ABUSE TRACKER

JAMAICA
Jamaica Observer

Friday, March 09, 2012

FALMOUTH, Trelawny — An Anglican priest who has been charged by the Trelawny police with two counts of carnal abuse was yesterday morning granted bail when he appeared in the Falmouth Resident Magistrate’s Court.

Resident Magistrate Icolyn Reid granted the priest bail in the sum of $400,000 and demanded that as a part of his bail condition he surrender his travel documents. The clergyman is required to report at the Clark’s Town Police Station at 7:00 am on Mondays and Fridays.

Additionally, the court also recommended that he not offer any counselling to young ladies until a conclusion of the matter.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia

Six months ago this week (March 8), I began my service as Archbishop of Philadelphia. One of the reasons I write this weekly column is to speak directly and freely to our clergy and people. Today is a good time to reflect on the work that’s been done so far to resolve the challenges facing the Archdiocese, and the work – a great deal of work – that still remains.

As I’ve noted in the past, when I arrived in Philadelphia I began a comprehensive financial and legal review of our archdiocesan operations. That process has been thorough and sobering. It will continue for several more months. But today we do have a far better sense of our limited resources and the scope of our problems. I’ve shared this information in detail with our Priests’ Council, our Archdiocesan Finance Council and our newly formed Archdiocesan Pastoral Council, which I’ll focus on in my column next week. Going forward, all three of these key advisory bodies will have regular, accurate briefings on the issues we face as a Church.

In the months since last September, we’ve reorganized our legal representation; hired a new and very capable chief financial officer; developed new internal financial controls; begun the work of improving our business policies, personnel and procedures; brought the Blue Ribbon Commission’s important work to conclusion; started a new education foundation; and carried out a difficult — but necessary and fair — appeals process for schools slated to regionalize or close.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
York Dispatch

The Associated Press
Updated: 03/08/2012

PHILADELPHIA—The Roman Catholic church in Philadelphia is preparing to release updates on the fate of about two dozen suspended priests accused of sexual abuse.

The investigations began one year ago after a blistering grand jury report.

In a news column Thursday, Archbishop Charles Chaput (SHAP’-yoo) says “justice requires a resolution of these men’s circumstances.”

Chaput says he hopes to release the findings on most of the suspended priests within eight weeks. But a gag order in a related criminal case could limit what he can say.

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WAUKESHA (WI)
Fox 6

[with video]

by Ben Handelman

WAUKESHA — A former Lutheran church official, accused of having child pornography, is close to a plea deal. Joel Hochmuth was in Waukesha County court Thursday, March 8th.

A plea deal is in place, but Hochmuth’s attorney said they needed more time to review it. A plea hearing is now set for Friday morning, March 9th.

Prosecutors say Hochmuth had pictures and videos of young boys in sex acts. He was fired from his post at the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, where he served as Director of Communications.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
National Catholic Reporter

Mar. 08, 2012
By Matthew Gambino, Catholic News Service

PHILADELPHIA — Suspicion surrounding the death of Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, former archbishop of Philadelphia, has been laid to rest with a Thursday coroner’s report that he died of natural causes Jan. 31 at St. Charles Seminary in Wynnewood.

“Elderly people with pre-existent natural disease often die quite suddenly,” Montgomery County Coroner Walter I. Hofman said Thursday at news conference at his office in Norristown.

Bevilacqua, 88, had been living at the seminary since his retirement in 2003.

Hofman said the cardinal had received excellent care for prostate cancer and dementia, and toxicology tests revealed normal levels of medications to treat the conditions.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Chicago Tribune

By David Zucchino

Conspiracy theories worthy of a Dan Brown novel arose in Philadelphia last month after a local prosecutor said she considered the Jan. 31 death of the city’s 88-year-old Roman Catholic cardinal “peculiar.”

Relax.

A suburban Philadelphia coroner announced Thursday that there was nothing peculiar, or even suspicious, about the death of Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

“Elderly people often die suddenly,” Montgomery County Coroner Walter I. Hofman told a news conference. “This is a natural death.”

Montgomery County Dist. Atty. Risa Vetri Ferman had asked the coroner to review the cardinal’s death, though she said she had no particular reason to suspect foul play.

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VATICAN CITY
The Economist

Mar 10th 2012 | ROME

On March 7th, Anonymous, a hackers’ network, took credit for temporarily bringing down the Vatican’s website, calling the Catholic church “corrupt” and “retrograde”. But the more dangerous attacks come from within the Holy See. Its police force, the Gendarmerie, is hunting for the source of an unprecedented string of leaks, most of them apparently intended to get Pope Benedict XVI to dismiss Tarcisio Bertone, who as secretary of state is the Vatican’s most senior official. The stakes are high. The pope will be 85 next month. And whoever is secretary of state when Benedict dies will play an important, perhaps decisive, role in choosing his successor.

Cardinal Bertone, who rose in the Vatican’s hierarchy as a close ally of Benedict’s, has many enemies within the high walls of the world’s tiniest independent state. His appointment in 2006 to head a department staffed by trained diplomats upset many who had come to expect they would be led by one of their own. But nobody, it is said, resented his promotion more than the man he replaced, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, some of whose former aides hold influential posts in the hierarchy.

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VATICAN CITY
New Zealand Herald

A fake twitter message ascribed to a top cardinal announced the death of the pope, a report immediately denied by the Vatican spokesman.

The message, in Italian, said to have been tweeted by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, secretary of state and the number two at the Vatican, appeared at around 7:00 pm (7:00am NZT) announcing: “The Holy Father unexpectedly passed away this afternoon. We announce this with grief and consternation.”

It was followed by similar tweets in Spanish, English and French.

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi immediately denied the reports, terming them “baseless” and “unworthy of attention”.

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ROLLA (MO)
The Rolla Daily News

By Shannon Beck
The Rolla Daily News

Rolla, Mo. —

The Christ Episcopal Church says they have reason to believe Father Joseph Carlo, a beloved priest working at the Rolla congregation for 30 years, committed acts of sexual abuse several children in the church.

According to Rev. Cannon Daniel Smith, who works under the church’s bishop at the Diocese of Missouri, the church recently completed an investigation involving Father Carlo.

“We believe that it (sexual abuse) has occurred,” Smith said.

The church says their internal investigation revealed five victims ranging between 10 and 18 years of age between the years of 1975 and 1985.

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WAUKESHA (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Mike Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

March 8, 2012

Waukesha – A former Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod official is expected to enter a guilty plea Friday to possession of child pornography.

Joel W. Hochmuth was scheduled for a jury trial next week, but his attorney, Paul Bucher, said during a court hearing Thursday that a plea agreement had been reached.

Hochmuth, who was the communications director for the synod, was charged in November with three counts of possession of child pornography.

Under the terms of the agreement, Hochmuth would plead guilty to one count and two counts would be dismissed but considered when Hochmuth is sentenced, Bucher said.

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OHIO
Cleveland Scene

Posted by Erich Burnett on Thu, Mar 8, 2012

The Feast of St. Patrick has come early for a 159-year-old parish on Rocky River Drive and 12 others across the Cleveland area that had been deemed needless by Bishop Richard Lennon, head of the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland.

News trickled out from Rome Wednesday afternoon that Pope Benedict XVI has overturned the closing of 13 churches, part of a diocese-wide downsizing led by Lennon in 2009 and 2010. In almost each case, the displaced congregation — including St. Patrick in West Park — was instrumental in making sure the Vatican heard its pleas; some, including St. Casimir on the East Side, have held weekly vigils since their church was enshrouded in chain-link fence.

Among the churches across Cleveland and Akron given a new lease:

St. James in Lakewood
St. Patrick in West Park
St. Adalbert
St. Barbara
St. Emeric
St. Peter
St. Margaret Mary of Euclid
St. Casimir
St. Wendelin
St. Mary of Bedford
St. John the Baptist of Akron
St. Martha of Akron
St. Mary of Akron

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CLEVELAND (OH)
The Advocate

By THOMAS J. SHEERAN
Associated Press

March 08, 2012

CLEVELAND (AP) — Critics of widespread church closings in the Cleveland Catholic Diocese called Thursday for the bishop to implement an extraordinary Vatican ruling and quickly reopen 13 churches.

Bishop Richard Lennon must decide whether to abide by the ruling from the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy or challenge it before the church’s top court.

Spokesman Robert Tayek said Thursday the bishop has unofficial copies of the ruling but must await certified documents from the Vatican to comment. Lennon has 60 days to appeal.

Patricia Schulte-Singleton, who leads the Endangered Catholics group that challenged the closings, called on Lennon to meet with affected parishioners and reopen the churches.

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CLEVELAND (OH)
Washington Post

By Michael O’malley| Religion News Service

CLEVELAND — In an extraordinary move, the Vatican has reversed the closure of 13 churches in the Diocese of Cleveland, saying the parishes must be restored and the sanctuaries reopened for worship, according to activists who fought the closings.

The diocese and Bishop Richard Lennon, who ordered the closures as part of a downsizing plan in 2009 and 2010, could appeal the reversals.

The 13 parishes had filed appeals with the Vatican after Lennon closed 50 churches, citing changes in demographics and shortages of priests and cash.

Since the closings, parishioners have been swamping Rome with flurries of letters, arguing that their parishes were vibrant communities wrongfully snuffed out by the diocese.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Patch

John Moynihan

It was just a little over 10 years ago when the Boston Globe began publishing the series of articles on the Priest Abuse Scandal that rocked the Catholic Church and won a Pulitzer Prize for the Globe. Ten years ago you probably were convinced that the Catholic Bishops were the meanest men on earth. But ten years have past and you probably don’t give the bishops much thought today.

Let me tell you something — they still are the MEANEST MEN ON EARTH. This time their target is not young boys but the organization that has taken those survivors in, has helped to bring dignity, sanity and justice to those who have been abused. Several of them have been Swampscott residents.

Since long before the Globe began reporting their stories, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) has been in 24/7 service to the survivors (“don’t call me a victim” one survivor once told me). Just as SNAP’s work is going global with the lurid stories of abuse coming from all over the world, the Catholic Bishops of the Dioceses of Kansas City and St. Louis have begun legal actions designed to shut down SNAP.

In a recent email to supporters, Barbara Blaine, SNAP’s President wrote:

“Catholic officials are desperately trying to conceal their wrong-doing by attacking victims. They’re trying to silence victims, and others, by trying to severely weaken SNAP. In October, SNAP Director David Clohessy was served with a subpoena in Kansas City by church defense lawyers. They demanded emails, correspondence and other records (some going back 23 years) including deeply private conversations with victims, their names and the details of the abuse they suffered.

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NORRISTOWN (PA)
CBS Philly

By Brad Segall

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (CBS) — The Montgomery County coroner has the final say on the death of Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua and says there was no foul play. His eminence died of natural causes in late January at the age of 88.

Doctor Walter Hofman says there’s no relationship between a Philadelphia judge’s competency ruling and the Cardinal’s sudden death less than 36 hours later.

Hofman says elderly people with pre-existing natural disease often die quite suddenly. He said the Cardinal died of heart disease and prostate cancer and his dementia was fairly advanced.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin will be characterized by humility, moderation and a renewed focus on the Eucharist as the source and nourishment of unity in the church, said the president of the Vatican committee charged with overseeing the gathering.

Archbishop Piero Marini, president of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses, said the congress June 10-17 will reflect that this year is the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, but also that Catholics in the host country, Ireland, are still reeling from the clerical sex abuse scandal and are engaged in a process of repentance and reform.

The archbishop spoke to Catholic News Service March 7 after presenting the Italian edition of “The Eucharist: Womb of the Church,” a series of theological and pastoral reflections published in preparation for the congress.

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ITALY
The Guardian (United Kingdom)

Reuters

guardian.co.uk, Thursday 8 March 2012

Italian police have broken up a paedophile network, spanning at least 28 countries, that used social media to swap pornographic images and videos of child abuse.

Ten people have been arrested in Italy, the US, France and Portugal and another 112 are being investigated on suspicion of child pornography offences, the Italian NIT computer crime police bureau said in a statement.

Police carried out raids in several countries on Thursday in what they called Operation Nanny to dismantle what NIT said was an extensive international community of paedophiles.

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NORRISTOWN (PA)
The Associated Press

By PATRICK WALTERS, Associated Press

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A suburban Philadelphia coroner said Thursday that 88-year-old Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua died of natural causes a day after he had been ruled competent to testify at the child-endangerment trial of a longtime aide.

Officials had said Bevilacqua, who served as archbishop from 1988 to 2003, was suffering from dementia and cancer. But last month, prosecutors asked the coroner to investigate because of the timing of his death.

Bevilacqua, spiritual leader of the archdiocese’s 1.5 million Roman Catholics from 1988 to 2003, died Jan. 31 at a seminary and was laid to rest without an autopsy. He was suffering from dementia and cancer, according to church officials and his lawyers, and his death was widely assumed to be from natural causes.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
My Fox Philly

PHILADELPHIA – Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, the former Archbishop at the center of the Philadelphia clergy child sex-abuse scandal , died of natural causes, the coroner in the case said on Thursday.

Montgomery County Coroner Walter Hofman released the finding at a press conference in Norristown, Pa.

Hofman said heart disease was the primary cause of death and the prostate cancer was a contributing cause. He saw no link between the Cardinal’s death and a request that he testify in court in an abuse scandal.

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NORRISTOWN (PA)
Patch

By David Powell

Former Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua died of natural causes, Montgomery County Coroner Walter I. Hofman said Thursday afternoon.

Hofman said he found no evidence of strangulation, suffocation, or other types of wounds or injuries on Bevilacqua’s body.

Bevilacqua was on several medications, which Hofman said were found in the body in expected amounts, allowing for irregularities caused by the introduction of embalming fluid. Bevilacqua’s body was examined after it had been prepared for interment by an Upper Darby funeral home.

The official cause of death was listed as arteriosclerotic heart disease, Hofman said.

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NORRISTOWN (PA)
ABC News

By Associated Press

NORRISTOWN, Pa. March 8, 2012 (AP)

A suburban Philadelphia coroner says 88-year-old Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua died of natural causes. His death in January came the day after he had been ruled competent to testify at the child-endangerment trial of a longtime aide.

Officials had said Bevilacqua, who served as archbishop from 1988 to 2003, was suffering from dementia and cancer. But last month, prosecutors asked the coroner to investigate because of the timing of his death.

Montgomery County Coroner Walter Hofman said at a news conference Thursday that Bevilacqua had suffered from heart disease and prostate cancer.

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BEND (OR)
Catholic Sentinel

Ed Langlois
Staff Writer

BEND — Father Liam Cary, a priest of the Archdiocese of Portland, has been named the new bishop of the Baker Diocese, which covers central and eastern Oregon.

Pope Benedict’s appointment was announced March 8 in Washington by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Bishop-designate Cary, 64, succeeds Bishop Robert Vasa, who was named coadjutor bishop of Santa Rosa, Calif., in January 2011 and took over leadership of the diocese last June.

Bishop William Skylstad, retired bishop of Spokane and former president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, has been serving as apostolic administrator in the Diocese of Baker, which has its headquarters in Bend.

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OREGON
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on March 08, 2012

We don’t know much about newly-appointed Oregon Bishop Liam Cary. But we’re encouraged almost every time the Vatican promotes a priest rather than a chancery office staffer to higher positions. And we’re encouraged when men who have spent some adult years outside of the priesthood are elevated, because we believe it’s likely such men are slightly less caught up in an unhealthy, secretive, rigid clerical culture that dominates the Catholic hierarchy.

Bishop Cary has a tough job. His predecessor, Bishop Robert Vasa, acted recklessly, deceitfully and callously in child sex cases.

— Vasa let a Catholic deacon (Joseph Levine) who was refused ordination by a New Jersey bishop and ousted by a Pennsylvania bishop work at an Oregon parish.

— Vasa ignored our pleas to launch a vigorous public outreach campaign to warn unsuspecting families about a pedophile priest (Fr. Jose Joaquin Estrada) and a child-molesting deacon (Aaron Ramirez), both of whom lived and worked in Baker in recent years and are believed to be living in other countries now.

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HOUSTON (TX)
KHOU

[with video]

by Rucks Russell/KHOU 11 News

HOUSTON—A former United Methodist Minister is named in a multi-million dollar civil suit filed by a woman who claims that she was sexually abused for years while senior church members failed to take any action to prevent it.

“He had complete control over my mind and my body,” said the woman referred to as Jane Doe in court documents.

Doe read from a prepared statement at her Houston attorney’s office.

“We lived as husband and wife in private, but in public I had to call him daddy,” she said.

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TEXAS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on March 08, 2012

We applaud this brave woman for coming forward and taking legal action against her alleged abuser, Pastor Kendall Graham. Putting child sex abuse accusations into the justice system is the best way to prevent children being hurt.

We are glad that Bishop Huie fired Graham when she heard about the allegations, but firing a predator is only a first step. It’s crucial that anyone who sees, suspects, or suffers clergy sex crimes reports what they know or hear to the police. Bishop Huie ought to personally seek out other victims of this predator and beg them to come forward to police.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua died of natural causes, the Montgomery County coroner said Thursday.

Coroner Walter I. Hofman said toxicology tests revealed nothing suspicious or unusual about the Jan. 31 death of the longtime leader of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

His ruling ends a month of speculation stoked when District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman asked the coroner to review the 88-year-old cardinal’s death. Ferman said she had no reason to suspect foul play, but she and others found the timing of his death “peculiar.”

Bevilacqua died a day after a Philadelphia Common Pleas Court judge declared that, despite claims of his failing health and mental state, he was presumed to be competent enough to testify at the forthcoming conspiracy and child-sex abuse trial of three former and current priests.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
WPVI

PHILADELPHIA – March 8, 2012 (WPVI) — Action News has learned that an investigation into Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua’s death has concluded that he died from natural causes, and that no foul play was involved.

Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Ferman ordered the review, citing the timing of the cardinal’s death on January 31st, and a ruling the previous day that he was competent to testify in the sex abuse case against two priests and a monsignor.

Ferman explained that, since the death of the former Archbishop of Philadephia happened in her jurisdiction, she thought someone should make sure there was no foul play – given the timing of his death.

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VATICAN CITY
Daily Mail (United Kingdom)

By Nick Pisa
UPDATED: 11:16 EST, 8 March 2012

Drug enforcement chiefs have for the first time identified the Vatican as a possible centre for money laundering from criminal activity.

The report by the American State Department’s International Narcotics Control Strategy lists the Holy See as one of 68 countries including Yemen, Algeria and North Korea, describing it as a ‘country of concern’ for money laundering or other financial crimes.

Officials said they had placed the Vatican on its watch list because of the ‘huge amount of cash’ that flows into the tiny city state and also because it was still unclear how effective anti money laundering legislation introduced last year by Pope Benedict XVI had been.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

Thu Mar 8, 2012 11:51am EST

* Vatican added for first time to State Department list
* Washington puts tiny state in less vulnerable list
* Vatican tries to join Europe’s ‘White List’

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY, March 8 (Reuters) – The Vatican has for the first time appeared on the U.S. State Department’s list of money-laundering centres but the tiny city-state is not rated as a high-risk country.

The 2012 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report was made public on Wednesday and Washington’s list of 190 countries classifies them in three categories: of primary concern, of concern and monitored.

The Vatican is in the second category, grouped with 67 other nations including Poland, Egypt, Ireland, Hungary and Chile.

It was added to the list because it was considered vulnerable to money-laundering and had recently established programmes to prevent it, a State Department official said.

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ITALIA
Genova Oggi Notizie

Genova – E’ una vicenda molto delicata quella che vedrebbe coinvolto padre Gianluca Depretto, 39 anni, ex rettore dell’istituto Calasanzio di Cornigliano accusato di aver fatto sesso con alcuni ragazzini. Secondo indiscrezioni, le indagini della curia nei suoi confronti sarebbero partite da una vicenda di gestione delle casse del Calasanzio: il buco nel bilancio dell’istituto dopo l’esposto presentato nei mesi scorsi da padre Ugo Barani, 72 anni, considerato la massima autorità provinciale degli Scolopi. Sospetti ammanchi motivati da fini personali, con tanto di acquisti folli, spese eccessive come conti in alberghi di lusso e altro ancora.

La Procura indaga anche per appropriazione indebita dopo la sparizione di diversi quadri della scuola Rubens.

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CHILE
El Mostrador

José Andrés Murillo, uno de los querellantes del sacerdote Fernando Karadima, se refirió a la polémica originada por el premio que recibirá el ex senador de la DC Jorge Lavandero.

Al respecto, señaló -en entrevista con Radio ADN- que “en sí, un premio me parece inofensivo, pero cuando se da un premio en el contexto de decir que ha habido un montaje para desacreditarlo y acusarlo de abuso sexual de menores, es una afrenta, es un insulto a las víctimas”.

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SCHWEIZ
Tages Woche

8.3.2012, 16:00 Uhr

Priester, denen sexuelle Übergriffe auf Kinder gebeichtet werden, sollen die Täter nicht der Polizei melden müssen. Der Nationalrat hat es am Mittwoch abgelehnt, das Beichtgeheimnis für solche Fälle aufzuheben. Von sda

Mit 121 zu 47 Stimmen bei 5 Enthaltungen lehnte er eine parlamentarische Initiative von Carlo Sommaruga (SP/GE) ab. Dieser forderte, Angriffe auf die sexuelle Freiheit Unmündiger nicht länger durch das Berufsgeheimnis von Geistlichen zu schützen.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Regensburg-Digital

Der Umgang des Bistums Regensburg mit Missbrauchsopfern wird zunehmend innerhalb der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz ein Thema. Der Trierer Bischof Dr. Stephan Ackermann hat seinem Regensburger Amtskollegen nun einen Brief geschrieben. „Es gibt Dinge, die nachdenklich stimmen“, sagt er dazu gegenüber einer Trierer Zeitung.

Dr. Stephan Ackermann kann einem leid tun. Als Missbrauchsbeauftragter der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz (DBK) ist er immer wieder erste Anlaufstelle, wenn Amtskollegen in anderen Diözesen wegen ihres Umgangs mit Missbrauchsopfern in die Kritik geraten. Doch Ackermann ist diesen Amtskollegen gegenüber weder weisungsbefugt, noch wurde er mit besonderen Kompetenzen ausgestattet. Der mit 46 Jahren jüngste Bischof in Deutschland ist der öffentliche Prellbock und Interviewpartner. Nach innen kann er lediglich versuchen, mit Diplomatie und Geschick ein Umdenken bei den Hardlinern zu erreichen.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.

A senior Vatican prelate has claimed that a “strategy of confusion” is behind the current leaks scandal, arguing that the recent torrent of leaked documents is intended to paint a picture of the Vatican as a “ship without a helmsman”, thereby undercutting the moral leadership of Pope Benedict XVI.

The comments came from Italian Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, the Vatican’s former top diplomat and then, until October 2011, the man who led the Government of the Vatican City State. That’s the office where Arcbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, today the pope’s ambassador in the United States, held the number two role.

It was two confidential letters from Viganò to the pope and to the Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, complaining of corruption and cronyism in the finances of the government, which triggered the recent avalanche of leaked documents.

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STOCKTON (CA)
Lodi News-Sentinel

By Ross Farrow/News-Sentinel Staff Writer

The mother of the 37-year-old man suing Father Michael Kelly on a child sexual abuse allegation told a jury Wednesday that she and her then-husband saw Kelly tickle and roughhouse with her two children during the mid-1980s, but she said she felt too intimidated to question his actions.

“We didn’t say anything because it’s very hard to admonish a priest,” the woman said during the fifth day of the civil trial against Kelly, pastor of Lockeford’s St. Joachim’s Catholic Church since 2004.

The plaintiff’s mother began testimony Wednesday afternoon in San Joaquin County Superior Court. Her son, whose name is being withheld by court order, claims that Kelly sexually abused him in the 1980s, when the plaintiff was an altar boy at Stockton’s Cathedral of the Annunciation.

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UNITED STATES
My Fox Phoenix

(NewsCore) – The Vatican is potentially vulnerable to money laundering, according to a State Department report.

This is the first time the Holy See has appeared in the department’s annual International Narcotics Control Strategy report, which was submitted to Congress on Wednesday.

Vatican City set up anti-money laundering programs for the first time in 2011 and it will take a year to start determining how effective they are, a State Department official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The State Department listed the Vatican as one of its “jurisdictions of concern,” which also included Egypt, Ireland, Monaco, North Korea, Syria and Yemen amongst others.

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AUSTRALIA/UNITED STATES
Adelaide Now

AUSTRALIA has been included in a list of the world’s major money laundering countries.

The list of 66 countries includes Afghanistan, Brazil, the Cayman Islands, China, Japan, Russia, Uruguay, the UK, US and Zimbabwe.

And for the first time, Vatican City has been named as a potential hub for money laundering. US officials said the Vatican was on the list because it wasn’t clear if new anti-money laundering efforts were effective.

It is “potentially vulnerable” as massive amounts of money flow into the Vatican from around the world.

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UNITED STATES
The Telegraph (United Kingdom)

The US State Department for the first time listed the Vatican as potentially vulnerable to money laundering, along with 67 other countries.

The department’s annual International Narcotics Control Strategy report listed the Vaticanas a “jurisdiction of concern” along with countries like Albania, the Czech Republic, Egypt, South Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam and Yemen.

It said the Holy See appears for the “first time” in the annual report.

Vatican City set up anti-money laundering programs for the first time in 2011 and it will take a year to start determining how effective they are, a State Department official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

In an interview with the new Vatican news blog, Stanze Vaticane, published on the website of Italian news channel Tgcom24, the cardinal and former president of the Governorate, Giovanni Lajolo, talks about the case that shook the Vatican

Andrea Tornielli
Vatican City

“Mgr. Viganò nurtured suspicions that were proven to be unfounded and went down the wrong track.” This statement was made by Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, former president of the Vatican Governorate, in an interview published on the blog Stanze Vaticane, edited by Fabio Marchese Ragona on the website of the Italian news channel Tgcom24.

Cardinal Lajolo was the first to sign the communiqué issued last 4 February in response to the accusations made in the letters written by the archbishop appointed Nuncio to the U.S. The cardinal stated that “Viganò saw that unfair comments were being made about him in some news articles and he felt deeply hurt by this.” The articles Cardinal Lajolo was referring to, had been published anonymously in the Italian daily newspaper Il Giornale.

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UNITED STATES
Vatican Insider

The inclusion of the Holy See in the list of areas of concern in the published in the U.S. Department of State’s annual drug-trafficking report has caused uproar

Vatican Insider staff
Rome

The United States Department of State has added the Vatican to a list of 67 Countries that could be potentially susceptible to money-laundering, for the first time. In the annual report on the International Narcotics Control Strategy, the U.S. government has listed the Holy See as a “Jurisdiction of Concern”, alongside Albania, the Czech Republic, Egypt, South Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam and Yemen. The “Jurisdiction of Concern” category is a notch below that of “Jurisdictions of Primary Concern,” which amount to a watch list of “major money laundering countries,” such as Afghanistan, Australia, Brazil, the Cayman Islands, China, Japan, Russia, Great Britain, The United States itself, Uruguay and Zimbabwe.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 8 March 2012 (VIS) – The Holy Father appointed Fr. Liam Stephen Cary of the clergy of the archdiocese of Portland in Oregon, U.S.A., pastor of the parish of St. Mary in Eugene, as bishop of Baker (area 173013, population 502,610, Catholics 37,029, priests 60, permanent deacons 12, religious 25), U.S.A. The bishop-elect was born in Prineville, U.S.A. in 1947 and ordained a priest in 1992. Before ordination he spent many years working with poor people and migrants. Since becoming a priest he has worked in pastoral care in a number of parishes and as vicar forane.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Religion News Service – Spiritual Politics

Mark Silk|Mar 7, 2012

Forgive me, but lately I’ve been feeling sorry for Bill Donohue, the self-appointed (albeit well-remunerated) defender of the Catholic Church against all enemies foreign and domestic. After Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua of Philadelphia died at the end of January on the eve of having to testify at the abuse coverup trial of his sometime henchman Msgr. William Lynn, Donohue delivered himself of “Cardinal Bevilacqua Treated Unfairly,” a press release criticizing the obits–including the Catholic News Service for failing to mention “that he was never indicted for any alleged infraction.” Now there’s a testimonial for a prince of the church.

“Oh, they tried,” continued Donohue. And you figure the prosecutors would have succeeded had they had in their possession what Lynn’s lawyers presented to the court two weeks ago: the cardinal’s handwritten note ordering the shredding of a memo identifying 35 Archdiocese of Philadelphia priests suspected of sexually abusing children. The lawyers contended that the note, which had been squirreled away for years in an archdiocesan safe, demonstrated that the coverup conspiracy had been orchestrated far above Lynch and they therefore asked the judge to dismiss the case. That the judge did nothing of the sort was entirely predictable. Did I mention that the lawyers are being paid for by the archdiocese of Philadelphia?

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LAKEWOOD (OH)
The Plain Dealer

By Carol Kovach, Sun News

LAKEWOOD A crowd gathered outside St. James Catholic Church in Lakewood this evening to celebrate news that their beloved church could reopen soon. Excited parishioners hugged each other, saying they waited nearly two years for this decision. The 100-year-old cathedral-like church, still locked as it has been since June 2010, loomed behind them.

Some in the crowd held “Save St. James” signs. The signs popped up on lawns throughout the city after Cleveland Bishop Richard Lennon announced more than two years ago that the parish woul be among more than 50 churches closed in a downsizing of the diocese.

The faithful, like Joe Dwyer, a 25-year parishioner, never lost hope that the decision to close St. James would be reversed. He greeted dozens of friends outside the church with hugs and kisses.

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LAKEWOOD (OH)
Fox 8

[with video]

LAKEWOOD, Ohio — At St. James Church in Lakewood, parishioners said their prayers have been answered.

The Vatican overturned the closings of 13 Cleveland-area parishes, according to the attorney who led a legal fight against their doors being shut for good.

According to attorney Peter Borre, the ruling was handed down by the Congregation of the Clergy last week.

Borre tells Fox 8 News’ Kevin Freeman, the clergy showed that Bishop Richard Lennon did not follow proper procedure in closing the parishes in 2009.

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CLEVELAND (OH)
The New York Times

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN

Published: March 8, 2012

The Vatican has ordered the bishop of Cleveland, Richard Lennon, to reopen 13 of the 50 parishes that he closed in 2010, according to advocates for the parishes. The decision was an unprecedented win for parishioners who have fought church closings across the country in recent years. Bishop Lennon, who previously oversaw the shuttering of parishes in Boston, can appeal the decision to the Vatican’s highest court, the Apostolic Signatura. A spokesman said that the bishop was still reviewing the ruling.

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LAKEWOOD (OH)
Patch

By Colin McEwen

Could St. James reopen?

That’s a question many in Lakewood are asking following the Vatican’s reported decision to overturn Bishop Richard Lennon’s move to close 50 parishes in 2010.

According to reports, 13 of them would reopen.

Attorney Peter Borre told the Associated Press that the Cleveland diocese failed to follow church law and procedure in its closings of the Cleveland-area parishes.

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NEW MEXICO
The New Mexican

Tom Sharpe | The New Mexican

The New Mexico Supreme Court has made the grounds more restrictive for defamation cases by ruling against an Episcopal priest who sued four parishioners for accusing him of pedophilia.

State District Court Judge Nan Nash dismissed the Rev. Walter F. Smith III’s lawsuit, ruling he had not demonstrated an injury to his reputation.

The state Court of Appeals in 2010 overturned Nash’s ruling, finding that “humiliation and mental anguish is sufficient to establish actual injury for liability purposes in a defamation action.”

But on Monday, the state Supreme Court unanimously reversed the appellate court, effectively upholding Nash’s decision.

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CALIFORNIA
Daily Democrat

By KATHERINE JARVIS dailydemocrat.com

The Rev. Uriel Ojeda may finally enter a plea on molestation charges at a hearing Friday in Sacramento Superior Court.

Ojeda, a 32-year-old former priest at Woodland’s Holy Rosary Catholic Church, faces seven counts of molesting a girl under the age of 14 between 2007 and 2009.

Ojeda served at Holy Rosary from 2007 until 2009. Previous reports said the crimes occurred in Sacramento and Shasta counties, where Ojeda was a parochial vicar at Our Lady of Mercy parish in Redding.

His hearing will take place at 1:35 p.m. in Department 61 at the main jail at 652 I St. Ojeda was released on bail in January when a judge lowered it to $700,000 from $5 million.

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CANADA
CBC News

Cap-Pelé will hold a plebiscite this spring on whether to remove the name of a former priest from the village’s arena.

Camille Léger died in 1990, but several people now allege he sexually assaulted children in the community when he worked there between 1957 and 1980.

Léger was never charged with any crimes.

The village council has agreed to put the issue of renaming Aréna Père-Camille-Léger to Aréna de Cap-Pelé to a vote during the May 14 municipal elections.

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MISSOURI
KSHB

•By: Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Missouri prosecutor said Wednesday she was dropping all charges against five men accused of sexually molesting young relatives on a western Missouri farm more than 20 years ago, saying she doubted she could convince a jury that the bizarre claims were true.

“Whether or not I believe the allegations is an independent question from whether or not I believe I can prove each and every element of the case beyond a reasonable doubt at trial,” prosecutor Kellie Wingate Campbell told The Associated Press after notifying courts in three counties of her action.

Six members of the Mohler family — Burrell Sr.; his sons Burrell Jr., David, Jared and Roland; and his brother, Darrel — were arrested in November 2009 after several young family members told investigators about a series of bizarre sex crimes that allegedly took place on a Lafayette County farm, about 30 miles east of Kansas City.

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IRELAND
Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference

Today a press conference was held in the Columba Centre, Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth marking the closing of the Spring General Meeting of the Irish Bishops’ Conference. The bishops attending the press conference were: Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, President of the Eucharistic Congress; Bishop Kieran O’Reilly, Bishop of Killaloe and chairman of Share the Good News; and, Bishop Donal McKeown, Auxiliary Bishop of Down and Connor and member of the Bishops’ Council for Emigrants. The full audio recording of the press conference is available at the following link: http://www.catholicbishops.ie/category/multimedia/audio/ The following subjects were discussed at the bishops’ spring meeting:
• Lent and preparation for Easter
• Safeguarding Children
• 50th International Eucharistic Congress in Ireland, 10 – 17 June 2012
• Share the Good News: National Directory for Catechesis
• The Solemnity of Saint Patrick
• Trócaire’s 2012 Lenten Campaign “Rebuilding Communities for lasting change”

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IRELAND
Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference

On the final day of the Spring General Meeting of the Irish Bishops’ Conference, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, Bishop Donal McKeown and Bishop Kieran O’Reilly spoke at a media briefing in the Columba Centre, St Patrick’s College, Maynooth. Among the themes addressed at the press conference were: Child Safeguarding, The International Eucharistic Congress, Share the Good News and Education. Listen to the press conference by clicking on the two links below.

Bishops’ Media Briefing 7 March 2012 – part 1web

Bishops’ Media Briefing 7 March 2012 – Part 2 web

Press Release from Spring 2012 General Meeting of the Irish Bishops’ Conference

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Colm Kelpie

Thursday March 08 2012

A LEADING abuse survivor last night branded as “insulting” a request from the Catholic bishops for parishioners to pray to make amends for the sins of paedophile priests.

Marie Collins said the onus should be on the bishops to make amends and she accused them of failing to show humility over the abuse scandals.

On the final day of their three-day spring general meeting, the bishops reiterated a call from Pope Benedict and encouraged the faithful to pray intensely to “make reparation for the sins of abuse that have done so much harm”.

But Ms Collins said the people did not need to atone.

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CANADA
FFWD

The legacy of residential schools includes unmarked graves

Published March 8, 2012 by Suzy Thompson in News

Cemetery foreman Greg Sundsten trudges back and forth through the foot of snow that has settled over Red Deer’s main graveyard. He takes a break from digging to explain how close he must be to finding the children’s graves. He rechecks his map and swears they are somewhere between Arndt and Bice. After an hour, he gives up. Whatever remains to mark the children’s plot must be small, hidden somewhere outside the trails Sundsten dug searching for them.

The search for these three children began 25 years ago with Lyle Richards, who was volunteering in the Red Deer archives when he was approached by a stranger.

“A man by the name of Albert Lightning came in,” says town historian Don Hepburn. The man informed Richards, “you’re the one who’s going to find my brother for me.” Lightning’s brother was one of three children from the Red Deer Indian residential school who died during the 1918 influenza epidemic.

Lightning was lucky to trace his brother to the town cemetery. Normally, students were buried at the school, beside the Kinickinick Creek, but during the flu epidemic no one at the school was healthy enough to dig graves.

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IOWA
KPTM

Maureen Wurtz

COUNCIL BLUFFS (KPTM)- A former youth pastor and convicted sex offender will not spend time behind bars.

Brent Girouex was in court today. He was sentenced to sex offender treatments and life on probation. This sentence has some officials worried.

Emotions were running high in court today, and it was standing room only.

Girouex is no stranger to court. Last March, he was charged with 89 counts of sexual abuse. The prosecution combined many of those, and reached a plea deal back in November. Girouex plead guilt on three counts.

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SEATTLE (WA)
Seattle Times

By Mike Carter
Seattle Times staff reporter

The Archdiocese of Seattle is asking that the most recent lawsuit alleging it was complicit in the sexual abuse of an O’Dea High School student by a pedophile teacher be moved to bankruptcy court in New York, where the Christian Brothers order that employed the alleged abuser has sought Chapter 11 protection.

Archdiocese attorney Michael Patterson said the move is a tactical one aimed at asset protection. It comes as the archdiocese continues to defend itself against civil actions seeking damages for the alleged sexual abuse of dozens, if not hundreds, of boys by teachers belonging to the Christian Brothers religious order.

The Congregation of Christian Brothers in North America, the order that runs O’Dea High School — the archdiocese’s flagship school for boys — filed bankruptcy in New York in April as it sought protection from mounting legal claims, mostly from Seattle, but also involving children in Illinois and Michigan.

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VATICAN CITY
WHEC

Members of the amorphous hacking group Anonymous claim they took down the Vatican’s website to protest everything from Catholic doctrine to the sexual abuse of children.

The site – www.vatican.va – was inaccessible for much of Wednesday afternoon and evening before technicians got it back online.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, confirmed the attack but declined to comment on its possible source.

In what claims to be the “official” site of Anonymous in Italy, a statement posted Wednesday said the group was attacking the Vatican to protest the execution of heretics and the burning of books during the Inquisition and more recently the sexual abuse of children by priests.

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MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

By DONALD BRADLEY and JUDY THOMAS
The Kansas City Star

In the end, maybe the story of the Mohler family was just too much.

Too much to believe or too much to prove.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Lafayette County prosecutor dropped all charges in the incest case that more than two years ago shocked the world with bizarre stories of barnyard “weddings” of children to older relatives, rape, sodomy and secrets buried in fruit jars.

Those who had faced dozens of counts of sexual abuse were family patriarch Burrell Mohler Sr., then 79, of Independence, a sometimes preacher, and his four adult sons, Burrell Jr., David, Jared and Roland.

All were scheduled for trials later this year, including a June 4 date in Clay County for David Mohler.

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MISSOURI
God Discussion

[with video]

Back in November 2009, three of a family of six men accused of sexual crimes against children in Lafayette County, Missouri, were suspended as lay ministers by the Community of Christ church. The six were jailed and felony charges were issued for forcible sodomy, rape with a child younger than 12 and use of a child in a sexual performance.

The Mohler family members will not be brought to trial.

A prosecutor said yesterday that she was dropping all charges against five men accused of sexually molesting young relatives on a U.S. farm more than 20 years ago, saying she doubted she could convince a jury that the bizarre claims were true.

The father, an ordained minister, was accused of conducting weddings in which young girls were married to older relatives so that they could have sex.

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VATICAN CITY
V3 (United Kingdom)

by Gareth Morgan
08 Mar 2012

Hackers affiliated with Anonymous have turned their attentions to the Catholic Church, taking down the Vatican’s website for several hours on Wednesday and cutting off email access.

A spokesman for the Vatican, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press Office, confirmed to the Catholic News that vatican.va had been the “object of an attack”, but declined to add further details.

Groups claiming to be affiliated with Anonymous said the attack was revenge for a number of historical atrocities carried out by the Catholic Church.

The group accused the church of covering up details of sexual abuse suffered by children at the hands of Catholic priests and hiding Nazi war criminals.

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IOWA
WOWT

[with video]

Reporter: Gary Smollen
Email Address: sixonline@wowt.com

A former youth pastor, accused of sexual abuse of young men, is sentenced as his victims and their families watch.

Brent Girouex was given the maximum sentence, then it was suspended a move that upset many of his victims and their families.

Girouex entered the courtroom facing up to 17-years in prison but walked out with the very real possibility of never having to spend a day behind bars.

Judge Steensland suspended the prison time and opted for a lifetime of supervised probation.

Judge Greg Steensland says, “Can I put together a sentence that shows that not only do we care about your personal rehabilitation but we care about the message it sends to society and society needs to feel protected from you.”

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IOWA
World-Herald

COUNCIL BLUFFS — A judge disappointed a church congregation Wednesday with his sentence for a former pastor who sexually abused young people.

Brent Girouex, 32, was sentenced to 17 years in prison, but Judge Greg Steensland then suspended the sentence and ordered Girouex to stay at a sex offender treatment facility until “maximum benefit is obtained.”

He was initially charged with 61 counts of sexual exploitation by a counselor or therapist and 28 counts of third-degree sexual abuse related to incidents with several teenagers and young adults at Victory Fellowship Church.

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ARGENTINA
Clarin

El Tribunal Oral en lo Criminal Nro 1 de Morón decidió ayer anular la libertad vigilada de la que gozaba el cura Julio César Grassi y ordenar su prisión domiciliaria.

Lo hizo luego de que la querella y la fiscalía pidieran que el sacerdote fuera preso por haber violado las condiciones de esa libertad: no pisar la sede de la Fundación Felices los Niños ( donde ocurrió el abuso por el que fue condenado) y no referirse públicamente a su víctima.

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ARGENTINA
La Voz de Cataratas

El Tribunal Oral en lo Criminal 1 de Morón resolvió revocarle el beneficio de prisión morigerada que gozaba por haberse referido a una de sus presuntas víctimas en un programa de televisión

Julio César Grassi, el sacerdote condenado a 15 años de prisión por abuso de un menor, quedó ayer por la noche arrestado por orden de la Cámara de Garantías de Morón, pero su prisión será domiciliaria por haberse referido a una de sus víctimas durante un programa de televisión.

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ARGENTINA
Buenos Aires Herald

A court ruled priest Julio César Grassi remains under house arrest, following the fact he publically mentioned the victims” of the cases for which he was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Grassi atended the hearing at the Morón courts and was taken to jail, but he will comply with the house arrest ruling.

Earlier today, Morón public prosecutor Alejandro Varela and the plaintiffs of the sexual abuse case requested the priest’s detention on grounds that he violated the conditions that had been imposed on him, including the ban of his entering the Felices los niños foundation, where he allegedly sexually abused several teenagers.

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STOCKTON (CA)
Modesto Bee

News-Sentinel (Lodi)

STOCKTON — The father of a 37-year-old man suing Father Michael Kelly testified on Tuesday that his son told him that Kelly had sexually assaulted him.

The father, whose name is being withheld because his son is an alleged sexual assault victim, said he was visiting his son in 2007. They were saying their goodbyes when the son blurted out, “I was (sexually assaulted) by Father Kelly,” the man said.

However, the son drove away without elaborating, the father said, and calls to his son were not successful, he told a jury at San Joaquin County Superior Court. Due to statute of limitations laws, Kelly was never criminally charged.

Kelly has been the pastor of St. Joachim’s Catholic Church in Lockeford since 2004 and previously served at parishes in Stockton, Sonora, Tracy, Modesto and Ceres.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Eastbourne Herald

Published on Thursday 8 March 2012

TWO FORMER priests arrested at their homes in Eastbourne this week on suspicion of child sex abuse have been released on police bail.

Former All Saints vicar Gordon Rideout, 73, was arrested on Tuesday morning at his home in Filching Close in relation to allegedly sexually assaulting young people in Sussex and London in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Fellow former priest Robert Coles, 70, of Upperton Road, was also arrested on the same morning on suspicion of sexual assaults against three young men in Sussex during the late 1970s and mid-1980s.

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IOWA
KCCI

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — A former youth pastor accused of sexually abusing a half-dozen boys and men has been put on probation and ordered to get sex offender treatment.

A judge told Brent Girouex “because this is a sexual abuse case, you are committed to custody of the Department of Corrections for rest of your life.”

Girouex told his victims he was trying to help them gain “sexual purity in the eyes of God,” according to court documents obtained by the KETV-TV.

Prosecutors said Girouex sexually abused the victims at their homes, and not at Victory Fellowship Church, where he worked.

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CLEVELAND (OH)
WOIO

CLEVELAND, OH (WOIO) –
Council of Parishes Attorney Peter Borre tells 19 Action News that the Vatican has overruled 13 parish closures in Cleveland, Ohio.

“All Cleveland Catholic churches who appealed their closures have won” said Borre in a phone interview Wednesday.

Cleveland Catholic Diocese spokesperson, Bob Tayek, declined to comment on the ruling at this time.

Borre tells 19 Action News that Cleveland Diocese Bishop Richard Lennon failed to follow procedure or “Canon Law” in the closings three years ago.

Click here to view the complete list of church closures, merges.

The Cleveland Catholic Diocese parishes who appealed their closures/merges are as follows:

SACRED HEART OF JESUS (CLOSED)
6916 KRAKOW AVE. CLEVELAND

ST. ADALBERT (CLOSED)
2347 E. 83RD ST. CLEVELAND

ST. CASIMIR (CLOSED)
8223 SOWINSKI AVE. CLEVELAND

ST. COLMAN (MERGED)
2027 W. 65TH ST. CLEVELAND

ST. EMERIC (CLOSED)
1890 W. 22ND ST. CLEVELAND

ST. IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH (CLOSED)
10205 LORAIN AVE. CLEVELAND

ST. JAMES (CLOSED)
17514 DETROIT AVE. LAKEWOOD

ST. JOSEPH (CLOSED–WANTED TO MERGE)
REID AVE. & 15TH ST. LORAIN

ST. LAWRENCE (CLOSED)
3532 E. 80TH ST. CLEVELAND

ST. MARY (MERGED)
REID AVE. & 8TH ST. BEDFORD

ST. PETER (CLOSED)
1533 E. 17TH ST. CLEVELAND

ST. PROCOP (CLOSED)
3181 W. 41ST ST. CLEVELAND

ST. WENDELIN (CLOSED)
2281 COLUMBUS RD. CLEVELAND

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CLEVELAND (OH)
Fox 8

March 7, 2012, by Dan Jovic

The Vatican has overturned the closings of 13 Cleveland area parishes, according to the attorney who led a legal fight against their doors being shut for good.

According to attorney Peter Borre, the ruling was handed down by the Congregation of the Clergy last week.

Borre tells Fox 8 News’ Kevin Freeman, the clergy showed that Bishop Richard Lennon did not follow proper procedure in closing the parishes in 2009.

“Bishop Lennon would be well advised to hurry up on down and open these churches immediately,” said Borre.

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CLEVELAND (OH)
Cleveland Leader

By Julie Kent. Published on 03/07/2012

According to the attorney representing 13 local parishes fighting to stay open and leading a legal battle against the Cleveland Catholic Diocese, the Vatican has overturned the closing of the parishes.

Attorney Peter Borre says that the ruling was handed down by the Congregation of the Clergy last week. Borre adds that the clergy showed that Bishop Richard Lennon did not follow the proper procedure in closing the parishes back in 2009, and said:

“Bishop Lennon would be well advised to hurry up on down and open these churches immediately.”

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CLEVELAND (OH)
The Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Vatican has overruled the shuttering of 13 Northeast Ohio parishes by the Cleveland Catholic Diocese, according to the Associated Press, quoting a lawyer who fought the closings.

The news service reported that attorney Peter Borre said the Vatican’s Congregation of the Clergy ruled last week that Cleveland Bishop Richard Lennon had failed to follow procedure in the closings that were announced in March 2009.

Robert Tayek, a spokesman for the diocese, said rulings arrived from the Vatican late this afternoon and had not yet been reviewed by the bishop.

Lennon ordered the closing of 50 parishes — many in inner-city neighborhoods — in a downsizing that he said was prompted in part by a population shift to the suburbs and a shortage of priests. More than a dozen of the affected churches appealed to the Vatican and have been awaiting word on their appeals.

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CLEVELAND (OH)
NBC 26

CLEVELAND (AP) – A lawyer who fought church cutbacks in the Cleveland area says the Vatican has taken the extraordinary step of overruling the closing of 13 parishes.

The move represents a rare instance in which Rome has reversed a U.S. bishop on church shutdowns.

Attorney Peter Borre says the Congregation of the Clergy ruled last week that Cleveland’s Bishop Richard Lennon failed to follow procedure in the closings three years ago.

The churches were among 50 shut down or merged by Lennon.

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CLEVELAND (OH)
NPR

by Barbara Bradley Hagerty

March 7, 2012

The Vatican is ordering the Diocese of Cleveland to open 13 parishes that had been closed. The decision might bode well for other parishes across the country that are appealing their closures.

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TEXAS
KVUE

Posted on March 7, 2012

HAYS COUNTY, Texas — It’s been one year since a Hindu guru known as Swamiji disappeared to avoid a long prison sentence.

A Hays County jury convicted Prakashanand Saraswati, 83, on 20 counts of child molestation. The victims were under 17, and their families lived in his religious compound.

He was sentenced to 14 years in prison and a $10,000 for each count.

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UNITED STATES
Toronto Star

Associated Press

WASHINGTON—The Obama administration is for the first time citing Vatican City as a potential hub for money laundering.

The State Department’s annual International Narcotics Control Strategy Report released Wednesday identifies the Holy See as one of 68 countries or jurisdictions “of concern” for money laundering or other financial crimes.

Officials said the Vatican is on the list because it isn’t clear whether a year-old anti-money laundering regime is effective.

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MISSOURI
KSHB

•By: Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Prosecutor Kellie Wingate Campbell on Wednesday said she was dismissing all charges against five men accused of sexually molesting young relatives on a western Missouri farm more than 20 years ago.

“This was a highly unusual series of cases and the outcome should not deter other victims of crime from reporting those crimes,” she told The Associated Press after notifying courts in three counties of her action.

Six members of the Mohler family — Burrell Sr.; his sons Burrell Jr., David, Jared and Roland; and his brother, Darrel — were arrested in November 2009 after several young family members told investigators about a series of bizarre sex crimes that allegedly took place on a farm east of Kansas City.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WFMZ

NORRISTOWN, Pa. –
The Montgomery County coroner will hold a news conference Thursday to discuss his findings in the investigation of Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua’s death.

Dr. Walter Hofman said he will release the cause and manner of the former Philadelphia archbishop’s death during a meeting with the media in Norristown.

Prosecutors asked Hoffman to investigate Bevilacqua’s Jan. 31 death because of it coming just a day after Bevilacqua was found competent to testify at a high-profile church sex abuse trial.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
NBC 10

A coroner is set to release the results of a probe into the death of Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, the former leader of the Philadelphia archdiocese who died Jan. 31 at a suburban seminary.

Officials say the 88-year-old Bevilacqua, who served as archbishop from 1988 to 2003, was suffering from dementia and cancer. Prosecutors asked the coroner to investigate due to the timing of the death, a day after a judge ruled Bevilacqua competent to testify at the trial of his longtime aide.

Montgomery County Coroner Walter Hofman says in a statement he will release the cause of death at a news conference Thursday. A message left with prosecutors was not immediately returned.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
My Fox Philly

PHILADELPHIA – It was a story first reported on Fox 29, when we broke the news that a coroner was looking into the death of Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua. On Thursday, the public will get the results.

There will be a 1 p.m. press conference in Norristown, Pa., where Montgomery County Coroner Walter Hofman will announce his findings in the death of the 88-year-old Bevilacqua.

Bevilacqua died on the night after a judge said the former leader of the Philadelphia archdiocese was competent to testify at the Philadelphia child abuse trial that starts later this month.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

The Montgomery County Coroner plans to release findings on Thursday from his examination into the death of Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua, his office said.

Coroner Walter I. Hofman had deferred declaring a cause of death for the 88-year-old prelate until he reviewed the toxicology results.

Bevilacqua died on Jan. 31 at his residence at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, where he retired in 2003 after 15 years as the leader of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Church officials had said that Bevilacqua had been in failing heath, suffering from cancer and dementia.

Hofman has said he saw no obvious signs of trauma or foul play during an initial exam of the body. But he deferred his ruling and ordered the toxicology tests at the request of Risa Vetri Ferman, the county district attorney.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Newsworks

March 7, 2012
By Associated Press

A coroner is set to release the results of a probe into the death of Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, the former leader of the Philadelphia archdiocese who died Jan. 31 at a suburban seminary.

Officials say the 88-year-old Bevilacqua, who served as archbishop from 1988 to 2003, was suffering from dementia and cancer. Prosecutors asked the coroner to investigate due to the timing of the death, a day after a judge ruled Bevilacqua competent to testify at the trial of his longtime aide. Montgomery County Coroner Walter Hofman says in a statement he will release the cause of death at a news conference Thursday. A message left with prosecutors was not immediately returned.

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ITALY
Computerworld

By Jaikumar Vijayan

March 7, 2012

Computerworld – The main website of the Vatican was inaccessible Wednesday after what appears to have been an attack by malicious hackers claiming to be affiliated with the Anonymous hacking collective.

An Associated Press story in USA Today quoted Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi as confirming the site’s unavailability but declining to comment on the likely source of the problem.

The Vatican could not be reached for comment at deadline.

A website claiming to be the official blog of Anonymous in Italy on Wednesday posted a message taking credit for the attack. A rough Google translation of the message, which is in Italian, suggests that the site was taken down to protest church doctrine and the molestation of children, by clergy members.

The message makes references to the church’s alleged prosecution of detractors, its allegedly anachronistic views and the sexual abuse of children by priests.

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ITALY
Web Pro News

First Time This Has Happened in Thousands of Years

By Mike Fossum

Hackers from an Italian cell of the group ‘Anonymous’ took the Vatican’s website offline. At writing, vatican.va is still offline, though Vatican officials are working to fix this. Anonymous claims to seek to punish “the corrupt Roman Catholic Church and all of its emanations.”

Anonymous’ Italian website states that “today to besiege your site in response to the doctrine, to the liturgies, to the absurd and anachronistic concepts that your for-profit organisation spreads around the world.” Anonymous also denounced Catholic stances on abortion and contraception and called attention to its sex-abuse scandal, and accused the Vatican of being “retrograde” in “daily” interference in Italian domestic affairs. The wealth of the Catholic church was also mentioned, as well as the pointing out that it is a “for-profit” organization. Anonymous also made it clear that it was just attacking the Catholic Church as a business, and “is not against the Christian religion or the faithful around the world but against the corrupt Roman Apostolic Church.”

Father Federico Lombardi, the director of the Vatican press office, was not sure how long the site would be down.

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ITALY
The Official Blog of Anonymous Italy

Vatican.va day to you.
Oggi Anonymous ha deciso di porre sotto assedio il vostro sito in risposta alle dottrine, alle liturgie ed ai precetti assurdi ed anacronistici che la vostra organizzazione a scopo di lucro (chiesa apostolica romana) propaga e diffonde nel mondo intero. Anonymous has now decided to lay siege to your site in response to the doctrines, liturgies and the precepts absurd and anachronistic that your organization is for profit (Roman Apostolic Church) propagates and spreads worldwide.

Avete bruciato testi di immenso pregio storico e letterario, avete barbaramente giustiziato i vostri più accaniti detrattori e critici nel corso dei secoli, avete negato teorie universalmente ritenute valide o plausibili; avete indotto sprovveduti a pagare per ottenere l’accesso al paradiso con la vendita di indulgenze. You have burned books of immense historical and literary value, you barbarously executed your fiercest detractors and critics over the centuries, have denied universally deemed valid or plausible theories, have led the unwary to pay to get access to paradise with the sale of indulgences.

Vi siete resi responsabili della riduazione in schiavitù di intere popolazioni, usando come pretesto la vostra missione di evangelizzazione e la diffusione della fede cristiana nel mondo. Have you been guilty of riduazione enslavement of entire populations, using as a pretext your mission of evangelization and the spread of Christianity in the world.

In tempi più recenti avete avuto un ruolo significativo nell’aiutare criminali di guerra nazisti a trovare rifugio in paesi esteri ed a sottrarsi alla giustizia internazionale. In more recent times have played a significant role in helping Nazi war criminals find refuge in foreign countries and to evade international justice.

Permettete che quotidianamente molti degli appartenenti al clero si rendano responsabili di molestie verso bambini, coprendoli se i fatti divengono di dominio pubblico. Let every day many of the members of the clergy may be responsible of molesting children, covering them when the facts become public domain.

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VATICAN CITY
MSNBC

ROME — The Italian branch of the hackers group Anonymous took down the Vatican’s website on Wednesday, saying it was an attack on the Roman Catholic Church’s scandals and conservative doctrine.

The Vatican website www.vatican.va was inaccessible. A spokesman said he could not confirm that the crash was the work of the hackers group but said technicians were working to bring it back up.

A statement on the Italian website of the loosely-knit cyber-activists group accused the Church of being responsible for a long list of misdeeds throughout history, including the selling of indulgences in the 16th century and burning heretics during the Inquisition.

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CLEVELAND (OH)
WRAL

By JAY LINDSAY, Associated Press; THOMAS J. SHEERAN, Associated Press

CLEVELAND — The Vatican has taken the extraordinary step of overruling the closing of 13 parishes by the Cleveland Diocese, a lawyer who fought the cutbacks said Wednesday.

The move represents a rare instance in which Rome has reversed a U.S. bishop on the shutdown of churches.

The Congregation of the Clergy ruled last week that Bishop Richard Lennon had failed to follow procedure in the closings three years ago, attorney Peter Borre said.

The 13 Roman Catholic churches were among 50 shut down or merged by Lennon, who said the eight-county diocese could no longer afford to keep them open because of declining numbers of parishioners and a shortage of priests.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

PATSY MCGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent

Reports from the seven visitation teams sent to Ireland by the Vatican last year following publication of the Murphy report, are on course to be published this Spring, the CatholicArchbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin said today.

He was referrring to the reports of teams that visited Ireland’s four Catholic archdioceses, its seminaries and both male and female religious congregations, all completed and sent to Rome by the end of last year.

A factor which would influence their publication is the occurence of HolyWeek and Easter early next month, he said. Publication would not overshadow Easter.

The Archbishop was speaking at a press conference in Maynooth as the Irish Bishops’Conference ended its Spring meeting.

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IRELAND
Catholic Culture

March 07, 2012

The Vatican will soon release the reports prepared during an apostolic visitation of the Church in Ireland, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin has disclosed.

In the wake of the sex-abuse scandal in Ireland, Pope Benedict XVI ordered apostolic visitations for each of the country’s four archdioceses, for the seminaries, and for religious orders. The visitation teams completed their reports and submitted them to the Vatican last year, but the results have not been made public.

Late last year, unconfirmed rumors suggested that the visitations would call for a sharp reduction in the number of dioceses in Ireland. There are now 26 dioceses: an extraordinarily high number for a country of only 4.6 million people. Four Irish sees are currently vacant, and the Vatican has been slow to appoint new bishops, fueling suspicions that a restructuring may soon take place.

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ITALIA
La Provincia di Lecco

ABBADIA – L’ex parroco di San Giuliano a Como, don Marco Mangiacasale, economo della Diocesi di Como dal 2009, è stato arrestato nel pomeriggio con l’accusa di violenza sessuale aggravata ai danni di una ragazzina minorenne.

Don Marco è stato raggiunto ad Abbadia Lariana, in provincia di Lecco, dove si trovava casualmente da ufficiali della polizia giudiziaria della Procura di Como.

Ad accusare il prete le confidenze che la ragazzina avrebbe fatto a un altro sacerdote, che ha informato i genitori di una giovane. Sono stati questi ultimi a presentarsi in Procura e a consentire l’avvio dell’inchiesta.

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ITALIA
Corriere di Como

Ecco il comunicato della diocesi di Como sulla vicenda

Apprendiamo con costernazione la vicenda che vede coinvolto il sacerdote don Marco Mangiacasale della diocesi di Como. In attesa che venga avviato il procedimento giudiziario il Vescovo di Como ritiene di dover esprimere le seguenti considerazioni.

1) Il sacerdote don Marco Mangiacasale viene sollevato da ogni incarico diocesano. 2) Seguendo la prassi canonica richiesta dal Codice di Diritto Canonico (can. 1717-1731) e dai recenti interventi della Santa Sede in materia verrà avviato il procedimento giudiziario ecclesiastico nei confronti del sacerdote don Marco Mangiacasale. 3) È desiderio del Vescovo di Como seguire con paterna sollecitudine tutti i fattori rilevanti della complessa vicenda, nel rispetto dovuto al lavoro svolto dalla Magistratura inquirente e giudicante, e con la doverosa attenzione per tutte le persone implicate nei fatti incriminati, a cominciare da coloro che hanno promosso la causa sporgendo accusa.

La Curia di Como

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ITALY
AGI

20:52 07 MAR 2012

(AGI) Como – “We are dismayed to learn the news about the facts involving don Marco Mangiacasale, a priest of the Diocese of Como”, as made known in a note by the Bishop of Como, Mons.

Diego Coletti, following the arrest of the diocesan treasurer accused of sexually abusing an underage girl over the last four years, from 2008 to a few days ago. In the note, the head of the Como Curia explained that “Don Marco Mangiacasale has been relieved of all assignments in the diocese and that, according to the standard procedure, as requested by the canon law and by the latest interventions of the Holy See on the subject, an ecclesiastical trial against him will soon start.” . .

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CITTA DEL VATICANO
Vatican Insider

Redazione
Roma

Il gruppo di hacker ha dichiarato “guerra” al mondo religioso e dopo aver minacciato oggi è partito l’attacco, che ha affossato Vatican.va. Perfettamente funzionante invece il superportale News.va.

L’atteggiamento non certamente amichevole. Infatti con una serie di pesantissime e volgari accuse, che affondano le radici in un atteggiamento di radicalismo anticlericale, gli hacker fanno riferimento nell’avviso di attacco ai roghi di libri, all’inquisizione e alla vendita delle indulgenze, la schiavitù, la presunta protezione dei criminali nazisti, i preti pedofili, l’ici sugli immobili, il no all’uso del preservativo, fino alle ingerenze nella vita politica italiana.

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CITTA DEL VATICANO
il Sussidiario

ANONYMOUS. Ieri è toccato a Vatican.va, il sito ufficiale della Santa Sede, rimasto vittima di un oscuramento a opera di Anonymous. L’organizzazione che ha già fatto saltare siti web importanti, come quelli del nostro ministero degli interni o del governo, ha puntato adesso l’obbiettivo sulla Chiesa. Un attacco che ha fatto tanto più scalpore in quanto il sito della Santa Sede era ritenuto uno dei più inviolabili al mondo. Oscuramento e messaggio farneticante, in cui gli hacker hanno chiarito che l’attacco non era rivolto alla religione cristiana o ai suoi fedeli, ma “alla corrotta Chiesa Romana Apostolica e a tutte le sue emanazioni”.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

By Francis X. Rocca
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Vatican’s official website suffered an attack by computer hackers March 7, cutting off access by users for several hours.

Italian media outlets reported that the website, vatican.va, became unresponsive around mid-afternoon local time, just as several other websites carried messages taking credit for the disruption in the name of the hacking group Anonymous. Email to and from the vatican.va domain was reportedly also blocked for at least part of the time.

A posting on one Italian site claimed that the attack was an act of revenge for an array of outrages, including the sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests and the historic practice of selling indulgences for sins.

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MOLDOVA
Huffington Post

By CORNELIU RUSNAC 03/ 6/12

CHISINAU, Moldova — Foreigners convicted of sexually abusing children in Moldova will be mandatorily castrated, according to new legislation introduced Tuesday.

Parliament approved the law by a majority after lawmakers said the impoverished nation was attracting pedophiles from the West. It will become effective July 1.

The new law states foreign and Moldovan nationals found guilty of pedophilia will be chemically castrated, while courts will rule separately on those found guilty of rape.

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NEW YORK
Queens Ledger

by Heather Senison

Mar 07, 2012

For the sixth year in a row, Maspeth Assemblywoman Margaret Markey is pushing the state Legislature to pass a bill that would extend the statute of limitations for victims of sex abuse to file claims against their attackers.

Markey’s Child Victims Act adds an additional five years to the current statute, meaning people could come forward until they turn 28. Under the current state law, individuals can come forward for five years after they turn 18.

The bill would also suspend all statutes of limitations for a period of one year, starting the day it passes.

Markey’s bill passed the Assembly four times since 2006, but never the State Senate. She introduced it again this year, but as of press time it wasn’t co-sponsored by anyone on either side of the Legislature.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

Two retired Church of England priests arrested in the Eastbourne area on suspicion of sexually abusing children and young men have been bailed.

Canon Gordon Rideout, 73 was held on suspicion of sexually assaulting nine young people between 1965 and 1972.

Former parish priest Robert Coles, 70, was arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting three young men in West Sussex in the late 1970s and mid-1980s.

Both men have been freed on bail until next month, Sussex Police said.

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VATICAN CITY
Rome Reports

March 7, 2012. (Romereports.com) On Wednesday afternoon, the Vatican’s website stopped working at around 3:00 o clock, after reportedly being hacked. Apparently, a group known as “Anonymous” claimed responsibility for this. On the Vatican’s website, vatican.va, the issue is described as a “technical problem that’s being solved.”

The group, Anonymous Italy, posted a message on its blog, which says that the so called attack on the website, is in response to the Church’s stance on birth control and abortion. It also lists the sexual abuse scandal and the Vatican’s alleged cooperation with nazi criminals.

The message adds that it’s not a personal attack against Christians, but against the “corrupt Church of Rome.”

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VATICAN CITY
LifeSite News

ROME, Italy, March 7, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Hackers claiming ties to the high profile group Anonymous are taking credit after the Vatican website went down Wednesday, claiming they are going after the “corrupt” Catholic Church over the clergy sex abuse scandal as well as its stances against abortion and contraception.

“Anonymous decided today to besiege your site in response to the doctrine, to the liturgies, to the absurd and anachronistic concepts that your for-profit organization spreads around the world,” the hackers wrote in Italian.

“This attack is not against the Christian religion or the faithful around the world but against the corrupt Roman Apostolic Church,” it added.

The statement also includes a laundry list of other complaints going back centuries, including Catholics’ involvement in burning books and executing heretics during the Inquisition.

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