony

One of the producers of Spotlight, which won the Oscar for best picture at Sunday night’s ceremony, used his acceptance speech to call on Pope Francis and the Vatican to protect children from abuse and “restore the faith”.

The film, which tells the story of The Boston Globe’s investigation into the cover-up of clerical abuse in the Archdiocese of Boston, also won the award for best original screenplay at the ceremony at the Dolby Theatre, in Hollywood.

In his acceptance speech, producer Michael Sugar said that Spotlight “gave a voice to survivors (of abuse)”.

“This Oscar amplifies that voice,” he said. “We hope will become a choir that will resonate all the way to the Vatican. Pope Francis, it’s time to protect the children and restore the faith.”

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MICHIGAN
Central Michigan Life

By Sydney Smith

When I first met Fr. Denis Heames in 2015, I was on assignment.

I was tasked with writing a “personality profile.” These are usually done on someone who’s unique in a community — someone with an interesting attribute, hobby or lifestyle.

He was an actor turned priest.

I went to St. Mary’s University Parish to interview him. We walked through the church and into his home, just a couple feet away. He was wearing plainclothes that day in February: jeans and a dark-colored long sleeve shirt. You couldn’t tell he was a priest except by looking at his left-hand ring finger, where he wore a silver crucifix-style ring.

His home was modest from what I remember, though I took note of the large windows; I could see students walking to class. Heames made me a cappuccino, and I settled on a black leather armchair for our interview.

The story wasn’t the highlight of my journalism career, but Heames stuck with me because of his charisma. I didn’t expect that in the future I’d be writing more stories about him.

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MICHIGAN
Central Michigan Life

Editorial Board

Eight months ago, the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw removed Father Denis Heames from St. Mary’s University Parish for “boundary violations.”

The diocese refused to say much more about Heames’ suspension. Bishop Joseph Cistone made sure to mention in a press release the issue “did not involve minors.”

What has become clear is the Catholic Church tried to cover up yet another scandal.

Cistone has a history of covering up scandal within his jurisdiction. In 2012, a judge found Cistone was a witness of shredding of documents in 1994 when he was a church official in Philadelphia. The documents identified 35 priests suspected of sexual abuse.

This scandal involves the sexual harassment of a Central Michigan University student, according to a university investigation.

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CANADA
The Globe and Mail

GLORIA GALLOWAY
OTTAWA — The Globe and Mail
Published Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016

Justice department lawyers have been accused of withholding documents that show a priest who worked at an infamous Indian residential school for nearly four decades was a serial sexual predator even as they persuaded an adjudicator to deny compensation to a former student who said the priest abused him.

The man, who was a student of St. Anne’s Indian Residential School in Fort Albany, Ont., is asking Justice Paul Perell of the Ontario Superior Court to rehear his claim in light of the evidence, which was not presented at his closed-door hearing in July, 2014, before an adjudicator of the Independent Assessment Process (IAP). That process was created under the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement to provide compensation quickly to former students who were physically or sexually abused at the institutions.

In a document requesting directions that was filed in court late last week, Fay Brunning, the lawyer for the man, who is identified as H-15019, is asking that the lawyers for the Department of Justice be removed from any new hearing granted to her client. She also asks that those lawyers be prevented from arguing in any other closed-door IAP hearing for former St. Anne’s students that the police and court records documenting abuse at the school are inadmissible.

In her request for directions – which includes allegations that have not been proved in court – Ms. Brunning asks Judge Perell to, among other things, look at her client’s situation as a test case to determine whether other former students may have been denied compensation, or given less compensation than they were due, because of the lack of disclosure.

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ROME
9 News

AAP

KEY MOMENTS AND QUOTES OF GEORGE PELL’S TESTIMONY

* “The way he was dealt with, that was a catastrophe. A catastrophe for the victims and a catastrophe for the church,” Cardinal Pell said on the handling of pedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale by Bishop Ronald Mulkearns.

* “I am not here to defend the indefensible. The church has made enormous mistakes, and is working to remedy those,” Dr Pell when asked if there was a structural problem in the church.

There were one or two fleeting references to misbehaviour by Dowlan “which I concluded might have been pedophilic activity”, Cardinal Pell in reply to a question about what he knew about Christian Brother Ted Dowlan.

* “I never knew the nature of these, whether they were indiscretions or crimes,” on why Dowlan left the Ballarat parish.

* “Too many of them (complaints by children) certainly were dismissed and sometimes they were dismissed in scandalous circumstances,” when asked if the attitude in the 70s was not to believe children.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Danny Tran

In Cardinal George Pell’s home town of Ballarat in Western Victoria, the senior Catholic cleric’s evidence was coolly received.

More than 50 people gathered in the town hall to watch Cardinal Pell concede the Catholic Church had made mistakes.

“The Church has, in many places, certainly in Australia, has mucked things up, has let people down,” Cardinal Pell said.

“I’m not here to defend the indefensible.”

Regarding convicted paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale, who preyed on dozens of children in Ballarat and across Western Victoria, Cardinal Pell told the royal commission the situation was handled disastrously.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

By RACHEL EDDIE FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

A woman whose husband, brother and cousin were all sexually abused as children in Ballarat has hit back at controversial News Corp columnist Miranda Devine who said there had been a ‘lynch mob’ attacking Cardinal George Pell.

Ms Devine on Sunday wrote the opinion piece for the Daily Telegraph in response to growing dissatisfaction with Cardinal Pell who on Monday gave evidence into the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse from Rome after his doctor provided a certificate that he was unfit to fly to Australia to give evidence in person.

Survivors of abuse suffered over past decades in Ballarat and their supporters instead journeyed to Rome to hear him give evidence in person, believing it would help overcome trauma.

Clare Linane later hit back on Facebook in a post that’s since been shared more than 2,000 times.

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ROME
Sydney Morning Herald

Cardinal George Pell has ceded just enough ground at the child abuse royal commission to give victims a glimmer of hope. There is a vague hint that senior Catholic Church leaders are seeing that the culture of turning a blind eye must change.

But the commission has yet to hone in on the key questions raised by victims’ testimony relating to the extent of Cardinal Pell’s specific knowledge of abuse from the 1970s and whether he was open to accepting or acting on it.

In his third appearance at the commission, the Cardinal admitted that “in those days if a priest denied (sexual abuse) activity I was strongly inclined to accept that denial”.

Granted, some adults then might have trusted a priest’s word above a child’s. But Cardinal Pell’s testimony revealed a deeper malaise. Despite knowing of abuse cases, and hearing the “gossip” among colleagues, he still believed adults with vested interests over the children or their carers. He even reminded the commission that the alleged offender John Day in Mildura had a strong body of supporters, including “a wonderful woman” whom the Cardinal knew.

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ROME
BBC News

By James Reynolds
BBC News, Rome

When Vatican treasurer Cardinal George Pell delivered his long-awaited testimony to an Australian government inquiry into child sex abuse, the BBC’s Rome correspondent James Reynolds was in the room.

Cardinal George Pell entered the hotel ballroom one minute before the scheduled starting time of 22:00 (21:00 GTM). He walked with a slight stoop to a table set up next to a video screen.

One-hundred-and-fifty people gathered to watch him give evidence. Two Vatican security guards sat discreetly on the aisles near the front.

More than a dozen victims of abuse from Australia were also in the audience. They’d raised the money to fly here to Rome. Some wore red T-shirts printed with the words “No More Silence”.

Technicians dimmed one of the room’s chandeliers and opened the video link with the Royal Commission in Australia. The opening questions were easy.

“Are you the number three in the Vatican?” the counsel asked.

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CALIFORNIA
7 News

Hollywood (United States) (AFP) – “Spotlight,” which chronicles The Boston Globe’s investigation into sexual abuse in the Catholic Church and institutional efforts to cover up the crimes, landed the Oscar for best picture — a surprise win.

The journalism drama, which boasts a star-studded ensemble cast including Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams, is based on a series of stories by the real “Spotlight” team that earned the paper a Pulitzer Prize in 2003.

“This film gave a voice to survivors. And this Oscar amplifies that voice, which we hope will become a choir that will resonate all the way to the Vatican,” co-producer Michael Sugar told the audience at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

“Pope Francis, it’s time to protect the children and restore the faith,” he said.

“Spotlight” was instantly tipped as a contender for glory at the 88th Oscars from its world premiere in September. The film also took home honors for best original screenplay, after earning a total of six nominations.

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New Europe

Spotlight, the movie about Boston Globe’s investigation of clergy sexual abuse and the cover-up by the Roman Catholic Church, won the Oscar 2015 award and reminded to the public the numerous worldwide child sex abuse scandals which hit the Catholic Church in the past years.

The Associated Press reported today that one of Pope Francis’ top advisers acknowledged that the Catholic Church “has made enormous mistakes” in allowing thousands of children to be raped and molested by priests over centuries as he testified at an extraordinary public hearing of an Australian investigative commission just a few blocks from the Vatican.

According to AP, the head of the Vatican Bank George Pell testified via videolink for four hours from Sunday night to early Monday morning from a Rome hotel to the Royal Commission sitting in Sydney. On 3 April 2013, the Australian authorities opened a national inquiry to investigate thousands of child sex abuse cases concerning Catholic priests in Australia.

Pell told to the lead counsel assisting the commission, Gail Furness: “I’m not here to defend the indefensible. The church has made enormous mistakes and is working to remedy those.” He added that the church had “mucked things up and let people down” and for too long had dismissed credible abuse allegations “in absolutely scandalous circumstances.”

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UNITED STATES
News-Press

USA Today

You can’t expect a movie, even one as riveting as Spotlight, to change the culture of a centuries-old institution like the Catholic Church. But perhaps the film can remind the church of its unfinished business in confronting a decades-long cover-up of rampant child molestation.

The movie depicts an investigation by the Spotlight reporting team at The Boston Globe, which broke the news in January 2002 and brought international attention to a sickening scandal in Boston that has since engulfed the church around the world. In the United States alone, more than 17,000 victims have reported sexual abuse, going back as far as 1950, involving about 6,400 priests in 100 cities.

Yet, not once in the past 14 years has a single U.S. bishop, let alone a cardinal, been removed from ministry for a role in the scandal. Perhaps the church could not have prevented child molesters from entering the priesthood, but bishops and cardinals could have stopped the crimes of serial predators. Many children would have been spared had religious leaders done what you’d expect any decent person to do: Report alleged crimes to authorities and, at the very least, keep molesters away from children. Often, they did neither.

Reports of abuse were ignored. Predator priests were sent for “treatment,” then shuffled off to other parishes, often to molest again. When lawsuits threatened to blow the church’s cover, the cases were settled secretly.

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BOTSWANA
The Voice BW

Daniel Chida

A self styled pastor and former teacher suspected to have sexually abused several children before he was caught has finally been hit with a defilement charge.

Pastor Mandla Keipheditse who hastily quit teaching under dubious circumstances last year to start a church is facing a single charge of sexually abusing a child under the age of 16.

The current case this week however prompted parents of 13 other children who claim to have been molested by the 30- year -old pastor when he was a teacher at Marakanelo Junior School to come forward.

Spokesperson for the aggrieved family that has already laid a charge against the pastor, Isaiah Mabote lambasted the notorious pastor for ruining, not one, but two of their children’s lives.

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ROME
Sydney Morning Herald

February 29, 2016

Melissa Cunningham

Ballarat clerical abuse survivors say Australia’s most senior Catholic is holding back on his knowledge of paedophile priests who sexually abused scores of children over decades.

During his evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Cardinal George Pell said he was not there to “defend the indefensible” and denied knowing about paedophile priests operating in the Ballarat diocese in the 1970s.

He said the Catholic Church had made “enormous” mistakes in its handling of child sex crimes and had let victims down but was working to repair it.

Standing outside of the Hotel Quirinale in Rome where Cardinal Pell gave evidence via video link back to Australia, clerical abuse victim David Ridsdale said thousands of people were still suffering as a result of the church’s failure to protect children.

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ROME
The Guardian

David Marr
Monday 29 February 2016

George Pell has shifted ground. The news from his latest stint in the box at the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse is that he wasn’t deaf and he wasn’t blind back in the old days in Ballarat.

The cardinal took no body blows. He endured interrogation by Gail Furness SC, counsel assisting the commission, with almost perfect calm. His energy didn’t fail him. In his leathery voice he answered over and again, “That is correct.”

So much of his testimony was familiar. He expressed his regrets. He condemned the failings of the church which he put down to original sin rather than “the divine structure of the church that goes back to the New Testament”.

But he brought something new to the Albergo Quirinale: admissions that he had heard rumours about priests abusing children in the diocese of Ballarat. He had heard complaints. He even admitted knowing about priests kissing and swimming naked with children.

He was not entirely out of the loop.

Since his last appearance in the box, Pell has engaged a team of first-rate lawyers. Perhaps they’ve encouraged him to reflect more deeply on his years in Ballarat when he returned from Oxford with a great career before him in the church.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) The Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, Cardinal George Pell, this weekend visited the Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto in the Vatican Gardens to pray for all survivors of abuse.

The Cardinal testified overnight on Sunday to the Royal Commission investigating institutional sexual abuse in Australia, and will do so again over the next few days.

Cardinal Pell also offered his support for the Loud Fence movement by tying a yellow ribbon on the fence at the grotto.

Beginning in Ballarat, in the Australian state of Victoria, the Loud Fence movement encourages people to tie brightly-coloured ribbons on the fences of Catholic institutions, as a symbol of solidarity with survivors of sexual abuse, their families and communities.

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ROME
Religion News Service

Rosie Scammell | February 29, 2016

ROME (RNS) Australian Cardinal George Pell, now a top adviser to Pope Francis, testified in a landmark clergy sex abuse inquiry that the Catholic Church made “enormous mistakes” in trying to deal with the scandal.

Speaking to an Australian commission investigating the church’s response to abuse, Pell — who had previously been archbishop in Sydney — also said that during the 1970s he was “very strongly inclined to accept the denial” of a priest accused of abuse.

The 74-year-old Pell, who serves as the Vatican’s finance chief, appeared before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse late Sunday (Feb. 28) via video link from a Rome hotel because he said a heart condition prevented him from traveling.

As he rose through the ranks of the Australian church, Pell recalled that numerous allegations “certainly were dismissed and sometimes they were dismissed in absolutely scandalous circumstances.”

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ROME
Crux

By Inés San Martín
Vatican correspondent February 29, 2016

ROME — One of the Vatican’s most senior officials admitted that the Catholic Church “has made enormous mistakes” in allowing children to be sexually abused by priests, as he testified via video link to a Royal Commission in Australia investigating institutional responses to child sexual abuse.

Australian Cardinal George Pell also admitted that he often believed priests over alleged victims who came forward: “I must say in those days, if a priest denied such activity, I was very strongly inclined to accept the denial.”

“I’m not here to defend the indefensible,” Pell said at the beginning of a grueling four-hour hearing late Sunday night via video from a Rome hotel. In order to be take place in the morning in Australia, Pell has agreed to appear beginning at 10 p.m. Rome time and continue until roughly 2 a.m. each day. The hearing is expected to last three or four days.

“The Church has made enormous mistakes, but is working to remedy them,” he said. “In many places, the Church certainly has mucked things up, has let people down.”

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ROME
The Daily Beast

Barbie Latza Nadeau

ROME — Dingy sage-green curtains and three enormous shiny golden chandeliers in the Verdi Room of Rome’s Quirinale Hotel, a stone’s throw away from the main train station, provided an odd setting for one of the most important clerical sex-abuse hearings a senior Vatican official has ever faced.

The squeaky parquet-floored room, which is normally used for wedding receptions and first communion parties, was transformed into a makeshift courtroom for Cardinal George Pell, head of the Vatican’s Secretariat for the Economy, who was called to answer questions by the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Pell was supposed to travel to Australia for the hearings last year, but ill health (backed up by ample doctor certification) apparently prohibited the 74-year-old from making the long journey. So the commission decided to come to Rome and conduct the questioning by video link, Australian time, which means the four-hour hearings started at 10 p.m. in Rome—and could last three or four days.

On Sunday, the first night of the inquiry, Pell was whisked into the room through a side door and sat at a table covered with a green cloth at the front of a room filled with about 50 journalists, several dozen priests and Australians supporting Pell, and some 20 survivors of sexual abuse, who used crowd-funding to pay for their trip to Rome

The Cardinal never looked out at the crowd. Instead, his eyes were fixed solidly on the little silver camera in front of him as Gail Furness, a lawyer assisting the Royal Commission in what amounts to a prosecutorial role, asked questions from a courtroom in Sydney. At times the scene resembled one of those awkward Skype calls with either Furness or Pell talking over each and apologizing for the interruption.

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ROME/AUSRALIA
The Guardian

Ben Doherty in Sydney and Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Rome

The Catholic Church was more concerned with protecting its own reputation than helping victims of clergy abuse, and had a “predisposition not to believe” children who made complaints, Cardinal George Pell has told the royal commission into institutional responses to sexual child abuse in Australia.

“At that stage, the instinct was more to protect the institution, the community of the church, from shame,” he told the commission in Sydney via videolink from Rome.

On the first day of four scheduled days of evidence before Australia’s royal commission on Monday, Pell, Australia’s most senior Catholic, conceded the church’s handling of child sexual abuse in the case of paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale was a “catastrophe”.

“I’m not here to defend the indefensible, the church has made enormous mistakes and is working to remedy those, but the church has in many places, certainly in Australia, has mucked things up, has let people down. I’m not here to defend the indefensible.”

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CALIFORNIA
Deadline

By Dominic Patten

Spotlight tonight took the big prize at the 88th Academy Awards with a Best Picture victory. Nominated for a total of six Oscars tonight it also was the big winner Saturday at the Independent Spirit Awards. The Open Road-distributed and Tom McCarthy-directed drama about the Boston Globe’s Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative team’s exposes of rampant sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests and the subsequent cover-ups was chosen as one of the top 10 films of 2015 by AFI. McCarthy lost on Best Director on Sunday to The Revenant’s Alejandro G. Inarritu.

“This film gave a voice to survivors, and this Oscar amplifies that voice which we hope will become a choir that will resonate all the way to the Vatican,” said producer Michael Sugar onstage, surrounded by Spotlight‘s cast and creatives. “Pope Francis, it is time to protect the children and restore the faith.”

Before tonight’s ceremony, McCarthy, actor Mark Ruffalo and co-writer Josh Singer were among protesters outside L.A.’s Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. “Standing with the survivors of priest sexual abuse,” Ruffalo tweeted on Sunday in solidarity with the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests demanding the public release of the names of pedophile members of the clergy.

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ROME
ABC News

By Dan Smith, staff

The Catholic Church made “enormous mistakes” and “let people down” in its handling of child sexual abuse by priests, Cardinal George Pell told the child abuse royal commission this morning.

Australia’s most senior Catholic testified via video link from a hotel in Rome, giving evidence about Catholic abuse in Ballarat and Melbourne.

He said he was “not here to defend the indefensible”, and admitted children at the time were unlikely to be believed if they had come forward with allegations of abuse.

When asked if the general attitude of the church was to not believe a child, he said it “certainly was much, much more difficult for the child to be believed then … the predisposition was not to believe”.

“…Too many of them certainly were dismissed and sometimes they were dismissed in absolutely scandalous circumstances,” he said.

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CALIFORNIA
The Drum

The film Spotlight based on the Boston Globe’s expose of sexual misbehaviour by scores of local priests won the Oscar for Best Picture in Los Angeles last night.

The film has been widely credited with setting off investigations into priestly wrongdoing worldwide.

The film detailing The Boston Globe’s coverage of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church actually won two awards: it was named Best Original Screenplay opening the telecast and and at the end it it collected the the Best Picture Oscar .

“This film gave a voice to survivors and this Oscar amplifies that voice, which we hope will become a choir that resonate all the way to the Vatican,” said Spotlight producer Michael Sugar while accepting the award.

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ROME
Sky News

Cardinal George Pell heard rumours about pedophile priests and suspected a Christian Brother might have been involved in ‘pedophilic activity’ but insists he was unaware of sexual abuse and cover-ups across the Ballarat diocese in the 1970s.

Child abuse survivors from Australia had a front-row seat in Rome as they watched Cardinal Pell sit late into the night to give evidence to the child abuse royal commission via a video link back to Sydney.

Their reaction was mixed: welcoming of a more conciliatory tone but cautious about what they saw as the cardinal’s careful choice of words.

The Australian cleric now in charge of the Vatican’s finances told the commission he had heard rumours of abuse and inappropriate behaviour by priests and brothers in the Victorian diocese of Ballarat in the early 1970s.

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ROME
RTE News (Ireland)

Australian Cardinal George Pell, the highest-ranking Vatican official to testify on clerical sexual abuse, said the Catholic Church made “enormous mistakes” and “let people down”.

Giving evidence in front of abuse victims in a Rome hotel room, Cardinal Pell told Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse that children were often not believed and abusive priests shuffled from parish to parish.

“The Church has made enormous mistakes and is working to remedy those, but the Church in many places, certainly in Australia, has mucked things up, has let people down,” he said via video link to the commission in Sydney.

“I’m not here to defend the indefensible.”

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ROME
NBC News

by CLAUDIO LAVANGA and ALASTAIR JAMIESON

ROME — Vatican treasurer George Pell admitted Sunday that the Roman Catholic Church had “mucked things up” as he became the highest-ranking church official to testify on sexual abuse.

Giving evidence in front of abuse victims, the Australian cardinal said the organization reflected society as a whole and there was a “tendency to evil in the Catholic Church, too.”

He held up a bible as he took the oath in a Rome hotel room where he began to give evidence by video link to Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse.

Pell was expected to clarify whether he knew that a number of priests were abusing children in the diocese near Melbourne where he served as a senior priest and vicar between 1973 and 1983. Among them was Australia’s most notorious pedophile priest, Gerald Ridsdale, with whom Pell shared a house and who has been convicted for abusing more than 50 children over three decades.

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CALIFORNIA
GMA News (Philippines)

‘Spotlight’ actor Mark Ruffalo didn’t just make the Academy Awards his focus on Sunday (February 28), where he was nominated in the best supporting actor category.

Earlier in the day, he attended a protest outside the Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels in downtown Los Angeles alongside the Oscar Best Picture winning film’s director Tom McCarthy and writer Josh Singer.

“So we were with SNAP today,” he told Reuters on the Oscars red carpet, “which is a survivors’ organisation of priest sexual abuse and they were down at the cathedral downtown where the archdiocese basically protesting to continue the lack of transparency of the Roman Catholic Church and Rome and the Vatican and most of the archdiocese here in the United States on sexual abuse. There are 2,800 priests who they know are absolute sexual predators whose names have still not been released and not been released here in the United States. Thousands more throughout the United States and the Vatican today is still dragging its feet on making any real reforms. So we were there today to try to bring justice closer to the hands of these poor people, this horrible thing that’s happened to these people.”

Ruffalo failed to win the best supporting actor Oscar but believed that ‘Spotlight’ had had an effect on the issue at the heart of the film. He plays real life journalist Mike Rezendes who along with the team of Spotlight investigative journalists uncovered widespread child abuse by Catholic priests in Boston.

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AUSTRALIA/ROME
Wall Street Journal

By ROB TAYLOR in Canberra and
FRANCIS X. ROCCA in Rome

A top adviser to Pope Francis on Monday told an Australian inquiry that the failure to halt child abuse by clergy decades ago in the country was “a catastrophe” for both victims and the church. But he denied knowledge of any crimes while he was a priest there at that time.

Cardinal George Pell, who is the Vatican’s financial chief, made the church’s most conciliatory and detailed comments yet regarding accusations of sexual abuse of hundreds of Australian children in the 1970s and 1980s in testimony to a government-appointed Royal Commission.

“It certainly was much, much more difficult for the child to be believed then. The predisposition was not to believe,” Cardinal Pell, 74 years old, told the Australia-based inquiry by video-link from Rome. “The instinct was more to protect the institution, the community of the church, from shame.”

The Australian panel was formed in 2012 to investigate accusations of serious child abuse over decades within institutions including churches, schools, orphanages and sporting clubs. It will eventually report back to government.

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CALIFORNIA
The Independent (UK)

Maya Oppenheim

Just hours before the Oscars were due to start, Spotlight actor Mark Ruffalo took part in a protest against sexual abuse in the Catholic church in downtown Los Angeles.

Joined by Spotlight director Tom McCarthy and co-writer Josh Singer, the three spent their day at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels marching alongside the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

Brandishing banners which displayed childhood pictures of the victims of the sexual abuse, the protest called for the names of the priests who have been convicted of abusing minors to be made public.

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ROME
The National

SYDNEY // Vatican finance chief Cardinal George Pell admitted on Monday the Catholic Church “mucked up” in dealing with paedophile priests and vowed he would not “defend the indefensible” before an Australian inquiry.

Cardinal Pell gave evidence from a hotel in Rome via video-link to the Royal Commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse in Sydney. He did not appear in person as he has a heart condition.

The inquiry is currently focused on the Victorian state town of Ballarat, where Cardinal Pell grew up and worked, and how the church dealt with complaints – many dating back to the 1970s – against the Catholic clergy.

Cardinal Pell, who rose to be the top Catholic official in Australia, said the church historically made grave errors in not properly addressing the issue and was now working to remedy them.

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ROME
Washington Post

Sarah Kaplan
February 29

“I’m not here to defend the indefensible,” Cardinal George Pell told an Australian courtroom Monday.

What he did was attempt to explain: how one of the most notorious pedophilia rings in the country could have taken place on his watch, how he could have heard about priests who engaged in “misbehavior” — kissing boys, swimming naked with students — and not reported it, how thousands of children were raped and molested by priests in Australia and elsewhere while the Catholic Church did nothing.

“The church has made enormous mistakes and is working to remedy those,” he said via video conference from Rome. “But the church in many places, certainly Australia, has mucked things up … has let people down.”

The investigation into the widespread sexual abuse of children in the city of Ballarat, where Pell was a priest, has brought allegations of exploitation and cover-up extraordinarily far up the Catholic Church’s chain of command; Pell is the church’s Secretariat for the Economy, a position described as the second most powerful in Rome, and he spoke from a hotel that was just blocks from Vatican.

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CALIFORNIA
Star Tribune

By JAKE COYLE Associated Press FEBRUARY 29, 2016

LOS ANGELES — In an underdog win for a movie about an underdog profession, the newspaper drama “Spotlight” took best picture Sunday at an Academy Awards riven by protest and outrage, and electrified by an unflinching Chris Rock.

Tom McCarthy’s film about the Boston Globe’s investigative reporting on sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests won over the favored frontier epic “The Revenant.” McCarthy’s well-crafted procedural, led by a strong ensemble cast, had lagged in the lead-up to the Oscars, losing ground to the flashier filmmaking of Alejandro Inarritu’s film.

But “Spotlight” — an ode to the hard-nose, methodical work of a journalism increasingly seldom practiced — took the night’s top honor despite winning only one other Oscar for McCarthy and Josh Singer’s screenplay. Such a sparsely-awarded best picture winner hasn’t happened since 1952’s “The Greatest Show On Earth.”

“We would not be here today without the heroic efforts of our reporters,” said producer Blye Pagon Faust. “Not only do they effect global change, but they absolutely show us the necessity for investigative journalism.”

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CALIFORNIA
Reuters

LOS ANGELES | BY JILL SERJEANT

Catholic Church abuse movie “Spotlight” was named best picture, the top award at Sunday’s Oscars ceremony, after a night peppered with pointed punchlines from host Chris Rock about the #OscarsSoWhite controversy that has dominated the industry.

In a ceremony where no single movie commanded attention, Mexico’s Alejandro Inarritu nabbed the best directing Oscar for “The Revenant”, becoming the first filmmaker in more than 60 years to win back-to-back Academy Awards. Inarritu won in 2015 for “Birdman.”

“The Revenant” went into Sunday’s ceremony with a leading 12 nominations, and was among four movies believed to have the best chances for best picture after it won Golden Globe and BAFTA trophies.

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CALIFORNIA
Entertainment Weekly

BY WILL ROBINSON

Spotlight won Best Picture at the Academy Awards on Sunday night, upsetting the heavily favored The Revenant.

The ensemble drama about The Boston Globe’s 2002 reporting of the Catholic Church child sex abuse scandal had only one other win on the night, for Best Original Screenplay. The cast basked in their victory after picking up their golden statuettes.

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CALIFORNIA
Hollywood Reporter

[with video]

“This film gave a voice to survivors, and this Oscar amplifies that voice, which we hope will become a choir that will resonate all the way to the Vatican,” said producer Michael Sugar.
Spotlight was named best picture at the 88th annual Academy Awards on Sunday night.

The drama showcasing the Boston Globe’s reporting on the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal beat out The Big Short, Bridge of Spies, Brooklyn, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian, The Revenant and Room.

“This film gave a voice to survivors, and this Oscar amplifies that voice, which we hope will become a choir that will resonate all the way to the Vatican,” said producer Michael Sugar. “Pope Francis, it’s time to protect the children and restore the faith.”

Producer Blye Pagon Faust thanked the real-life reporters from The Boston Globe’s Spotlight team, and journalists at large: “Not only do they affect global change, but they absolutely show us the necessity for investigative journalism.” Faust’s producing partner Nicole Rocklin added of the cast, “If there ever was a perfectly calibrated ensemble, you are it.”

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UNITED STATES
Breaking News (Ireland)

Newspaper drama Spotlight has upset all the glitzy Hollywood predictions with an underdog best picture Oscar.

The film was the surprise winner at the 88th Academy Awards, where remarks on lack of diversity dominated the proceedings.

Tom McCarthy’s film about the Boston Globe’s investigative reporting on sexual abuse by Catholic priests won over the favoured frontier epic The Revenant.

Spotlight, led by a strong ensemble cast, had lagged in the lead-up to the Oscars, losing ground to the flashier film-making of Alejandro Inarritu’s film starring Leonardo DiCaprio, who won the best actor statuette.

But Spotlight, an ode to the hard-nosed methodical work of a form of journalism now practised seldomly, took the night’s top honour, despite winning only one other Oscar for McCarthy and Josh Singer’s screenplay.

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CALIFORNIA
Deadline

by Anthony D’Alessandro
February 28, 2016

Open Road’s Spotlight is already out on DVD/VOD and it’s in its 17th weekend at the box office with $39.1 million. So how much juice can possibly be left in this film at the domestic box office? While exhibitors typically have a policy against booking titles that are already out on VOD/DVD, there’s always a want to get a best picture winner back into theaters. An Open Road insider confirmed earlier tonight that there’s a plan to take Spotlight back up to 1,000 engagements. It’s currently in play at 685 locations. Should that plan hold, industry estimates see Spotlight‘s total cume rising by another 4% to 12% for a final take between $40.7M-$43.8M.

Interestingly enough, Spotlight finds itself in similar scenario to last year’s best picture winner Birdman. By Oscar night a year ago, that Fox Searchlight release was also a played-out fall release that was already out on DVD with $37.8M in its 19th frame. Searchlight jumped its theater count from 407 venues during Oscarcast weekend to 1,207 the following week. Following its best picture win, Birdman‘s total cume jumped by 12% to $42.3M, ending its run during mid April. The average B.O boost for a best picture winner between the night of the ceremony and the end of its run has hovered around 20%.

Heading into the tonight, many though 20th Century Fox/New Regency’s The Revenant was going to take best picture, and if that was the case, that title stood to make another $10M-$15M at the box office. Fox will expand by a few hundred theaters and the thinking is that its best actor win for Leonardo DiCaprio will continue to send folks to the multiplex. However, a best picture win would have fueled the ultimate gain. While a number of contenders got lost in autumn’s bloodbath at the B.O., The Revenant, was the only best picture contender to play the 2016 side of the awards season, and reaped the benefits of doing so in a market that had already O.D.ed on Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Since noms were announced on January 14, The Revenant actually saw the biggest boost out of all the best pic noms –+215%– jumping from $54.1M to $170.5M through this weekend.

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CALIFORNIA
New York Times

by MICHAEL CIEPLY and BROOKS BARNES
FEB. 28, 2016

LOS ANGELES — In a ceremony that became a raucous diversity lesson under the guidance of its host, Chris Rock, Tom McCarthy’s “Spotlight,” a newspaper drama about the Roman Catholic Church cover-up of sexual abuse by priests, snatched top honors at the 88th Academy Awards on Sunday. It beat out “The Revenant,” which had been widely viewed as the favorite, but which nevertheless earned a best actor prize for Leonardo DiCaprio, his first Oscar, and a best director award for Alejandro G. Iñárritu.

Michael Sugar, a “Spotlight” producer, said he hoped the win would “resonate all the way to the Vatican.”

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ROME
Business Insider

HARRY TUCKER

Cardinal George Pell gave his long awaited four-hour testimony at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse earlier this morning.

The testimony covered many things around Pell’s time at various positions throughout various dioceses in Victoria and his knowledge of the behaviour of alleged paedophile priests.

The Rome-based Cardinal, who is the Secretariat for the Economy, responsible for the Holy See and Vatican’s finances, was forced to give evidence from the Italian capital because he is ill and unable to fly back to Australia to appear before the Royal Commission. His memory also appeared to be causing him trouble during testimony today.

Several times during his four hour appearance he said “I can’t remember any such examples but my memory might be playing me false”, or similar statements.

Here’s a list of the things the man in charge of the Catholic Church’s finances couldn’t recall or didn’t know anything about during his testimony today.

1. Whether he was ever approached about priests being “overly affectionate” with kids.

2. Whether he was approached for advice before a special tribunal was established to judge bishops accused of covering up priests who sexually abused children.

3. Whether paedophile priest Paul David Ryan was sent to the US for special treatment for his sexual offences.

4. Whether he knew anything about Paul David Ryan’s US trip at all.

5. Whether Bishop Ronald Mulkearns from Ballarat was aware of child abuse within his diocese.

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ROME
Sydney Morning Herald

February 29, 2016

Nick Miller

You would not find a more remarkable bunch of blokes than this group from Ballarat.

They are survivors of horrible sexual abuse, scarred for life, in varying states of health, but drawing on such deep wells of strength that up they came, in the teeth of a storm, to the Hotel Quirinale to face the third most powerful man in the church that betrayed and abandoned them.

Thunder and lightning cracked overhead, fat drops of Mediterranean winter rain bounced off the cobbles around them, serried media spotlights swung their way.

And they calmly said their pieces, posed for the flashes, and trooped into the opulent depths of the Quirinale.

The contrast couldn’t be stronger to Cardinal George Pell’s arrival, several hours earlier. As his car swung up to the hotel’s side entrance, a TV camera and reporter were waiting – the networks had pooled their resources to make sure he couldn’t go in unseen.

But a group of burly Italian security guards roughly pushed the journalists back – it was unclear on whose orders: Cardinal Pell later denied they were his team, blaming Italian police.

He then disappeared up to his room on the fifth floor, where rumour has it he will dwell until the hearing is over – except when he takes the stand.

It may not be quite the Vatican style that Cardinal Pell is used to but he’s not roughing it.
Rome specialises in luxurious locations. It’s kind of its thing.

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CALIFORNIA
Boston.com

By Bryanna Cappadona @brycappa
Boston.com Staff | 02.28.16

Oh, would ya look at that? In a glitzy room full of ravishing movie stars, Academy Awards host Chris Rock turned everyone’s attention to some of the real people who inspired some of this year’s Oscars-nominated movies. One of those people was The Boston Globe reporter Michael Rezendes, who is portrayed by Mark Ruffalo in Spotlight.

“It’s always fascinating to meet the real people that the movies are based on,” Rock said. “And some of them are here tonight. From Joy, the real Joy Mangano is here. Give it up for Joy. From Spotlight, The Boston Globe reporter the real Mike Rezendes is here. Give it up for Mike.”

Hi, Mike!

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CALIFORNIA
Variety

Dave McNary
Film Reporter
@Variety_DMcNary

“Spotlight’s” Academy Award win for best original screenplay for Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer shone a light on the important work of investigative journalists.

“We made this film for all the journalists who have and continue to hold the powerful accountable, and for the survivors whose courage and will to overcome is really an inspiration. We have to make sure this never happens again.” McCarthy said in his acceptance speech for the first award of the evening.

The script, exploring the Boston Globe’s investigation into pedophile priests, topped screenplays for “Bridge of Spies,” “Ex Machina,” “Inside Out” and “Straight Outta Compton.”

“Spotlight” has been the screenplay frontrunner through the awards season as it won at the Writers Guild and at the Spirit Awards, where it received standing ovations Saturday. McCarthy, who also directed, and Singer have made the rounds describing the courage of the Globe journalists portrayed in the film — both for their Pulitzer Prize-winning work in exposing the systematic clergy abuse and for giving wide access to the production team and actors.

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CALIFORNIA
Boston Globe

Just minutes into the Oscar telecast on Sunday night, Josh Singer already knew he’d be going home with at least one little gold man.

The evening’s first award, best original screenplay, went to Singer and Tom McCarthy for “Spotlight,” their telling of the Boston Globe’s Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation of clergy sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church. Accepting the award, Singer, a Harvard Law grad whose previous writing credits include “The West Wing” and “The Fifth Estate,” thanked the “Spotlight” cast and crew, and his father, “who taught me how to dream.”

McCarthy, who also directed, dedicated the screenwriting award to survivors “whose courage and will to overcome is really an inspiration.” He added, “We made this film for all the journalists who have and continue to hold the powerful accountable.”

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ROME
NT News

AAP

The term “bum buddies” never came to the attention of Cardinal George Pell in reference to a Christian Brother who was later jailed for abusing 31 boys.

The Cardinal was answering questions about his time as a priest in the Ballarat East parish in Victoria from 1973 to 1994 when he was also the episcopal vicar for education in the diocese.

In a video link from Rome the Cardinal has repeatedly told the Royal commission into child sexual abuse that he could not recall detail of exactly who told him what about problems at the local Christian Brothers school, St Patrick’s College.

He said he remembered being told of one brother who was kissing boys but said he never heard the ‘bum buddies’ term, which one witness, a former student at the school, has told the commission was used openly about boys who were abused by Brother Ted Dowlan.

Dr Pell agreed the term would certainly suggest sexual abuse.

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ROME
Sydney Morning Herald

Rachel Browne
Social Affairs Reporter

Cardinal George Pell was aware of the existence of clerical sexual abuse in the early 1970s but failed to recognise widespread offending when he was a junior priest in Ballarat, despite gossip that Christian Brothers there were assaulting children.

Cardinal Pell gave his long-awaited evidence into his knowledge of alleged sexual offences in Ballarat to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse by video link from Rome on Monday.

In a hearing expected to last four days, Cardinal Pell told the commission that abuse by Catholic clergy was “on the radar” in the 1970s due to offending by Monsignor John Day, who died in 1978.

The commission heard a 1971 police investigation found that Monsignor Day had molested children in Victoria over 13 years.

Cardinal Pell told the commission Monsignor Day’s case made him aware of sexual abuse among clergy but he did not recognise signs of abuse among Christian Brothers in Ballarat, where he was assistant parish priest from 1973-83.

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ROME
9 News

AAP

Cardinal George Pell says he didn’t know of sexual abuse perpetrated by pedophile priests in Victoria in the 1970s and has labelled a bishop’s handling of one notorious case as “catastrophic”.

On the first of four days of evidence to the child abuse royal commission via video link from Rome, Cardinal Pell was adamant he was unaware of predatory behaviour by priests and brothers when he was a junior priest in the diocese of Ballarat.

Cardinal Pell said the former Ballarat bishop Ronald Mulkearns knew in 1975 that notorious pedophile Father Gerald Ridsdale had abused boys but continued to move him to new parishes.

“The way he was dealt with, that was a catastrophe, a catastrophe for the victims and a catastrophe for the church,” Cardinal Pell told the hearing from a conference room inside Rome’s Hotel Quirinale.

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ROME
ABC News

By London bureau chief Lisa Millar

Cardinal George Pell’s testimony to the royal commission in Rome left abuse survivors slightly mollified, but ultimately unconvinced. Lisa Millar reports from the Hotel Quirinale.

After so much anticipation, it was hardly surprising that the hearing began in such a dramatic fashion.

Three hours before his evidence was due to start, Cardinal George Pell was driven to the side entrance of the Hotel Quirinale, where a cameraman and reporter trying to film his arrival were treated roughly by security.

The scuffle threatened to overshadow the start of this unusual session.

The Royal Commission has heard from witnesses before via videolink, but never under these kind of circumstances — in a hotel on the other side of the world, with 120 people in the audience who were not seen or heard from because of a ban on filming or photographs.

They remarked that Cardinal Pell had not acknowledged them as he entered the room. His mind was probably focused on the table on the side where he sat facing a video screen.

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AUSTRALIA/ROME
The Age

February 29, 2016

Konrad Marshall
Senior writer

It was 8:46am when the crowd of more than 60, gathered in the Trench Room at Ballarat Town Hall, murmured with disapproval. They hung their heads, shook their heads, and looked up in disbelief.

Cardinal George Pell’s testimony had only been going 45 minutes when he acknowledged that his recollections would be imperfect – that his memory might fail him in this hearing.
“I can’t remember,” Cardinal Pell said.

“I’m struggling to remember,” he said later.

“I can’t clearly recall,” he noted.

The people there listening – a mix of clergy abuse survivors and counsellors and family members – had previously been silent. Now they offered a muffled collective scoff, and pained laughter.

Tim Lane, 44, had been waiting for this. Lane was abused in his home as a child – one of six Ballarat siblings to fall prey to Brother Grant Ross. Lane has followed the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse, and been pleased with the result in his home town.

He has seen people throughout the city wearing “Some Don’t Remember – Some Won’t Forget” T-shirts. He has watched ribbons of support blow in the wind, tied to every school and church and tree. He has attended various civic receptions for survivors, and been listened to by his community. And it has been cathartic.

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CALIFORNIA
Bostoinno

Alex E. Weaver Lifestyle Editor

Chances are, you’re at or near a TV, paying varying degrees of attention to the 2016 Oscar winners, hosted by the often funny and always controversial Chris Rock. (Who, yeah, spent some time chatting about #OscarsSoWhite.)

This year’s Oscar Awards holds a special level of interest if you’re a Massachusetts resident or native: Spotlight, the portrayal of the 2001 Boston Globe shakedown of the rampant child molestation occurring within the Roman Catholic Church (and even more so, the subsequent systemic cover-up), is up for a host of awards, including Best Picture, Actor in a Supporting Role, Actress in a Supporting Role, Directing, Film Editing and Writing (Original Screenplay).

And while the Best Picture is still a ways off, Spotlight has won an Oscar for Writing (Original Screenplay).

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CALIFORNIA
Entertainment Weekly

Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer took home Oscar gold for telling the real-life story behind the Boston Globe’s Spotlight team.

McCarthy and Singer won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar for Spotlight, after winning in the same category at the Writers Guild Awards earlier this month. In their screenplay, McCarthy — who also directed the film — and Singer follow the investigative team at the Boston Globe as they fight uncover the truth about systemic child abuse inside the Catholic Church.

The film is nominated for several other awards, including Best Director for McCarthy and Best Picture.

“We made this film for all the journalists who have and continue to hold the powerful accountable,” McCarthy said. He also dedicated the award to survivors, “whose courage and will to overcome is really an inspiration.”

Backstage, McCarthy continued, “I think if Josh and I came away with anything from this, it’s just what hardworking dedicated curious and committed professional these reporters are. And for any profession you take your hat off to people like that. For us it felt more like a social calling than it did a job, with these people, it was incredibly inspirational.”

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ROME
The Australian

BY LLOYD JONES, AAP EUROPE CORRESPONDENT

Child abuse survivors in Rome to hear Cardinal George Pell’s testimony to a royal commission say he struck a more conciliatory and constructive tone, but there’s a long way to go.

Cardinal Pell is making his third appearance before the inquiry into how institutions like churches handled child sexual abuse complaints and is giving evidence by videolink after he was deemed too ill to return to Australia for questioning.

He’s being questioned about what he knew about pedophile priest activity in Ballarat and Melbourne when he served there.

A survivors’ group who travelled to Rome to hear his evidence listened quietly through just over three and a half hours of testimony in the Quirinale Hotel late on Sunday night and early into Monday morning.

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CALIFORNIA
ABC 7

LOS ANGELES — “Spotlight” took home the first award of the night at the 2016 Oscars on Sunday.

The journalism drama won the Oscar for the best original screenplay. The script by Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy tells the story of the Boston Globe’s Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation of sex abuse by Catholic priests.

McCarthy said they made the film for all the journalists who hold those in power accountable.

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CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times

Susan King

Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer won the Academy Award on Sunday for original screenplay for “Spotlight,” the drama revolving around the Boston Globe’s investigative reporters uncovering a massive cover-up by the Catholic Church of priests molesting young boys.

The film won praise from journalists for its realistic depiction of the newspaper world; many considered it the best film about newspapers since “All the President’s Men.” And in fact Washington Post Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein endorsed the film in Oscar season advertising. The screenplay was heralded for its attention to detail and its thriller-like pacing.

In accepting the Oscar, McCarthy referred to the survivors of the abuse scandals, noting: “We have to make sure this never happens again.”

Going into the 88th Academy Awards, “Spotlight” was considered the odds on favorite to receive the screenplay Oscar. Singer and McCarthy had won the vast majority of the major awards this season, including the BAFTA, Spirit Award, Gotham Independent Film Award, the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn. and National Society of Film Critics honors and the Writers Guild award.

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CALIFORNIA
Hollywood Reporter

[with video]

“We made this film for all the journalists who have and continue to hold the powerful accountable, and for the survivors whose courage and will to overcome is really an inspiration to all,” said Tom McCarthy.

Spotlight was named best original screenplay at the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Sunday night.

The film’s screenplay beat out those of Bridge of Spies, Ex Machina, Inside Out, and Straight Outta Compton.

“We made this film for all the journalists who have and continue to hold the powerful accountable, and for the survivors whose courage and will to overcome is really an inspiration to all,” said Tom McCarthy, alongside co-writer Josh Singer. “We have to make sure this never happens again.”

Emily Blunt and Charlize Theron presented the first award of the night. The order of awards was changed to illustrate the filmmaking process itself.

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ROME
9 News

The Catholic Church has denied Cardinal Pell’s security clashed with Australian news crews outside the hotel where he is giving evidence in the sex abuse inquiry, saying the men were Italian police officers.

Video from the encounter shows the police, originally thought to be the Cardinal’s bodyguards, obstructing and jostling a news cameraman and crew outside the Hotel Quirinale in Rome.

The Archdiocese of Sydney rejected claims the cardinal’s security were involved in the altercation.

“Cardinal Pell is sorry to hear of an incident involving two members of the media and Italian police just prior to giving evidence to the Royal Commission via video link in Rome,” a spokeswoman said.

“The Italian Police are in charge of security outside and inside the hotel where the hearing is taking place and have been liaising with Commission staff.

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ROME
SBS

AAP

Italian police and not Cardinal George Pell’s security staff were involved in a scuffle with media outside a Rome hotel, the cardinal’s office says..

SBS Europe Correspondent Brett Mason said Cardinal Pell’s security team had been heavy handed, “manhandling” him and a cameraman as they attempted to film the arrival.

Cardinal Pell is sorry to hear of the incident with an SBS reporter and cameraman but it did not involve his security staff as has been reported, his office said in a statement.

“The Italian police are in charge of security outside and inside the hotel where the hearing is taking place and have been liaising with commission staff,” the statement said.

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ROME
Courier Mail

[with live stream]

CARDINAL George Pell is giving evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse via video link from Rome.

Cardinal Pell’s office issued a statement as he was giving evidence saying he will meet with abuse survivors who have flown to Rome from Victoria.

Key Events

10.32AM: Cardinal Pell believes reading a newspaper article in 1972 was the first time he became aware of allegations of abuse by clergy.
More

9.21AM: Cardinal Pell said in the 1970s if a priest denied allegations of paedophilia he was inclined to accept their denial
More

9.04AM: Cardinal Pell says the handling of Gerald Ridsdale was “catastrophe” for the victims and the church
More

8.57AM: Cardinal Pell says the instinct was to protect the institution of the church from shame
More

8.55AM: Cardinal Pell has denied he was aware of priests including Gerald Ridsdale being sent off for treatment

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ROME
Daily Examiner

THE way the Australian Roman Catholic Church dealt with a paedophile priest in Ballarat was a “catastrophe”, according to Cardinal George Pell.

Giving evidence from Rome, Cardinal Pell was asked his view on former Bishop Ronald Mulkearns, who has long been accused of ignoring sex abuse within the church.

When Cardinal Pell was asked if he was critical of Bishop Mulkearns’ conduct, the Cardinal said the bishop’s handling of paedophile Gerald Risdale was “a catastrophe”.

“I have just re-read the file of Ridsdale. The priest. Ex-priest,” Cardinal Pell said.

“And the way he was dealt with was a catastrophe.

“A catastrophe for the victims and a catastrophe for the church.

“If effective action had been taken earlier, an enormous amount of suffering would’ve been avoided.”

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

AAP

There is a case for a judicial tribunal to consider how Bishop Ronald Mulkearns handled clergy accused of child sexual abuse, Cardinal George Pell says.

In evidence via videolink from Rome, Dr Pell said he could not give “book, chapter and verse” about what Bishop Mulkearns knew and did not act upon at particular times.

Bishop Mulkearns, who is now in his 80s and dying of cancer, was bishop in Ballarat, Victoria, from 1971 to 1997.

Dr Pell told the sex abuse royal commission there was a purpose to the way Bishop Mulkearns dealt with Gerald Ridsdale and other alleged pedophile priests.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

Frank Shyong

About 20 protesters who rallied against sexual abuse in the Catholic church in downtown Los Angeles were joined by “Spotlight” actor Mark Ruffalo, the film’s director Tom McCarthy and its writer Josh Singer on Sunday.

Protesters, many of whom identify as victims of abuse by Catholic priests, marched and brandished banners outside the Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels Sunday morning.

Ruffalo, Singer and McCarthy, who were invited by the group to appear, joined them in calling on the church to take greater action against sexual abuse and release the names of known abusers.

The “Spotlight” creators each held a section of a banner printed with the victims’ childhood photos and addressed the protesters before heading to pre-Oscar parties and the red carpet.

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“I’m here to stand with the survivors and the victims and the people we’ve lost from Catholic priest childhood sex abuse,” Ruffalo told protesters.

The protest, organized by the group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, was one of 20 rallies Sunday urging greater transparency at Catholic cathedrals across the nation, said Barbara Blaine, the president and founder of the group. Organizers wanted to use the Academy Awards, which takes place Sunday night, was a way to draw attention to their cause, Blaine said.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Boston Globe

By Mark Shanahan GLOBE STAFF FEBRUARY 28, 2016

Before the Academy Awards started Sunday, “Spotlight” actor Mark Ruffalo, director Tom McCarthy, and co-writer Josh Singer joined with members of SNAP, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, for a protest outside the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the “Spotlight” gang was there to support the survivors’ demand that the names of pedophile priests be released. Ruffalo, nominated for his role in the film, tweeted: “Standing with the survivors of Priest sexual abuse!” The Oscar-nominated “Spotlight” tells the story of the Boston Globe series exposing the many pedophile priests in the Catholic church.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
People

BY KATHY EHRICH DOWD @kathyehrichdowd 02/28/2016

Mark Ruffalo took part in a protest outside a Los Angeles Catholic Church on Oscars Sunday, joining others who continue to criticize the religious institution for its handling of the worldwide sexual abuse scandal.

Ruffalo, 48, joined Spotlight director and co-writer Tom McCarthy, co-writer Josh Singer and members SNAP, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles Sunday to call for the names of priests accused of pedophilia to be released, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Ruffalo is nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Mike Rezendes, a member of The Boston Globe’s Spotlight team, whose meticulous reporting to uncover the scandal is dramatized in the film up for Best Picture.

The actor and activist confirmed his participation in the protest Sunday on Twitter.

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ROME
SBS

AAP

Cardinal George Pell has denied any knowledge of pedophile priests being sent for psychiatric treatment by the bishop of Ballarat when he was based in the Victorian diocese.

Cardinal Pell, giving evidence to the child abuse royal commission via video link from Rome, said he was “certainly not” aware the former Bishop of Ballarat Ronald Mulkearns was sending priests off to be treated for sexual offending.

“I wasn’t aware of Mulkearns sending anyone off for sexual offending,” he said.

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ROME
The Australian

AAP

Cardinal George Pell says he would have believed a priest who denied sexually abusing children in the early 1970s.

Cardinal Pell said it was a great scandal when Monsignor John Day was accused in 1971 and 1972 of indecently assaulting children while the parish priest in Mildura.

Cardinal Pell, who as an assistant priest in the Swan Hill parish at the time, said he heard some gossip about Monsignor Day being accused of some sort of pedophilia activity.

“I must say in those days if a priest denied such activity I was very strongly inclined to accept the denial,” Cardinal Pell told the child abuse royal commission from Rome.

Cardinal Pell, who was overseas from 1963 until 1971, said the gossip he heard likely came from fellow priests.

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ROME
9 News

AAP

Italian police and not Cardinal George Pell’s security staff were involved in a scuffle with media outside a Rome hotel, the cardinal’s office says.

Reporters outside the hotel say Cardinal Pell’s security team was heavy-handed, pushing camera crews aside as he entered to give his videolink evidence to the child abuse royal commission.

Cardinal Pell is sorry to hear of the incident with an SBS reporter and cameraman but it did not involve his security staff as has been reported, his office said in a statement.

“The Italian police are in charge of security outside and inside the hotel where the hearing is taking place and have been liaising with commission staff,” the statement said.

Cardinal Pell asked a member of his team to speak to the reporter to check on his wellbeing, it said.

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