ABUSE TRACKER

ARGENTINA
Business Insider

Geoffrey Ingersoll|
Mar. 13, 2013

New Pope Francis isn’t a Hitler Youth like the last guy, but he has own troubled history.

Francis I along with the whole Argentine Catholic Church have faced criticism for their silence or complicity during the post-1976 military dictatorship — a failure for which the Church apologized in 2012.

Known as the Dirty War, this period saw a brutal battle between the ruling military elite and leftist guerrilla fighters, in which up to 30,000 Argentines were “disappeared” and others were raped or killed.

Argentine journalist Horacio Verbitsky chronicled how the Church and Bergoglio were involved in this dark era. As described by Hugh O’Shaughnessy of The Guardian in 2011:

[Verbitsky] recounts how the Argentine navy with the connivance of Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, now the Jesuit archbishop of Buenos Aires, hid from a visiting delegation of the Inter-American Human Rights Commission the dictatorship’s political prisoners. Bergoglio was hiding them in nothing less than his holiday home in an island called El Silencio in the River Plate. The most shaming thing for the church is that in such circumstances Bergoglio’s name was allowed to go forward in the ballot to chose the successor of John Paul II. What scandal would not have ensued if the first pope ever to be elected from the continent of America had been revealed as an accessory to murder and false imprisonment.

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ARGENTINA
Consortium News

March 13, 2013

Exclusive: The U.S. “news” networks bubbled with excitement over the selection of Argentine Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio to be Pope Francis I. But there was silence on the obvious question that should be asked about any senior cleric from Argentina: What was Bergoglio doing during the “dirty war,” writes Robert Parry.

By Robert Parry

If one wonders if the U.S. press corps has learned anything in the decade since the Iraq War – i.e. the need to ask tough question and show honest skepticism – it would appear from the early coverage of the election of Pope Francis I that U.S. journalists haven’t changed at all, even at “liberal” outlets like MSNBC.

The first question that a real reporter should ask about an Argentine cleric who lived through the years of grotesque repression, known as the “dirty war,” is what did this person do, did he stand up to the murderers and torturers or did he go with the flow. If the likes of Chris Matthews and other commentators on MSNBC had done a simple Google search, they would have found out enough about Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio to slow their bubbling enthusiasm.

Bergoglio, now the new Pope Francis I, has been identified publicly as an ally of Argentine’s repressive leaders during the “dirty war” when some 30,000 people were “disappeared” or killed, many stripped naked, chained together, flown out over the River Plate or the Atlantic Ocean and pushed sausage-like out of planes to drown.

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UNITED STATES
Religion Dispatches

Post by Nicole Greenfield

As soon as Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina, now known as Pope Francis I, was announced earlier this afternoon, the excitement could hardly be contained.

The first pope from the Western Hemisphere! The first Francis! An advocate for the poor! A defender of human rights!

Wait. Bergoglio, a defender of human rights? The idea that anyone would characterize the new pope as having a solid record on such issues is laughable. …

If we do dig a little deeper into Bergoglio’s past, we find that he was accused of participating in one of the numerous human rights violations committed during Argentina’s Dirty War (which ended up resulting in 30,000 activist deaths at the hands of the military junta). The Catholic Church’s complicity has long been acknowledged, but in 2005 Bergoglio became the focus of a criminal complaint filed by a human rights lawyer accusing him of conspiring with the junta to kidnap two dissenting Jesuit priests in 1976.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the dictatorship,—and outrage over the crimes committed during that period—remains a central part of the activist narrative in Argentina, heard widely at demonstrations in support of LGBT and reproductive rights. A common protest chant—“Iglesia. Basura. Vos sos la dicatura!” (Church. Garbage. You are the dictatorship!)—today became—“Bergoglio. Basura. Vos sos la dictadura.”

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UNITED STATES
Inquirer

WASHINGTON – Clergy sexual abuse victims urged newly-elected Pope Francis to reform the Catholic Church and declare “zero tolerance” for sex crimes as his first official act.

“St. Francis was the greatest reformer in the history of the church, Pope Francis must do the same,” the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said in a statement.

Jorge Bergoglio, the first pope from the Americas, chose his papal name in honor of St. Francis of Assisi, an Italian Catholic friar and preacher known for stressing humility.

US-based SNAP warned that millions of children remain at risk from pedophile priests because the Church has not yet reversed longstanding policies of covering up reports of sexual abuse by transferring priests to unsuspecting parishes.

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UNITED STATES
dotCommonweal

March 13, 2013

Posted by J. Peter Nixon

Why Bergoglio? Obviously I wasn’t in the conclave or even in Rome, but if I had to sum it up in a sentence I’d say he’s a Latin American Sean O’Malley.

Much of the boomlet for O’Malley over the last couple of weeks focused on his simplicity, commitment to the poor and personal holiness. His administrative chops and seriousness on the issue of clerical sexual abuse were a clear asset, but without the former elements he wouldn’t have been as compelling a candidate.

As many others have observed, Bergoglio has similar qualities. He famously urged those interested in coming to his installation as archbishop to stay home and give the money to the poor. Rather than live in the archbishop’s mansion, he chose to live in an apartment and apparently takes public transit to work (I wonder if he realizes yet that he will never do so again). It is also reported that when he was made a cardinal, he chose to alter his predecessor’s robes rather than paying for new ones. His choice of “Francis” as a name is, to put it mildly, extremely bold and suggests a strong identification with the poor.

In the runup to the conclave, many cardinals appeared to understand that the Church’s witness is the most powerful and compelling when it is voiced from a place of simplicity and humility. It is then that the Church best conveys the simplicity and humility of Christ himself. Francis’ decision to ask the crowd assembled in St. Peter’s Square to bless him before he blessed them was a powerful symbol in that regard.

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VATICAN CITY
Cardinal Roger Mahony Blogs LA

What a thrilling grace for the Catholic Church!!

A day of firsts: our first Pope from the southern hemisphere, our first Pope from Latin America, our first Pope to take the name of Francis, the first Jesuit Pope!!!

I am just ecstatic over the choice by the Holy Spirit through the Cardinals from across the globe. It will be impossible to sleep tonight with such good and emotional news for us!

It was a special grace to represent Southern California in this Conclave, and especially with millions of people from across Latin America living in our area. I can imagine how excited they must be to have for the first time a Pope who comes from their culture, language, and religious traditions.

Pope Francis I will continue to live out his deep personal faith with Jesus Christ in a way that attracts people to Jesus, thus bringing us a new Spring for evangelization within the Church.

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VATICAN CITY
John Thavis

Wow.

The first Jesuit pope. The first Latin American pope. The first pope to choose the name Francis.

And already there are signs that he will find a new way of being pope. Asking for the people’s prayers for God’s blessing before delivering your own, for example, was a pretty eloquent act of humility.

Within minutes, the Vatican had announced that Pope Francis’ first major audience will be on Saturday, when he meets the more than 5,000 journalists covering his election.

I was part of the live ABC News panel this evening watching it all unfold, perched above St. Peter’s Square. Diane Sawyer anchored, with fellow commentators Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta, Terry Moran and Cokie Roberts.

When we heard the name “Bergoglio” in the “Habemus Papam” announcement, we all did a double-take. As I wrote here two days ago, I had heard Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio’s name increasingly mentioned by some well-informed people, so he was high on my short list. But his election on the second day of the conclave surprised me. It meant he was not a compromise candidate the cardinals turned to after voting stalled on front-runners, but the first choice of many going into the conclave.

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VATICAN CITY
Anchorage Daily News

The Associated Press

VATICAN CITY — The following is the Vatican’s official English translation of Pope Francis’ speech ”Urbi et Orbi” delivered in Italian from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica Wednesday night.

Brothers and sisters, good evening!

You know that it was the duty of the Conclave to give Rome a Bishop. It seems that my brother Cardinals have gone to the ends of the earth to get one… but here we are… I thank you for your welcome. The diocesan community of Rome now has its Bishop. Thank you! And first of all, I would like to offer a prayer for our Bishop Emeritus, Benedict XVI. Let us pray together for him, that the Lord may bless him and that Our Lady may keep him.

(Our Father… Hail Mary… Glory Be… )

And now, we take up this journey: Bishop and People. This journey of the Church of Rome which presides in charity over all the Churches. A journey of fraternity, of love, of trust among us. Let us always pray for one another. Let us pray for the whole world, that there may be a great spirit of fraternity. It is my hope for you that this journey of the Church, which we start today, and in which my Cardinal Vicar, here present, will assist me, will be fruitful for the evangelization of this most beautiful city.

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VATICAN CITY
euronews

The Vatican has spoken out in defence of the decision to include Cardinal Roger Mahony in the conclave to elect a successor for Pope Benedict XV!.

The statement comes after the Survivors’ Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) called for Mahony to stay away – due to his role in handling child sex abuse within his ministry.

Mahony, the former archbishop of LA, has been accused of helping a paedophile priest escape prosecution.

But Vatican spokesman Tom Rosica said there was no reason for Mahony to be excluded from voting for the new pope:

“The cardinals, including Cardinal Mahony, who have been implicated or named by SNAP have given much reflection to the accusations against them, to the situations which they found themselves. In the end there was no reason for them not to be coming here to the conclave.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A Church of England priest used the respectability of his cassock to groom and sexually abuse young boys along with his organist, a court has heard.

Father Keith Wilkie Denford breached the trust of two boys’ parents, jurors at Hove Crown Court were told.

The priest, 78, from Shoreham-by-Sea, has pleaded not guilty to four charges of indecently assaulting two boys.

Organist Michael Mytton, 68, from East Chiltington, East Sussex, has denied aiding and abetting indecent assault.

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VATICAN CITY
The Province (Canada)

Pope Francis: In Argentina he called priests hypocrites, squared off against the president, and became a target for human-rights activists

By Brian Murphy And Michael Warren, AP
March 13, 2013

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis is the first ever from the Americas, an austere Jesuit intellectual who modernized Argentina’s conservative Catholic church.

Known until Wednesday as Jorge Bergoglio, the 76-year-old is known as a humble man who denied himself the luxuries that previous Buenos Aires cardinals enjoyed.

He came close to becoming pope last time, reportedly gaining the second-highest vote total in several rounds of voting before he bowed out of the running in the conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI. …

SOME PRIESTS ‘HYPOCRITES’

“In our ecclesiastical region there are priests who don’t baptize the children of single mothers because they weren’t conceived in the sanctity of marriage,” Bergoglio told his priests.

“These are today’s hypocrites. Those who clericalize the Church. Those who separate the people of God from salvation. And this poor girl who, rather than returning the child to sender, had the courage to carry it into the world, must wander from parish to parish so that it’s baptized!”

Bergoglio compared this concept of Catholicism, “this Church of ‘come inside so we make decisions and announcements between ourselves and those who don’t come in, don’t belong,’” to the Pharisees of Christ’s time — people who congratulate themselves while condemning all others. …

ARGENTINES STILL ANGRY

Bergoglio almost never granted media interviews, limiting himself to speeches from the pulpit, and was reluctant to contradict his critics, even when he knew their allegations against him were false, said Rubin.

That attitude was burnished as human rights activists tried to force him to answer uncomfortable questions about what church officials knew and did about the dictatorship’s abuses after the 1976 coup.

Many Argentines remain angry over the church’s acknowledged failure to openly confront a regime that was kidnapping and killing thousands of people as it sought to eliminate “subversive elements” in society.

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COLOMBIA
Colombia Reports

A Colombian priest visiting California was arrested on Sunday after accusations of sexual misconduct by a 16-year-old girl.

The alleged misconduct occurred during a visit by Father Julio Guarin-Sosa to a parish in Yuba City, California. The priest allegedly visited the home of a local family who asked him to speak to their 16-year-old daughter in private. The two went into a bedroom and according to the priest’s interview with local media, “They held hands in prayer … as he was leaving he hugged her and kissed her on the side of her cheek.” He told reporters that the girl did look uncomfortable and he told her not to tell her parents about the incident.

Guarin-Sosa refutes the allegation in the police report that he French kissed the minor. Some church parishioners also told local media that they thought that the priest’s actions could have been misunderstood.

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VATICAN CITY
The New York Times

By RACHEL DONADIO
Published: March 13, 2013

VATICAN CITY — With a puff of white smoke from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel and to the cheers of thousands of rain-soaked faithful, a gathering of Catholic cardinals picked a new pope from among their midst on Wednesday — choosing the cardinal from Argentina, the first South American to lead the church.

The new pope, Jorge Mario Bergoglio (pronounced Ber-GOAL-io), will be called Francis, the 266th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church. He is also the first non-European leader of the church in more than 1,200 years.

In choosing Francis, 76, who had been the archbishop of Buenos Aires, the cardinals sent a powerful message that the future of the church lies in the global south, home to the bulk of the world’s Catholics.

“I would like to thank you for your embrace,” the new pope, dressed in white, said from the white balcony on St. Peter’s Basilica as thousands cheered joyously below. “My brother cardinals have chosen one who is from far away, but here I am.”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 13 March 2013 (VIS) – “I am very happy that a Latin American has been elected. We know the hopes that it would have been someone from the continent that has the majority of Catholics [in the world],” were the first words of Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., director of the Holy See Press Office, commenting on the election of the new Pope to reporters.

“The choice of the name Francis is very meaningful,” he said. “It is a name that has never been chosen before and evokes simplicity and an evangelical witness. His first, simple appearance in public testifies to both. It is a sign of great spirituality to ask the people’s blessing for him before giving his own. It is a spirituality that recalls that of his predecessor. His pastoral sense of relationship with the Diocese of Rome should also be noted. It is the Pope’s diocese and [he chose] to pray the Church’s simplest prayers with the People of God at a moment like this.”

“Cardinal Bergoglio,” he added, “is a Jesuit. Jesuits are characterized by their service to the Church, collecting all the charisms that the Lord gives us wherever they are needed, but trying to avoid positions of power. For me this election takes on the meaning of a call to server, a strong call and not a quest for power or authority. I am absolutely convinced that we have a Pope who wants to serve. His election was the election of a rejection of power.”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 13 March 2013 (VIS) – Following is the official biography, published on the occasion of the Conclave by the Holy See Press Office with the information provided by the cardinals themselves.

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, S.J.

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, S.J., Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Ordinary for Eastern-rite faithful in Argentina who lack an Ordinary of their own rite, was born on 17 December 1936 in Buenos Aires. He studied as and holds a degree as a chemical technician, but then chose the priesthood and entered the seminary of Villa Devoto. On 11 March 1958 he moved to the novitiate of the Company of Jesus where he finished studies in the humanities in Chile. In 1963, on returning to Buenos Aires, he obtained a degree in philosophy at the St. Joseph major seminary of San Miguel.

Between 1964 and 1965 he taught literature and psychology at the Immacolata College in Santa Fe and then in 1966 he taught the same subjects at the University of El Salvador, in Buenos Aires.

From 1967 to 1970 he studied theology at the St. Joseph major seminary of San Miguel where he obtained a degree. On 13 December 1969 he was ordained a priest. From 1970 to 1971 he completed the third probation at Alcala de Henares, Spain, and on 22 April 1973, pronounced his perpetual vows.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 13 March 2013 (VIS) – Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, S.J., has been elected as Supreme Pontiff, the 265th successor of Peter, and has chosen the name Francis. He is the first Latin American Pope, the first Jesuit Pope, and the first “Francis” in the pontificate.

At 8:12pm—55 minutes after the appearance of the white “fumata” at 7:06pm—the Cardinal proto-deacon Jean-Louis Tauran made the solemn announcement to the people from the external Loggia of the Hall of Blessings of the Vatican Basilica.

Following are the words pronounced by Cardinal Tauran:

Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum;
habemus Papam;
Eminentissium ac Reverendissium Dominum,
Dominum Georgium Marium
Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae Cardinalem Bergoglio
Qui sibi nomen imposuit Franciscum.

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VATICAN CITY
BBC News

[with video]

Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio has greeted crowds in Rome’s St Peter’s Square after his election as the Catholic Church’s new Pope.

The first Latin American and the first Jesuit to be pontiff, he will call himself Francis I.

Robert Mickens, the Vatican Correspondent for The Tablet and Father Thomas Reese from the Woodstock Theological Centre describe the new Pope as strong on social justice. He is also said to “live poorly, cooks his own meals and takes the bus”.

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UNITED STATES
Time

By Olivia B. Waxman
March 13, 2013

Here’s a primer on Jorge Mario Bergoglio, S.J., the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, who became the first South American Pope this afternoon.
•Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Dec. 17, 1936.
•He has four brothers and sisters. His father was an Italian immigrant and railway worker, and his mother was a housewife.
•Prior to becoming Supreme Pontiff, he had been Archbishop of Buenos Aires since 1998, and a cardinal since 2001.
•Before becoming Archbishop, he taught literature, philosophy, theology, and psychology.

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UNITED STATES
CNN

By Christopher M. Bellitto, Special to CNN
updated 5:58 PM EDT, Wed March 13, 2013

Editor’s note: Christopher M. Bellitto, chairman and associate professor of history at Kean University in Union, New Jersey, is the author of “101 Questions and Answers on Popes and the Papacy.”

(CNN) — For an institution that moves glacially, instant analysis is as impossible as it is unwise. Yet first impressions are important. Our initial glimpse of the new pope was curiously disconcerting. He stood there impassive and unemotional. He looked stunned, without almost any reaction at all except, perhaps, awe or even fear of the moment.

Suddenly, his eyes seemed to open wide, as if he was really seeing the position for which he had been chosen less than an hour before. And then he spoke, not with the power of physical force or energy but with something stronger: humility.

With the election of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires as pope, the Roman Catholic Church enters the next chapter of her history. And yet, as often happens in the church, she turns to her past for inspiration and even innovation. So we have the first pope to be elected from the Society of Jesus, known as the Jesuits, who were founded by Ignatius of Loyola in the 16th century while Catholicism reeled from Protestant challenges.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Independent

Geoffrey Robertson

Wednesday 13 March 2013

Years of molestation by priests remains an appalling stain on the Vatican

As the world absorbs the news of the appointment of the new Pope, it is time to ask how the next Supreme Leader of the Catholic Church can meet its most urgent challenge, of stopping its priests sexually molesting small boys.

There have been, on a realistic estimate, over 100,000 such victims since 1981 when Joseph Ratzinger became head of the Vatican office which declined to defrock paedophiles and instead approved their removal to other parishes and other countries.

These widespread and systematic sexual assaults can collectively be described as a crime against humanity. The church cannot atone just by paying compensation. Unless the new Pope installs a policy that minimises danger to children, he, like Benedict, will become complicit in ongoing but avoidable abuse.

Zero tolerance

First, and most obviously, there must be zero tolerance for paedophile priests. They must be automatically defrocked as soon as their Bishop learns of their crime. There must be no delay, and certainly no appeal to the Vatican – it was there that Ratzinger’s preference for avoiding scandal permitted so many paedophiles to be forgiven, and then to re-offend. There is ample evidence now, from Ireland, America and Europe, that the Vatican has conspired to thwart prosecutors and protect clerical criminals.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

By Damien McElroy, and Donna Bowater
9:17PM GMT 13 Mar 2013

At the outset of the conclave, few Vatican watchers were even ranking Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergogio as the top Argentine candidate. The 76-year old had been overshadowed by his fellow countryman Leonardo Sandri, 69, a Vatican diplomat.

But having trailed second in every ballot to Pope Benedict XVI in 2005, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, the Archbishop of Buenos Aires triumphed at the fifth ballot to chose his successor, becoming the first ever Jesuit to ascend to the throne of St Peter as well as the first from outside Europe.

Pope Francis has been a cardinal since 2001 and has won admirers for his humble style of life. “His own simplicity of life, I think will be a great example to people,” said Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor, the former archbishop of Westminister. “For many people this may be a surprise election but for me it is inspired and I am very very happy, not only for the Catholic Church, but for the world.”

The son of a railway worker, the new Pope is a trained chemist. He has reportedly become less active in recent years due to his age and the effects of having a lung removed when he suffered an infection as a teenager.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

Pope Francis must commit to handing over secret Vatican files about child sex abuse in Australia, an advocacy group for people abused by priests says.

Nicky Davis, of the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests (SNAP), called on the new Pope on Thursday to show that the church is serious about tackling child sexual abuse.

She said the Catholic Church had never voluntarily handed over incriminating documents or cooperated with law enforcement or official inquiries into the issue.

“One of the first actions of the new Pope should be to open all the secret Vatican files relating to child sexual abuse in Australia and hand them to Australia’s royal commission.”

The federal government has established the commission to inquire into institutional responses to child sex abuse in Australia.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

by Joshua J. McElwee | Mar. 13, 2013

Vatican City —
Jorge Mario Bergoglio, an Argentinean Jesuit who is the first in his order and the first from Latin America to hold the see of Peter, has been elected the 266th bishop of Rome and leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics.

Appearing on a balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica about an hour and 10 minutes after white smoke from a chimney above the Sistine Chapel first signaled his election, Bergoglio was introduced by his birth name with the traditional proclamation of the Latin phrase “Habemus papam” (“We have a pope”).

Then came pronouncement of the choice of his papal name: Francis.

He is the first pontiff to choose the name, likely for either the 12th-century St. Francis of Assisi, known for his simple lifestyle and dedication to the works of mercy, or for St. Francis Xavier, a 16th-century Spanish Jesuit priest known for his efforts to evangelize, particularly in Asia.

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VATICAN CITY
WTHI

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican says the new pope’s official name is Pope Francis, without a Roman numeral.

Spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi sought to clear up any possible confusion, noting that Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, who announced the name to the world, said simply Francis. It is listed that way in the first Vatican bulletin on the new pope.

“It will become Francis I after we have a Francis II,” Lombardi quipped.

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VATICAN CITY
Los Angeles Times

April 17, 2005|

From Associated Press

VATICAN CITY — A human rights lawyer has filed a criminal complaint against an Argentine cardinal mentioned as a possible contender to become pope, accusing him of involvement in the 1976 kidnappings of two priests.

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s spokesman Saturday called the allegation “old slander.”

The complaint filed in a court in the Argentine capital on Friday accused Bergoglio, the archbishop of Buenos Aires, of involvement in the abduction of two Jesuit priests by the military dictatorship, reported the newspaper Clarin. The complaint does not specify the nature of Bergoglio’s alleged involvement.

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ARGENTINA
MSN Now

Now that the Vatican chimney’s white smoke has ushered in Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as Pope Francis, the 266th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, the “Who is this guy?” questions are starting to roll in. One odd fact among the Argentinian’s many noble achievements: In 2005, back when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires, Bergoglio was accused of involvement, along with the nation’s military dictatorship, in a 1976 kidnapping of two Jesuit priests who were found, months later, drugged and seminude in a field. The future pope was named in a lawsuit by a human rights lawyer, though Bergoglio’s spokesman at the time dismissed the charge as “old slander,” and no hard evidence against him ever surfaced. [Source]

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ARGENTINA
Gay Star News

13 March 2013 | By Joe Morgan

Pope Francis was elected as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church today (13 March).

Argentinian Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 76, was chosen by the conclave of 115 cardinals as a successor to Benedict XVI. …

However he strongly opposed same-sex marriage legislation introduced in 2010 by the Argentine government, calling it a ‘destructive attack on God’s plan’.

In a letter to the monasteries of Buenos Aires, he wrote: ‘Let’s not be naive, we’re not talking about a simple political battle; it is a destructive pretension against the plan of God.

‘We are not talking about a mere bill, but rather a machination of the Father of Lies that seeks to confuse and deceive the children of God.’

In the past, he has also called the adoption of gay couples child abuse, saying it was discrimination against children.

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BOSTON (MA)
CW 56

BOSTON (WHDH) — While millions of Catholics around the world celebrated on Wednesday with the election of Pope Francis, it was also a reflection and hope for those victims of clergy sexual abuse.

Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who has represented more than a thousand clergy abuse cases from all over the world, says he speaks on behalf of all victims when he charges Pope Francis with promoting real change in the church. He hopes the church’s slate is sort of “wiped clean” and Pope Francis will be more transparent about the church’s issues than those before him.

“This pope has to be a moral leader. For the Catholic Church to be a moral institution it has to act morally. This pope, Pope Francis, has to clean house with regard to pedophilia. He has to set new norms in place to sanction bishops. He has to reveal their file, the files within the church. He has to name pedophiles. There has to be transparency. He has to support victims,” said Garabedian.

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ARGENTINA
International Business Times

By Palash R. Ghosh | March 13 2013

Pope Francis I, the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church, who faces the extreme difficult task of moving the church away from a global child sex abuse scandal and other woes, is the first South American ever elected Pontiff.

The Argentine-born son of Italian immigrants, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 76, was formerly the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, and is known for his modest lifestyle, personal; humility dedication to social justice as well as his adherence to conservative church doctrines.

As an example of his rejection of luxury, Bergoglio resides in a small flat, rides public transportation and even cooks his own meals, according to reports.

However, he is not without controversy. Bergoglio is reportedly linked to the controversial Comunione e Liberazione (Communion and Liberation), a conservative lay ecclesiastical movement within the Catholic church that was once a big supporter of disgraced former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Peter Isely on March 13, 2013

There is no greater example of courageous reform in the history of the Catholic church than St. Francis of Assisi. He lived with and demanded justice for those in our society that have been victimized and destroyed by the powerful. During his time he stood up an challenged bishops and cardinals and the Pope.

Thousands of victims of childhood rape and sexual assault by priests have been, like St. Francis, courageously coming forward around the world and demanding that the Catholic Church stop the cover up of sex crimes by clergy.

Pope Francis must, as his very first act, decree the zero tolerance of sexual abuse of children by priests. This one act would, in a single stroke of his pen, protect millions of children from harm, bring justice to hundreds of thousands of victims of clergy sexual abuse, and turn the church finally on a path towards true healing, recovery and reform.

Amazingly, across most of the world today if you are a priest and have been found by your bishop to have raped or sexually assaulted a child, you can remain in the priesthood and in ministry, your crimes left secret and unpunished.

Most of these child molesting priests are secretly transferred into new assignment by their local bishops, with the approval or indifference of the Vatican. An alarming number were also transferred across state and international boundaries, deploying the unique geographic reach of the church and its command structure, which remains steeped in secrecy, to facilitate the concealment and flight of child sex offenders. In essence, criminalizing a part of the Catholic church as an organization. This is especially true of religious orders, like Pope Francis’ own Jesuit order. Pope Francis has a special responsibility to hold accountable Jesuit official around the world who has covered up child sex crimes.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The Conclave has elected the Argentinean cardinal as 266th successor of Peter

(Vatican Insider)

The new Pope, the 76-year old Argentinean Jesuit, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was Ratzinger’s main contender in the last Conclave. He is unusual in that he has always rejected posts in the Roman Curia and only visited the Vatican when it was absolutely necessary. One thing he hates to see in the clergy is “spiritual wordliness”: ecclesiastical careerism disguised as clerical refinement.

The new Pope was born in Buenos Aires and later became its archbishop, on 17 December 1936. He was born to a Piedmontese family, graduated as a technical chemist and then entered the novitiate of the Company of Jesus. He completed studies in the humanities in Chile and obtained a degree in Philosophy and Theology in Argentina. He was Professor and Rector of the Philosophical and Theological Faculty of San Miguel and vicar of the Patriarch of San José, in the Diocese of San Miguel.

In 1986 he completed a PhD in Germany, after which he returned to Argentina, where his superiors made him spiritual director and confessor in the Jesuit Church of Cordoba. In 1992 John Paul II appointed him Auxiliary Bishop of Buenos Aires, in 1997 he became coadjutor bishop and a year later he succeeded Cardinal Antonio Quarracino for six years, until 2011, when he became President of the Bishops’ Conference of Argentina.

He doesn’t have a chauffeur and preferred to use the metro to get around Buenos Aires. In Rome he prefers to get around on foot or use public transport. Those who know him well see him as a true man of God: the first thing he always asks people to do is pray for him.

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VATICAN CITY
GlobalPost

GlobalPost co-founder Charles Sennott covered the Vatican for many years and has written three books on the global church. Speaking from New York, he commented on the selection of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the new pope today:

The thing to know about Cardinal Bergoglio is that he has often been regarded as the conscience of the church in terms of the costs of globalization on the world’s poor. In this sense, he is very much the first pope in history to emerge from the developing world, an embodiment of the fact that the church is growing in Latin America and Africa while it is dwindling in Europe and America.

More than 40 percent of the world’s Catholics live in Latin America. So this is a big moment, and it lands with a good deal of history that revolves around the global economy.

During Argentina’s severe economic crisis, Cardinal Bergoglio spoke out forcefully on behalf of the poor and is highly regarded in Argentina for doing so. While he has spoken out on behalf of the poor and struggling, he avoided many of the theological and political pitfalls that have befallen other cardinals in Latin America. He came of age at a time when Liberation Theology was a deep dividing line in the church with Pope John Paul II cracking down on the Marxist leanings of the movement.

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ARGENTINA
International Business Times

By Jacey Fortin | March 13 2013

Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was selected as the new pope on Wednesday, and many Catholics in the South American country are rejoicing at the news that the new pontiff — who assumed the name Francis — hails from the busy streets of their own capital city, Buenos Aires.

“It was a bit of a surprise,” said Fernando Vivarra, a member of the a Catholic organization called Accion Catolica Argentina, which is based in Buenos Aires. “We are very happy. But we would be happy with any pope who got the most votes of the conclave.”

The voting process began in Vatican City on Tuesday morning, making the Wednesday decision an unexpectedly quick one for the 115 cardinals who conducted their deliberations inside the Sistine Chapel. Some observers were predicting a safe choice for the next leader of the Church — perhaps a Vatican insider from Italy or elsewhere in Europe — but the actual decision was a rather unexpected one. Bergoglio will be the first non-European pope in modern history and the very first from South America.

In Argentina, more than 6,000 miles away from the cheering crowds in Vatican City, the news is still settling in — and reactions are varied. There has been plenty of commotion inside the Buenos Aires Cathedral, but it had nothing to do with Pope Francis.

On Tuesday, about 150 secular Argentines stormed the iconic cathedral in order to protest subsidies to private schools, many of which are Catholic. Demonstrators argued that the $262 million awarded to private schools for subsidies last year took money away from the public sphere.

Because of those protests, a mass that had been scheduled at Buenos Aires Cathedral in honor of the Vatican conclave was cancelled.

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VATICAN CITY
The Salt Lake Tribune

By BRIAN MURPHY and MICHAEL WARREN
The Associated Press

VATICAN CITY • In unadorned white robes, the first pope from the Americas sets a tone of simplicity and pastoral humility in a church desperate to move past the tarnished era of abuse scandals and internal Vatican upheavals.

The choice of Argentine Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio — who took the name Francis — reflected a series of history-making decisions by fellow cardinals who seemed determined to offer a message of renewal to a church under pressures on many fronts.

The 76-year-old archbishop of Buenos Aries — the first from Latin America and the first from the Jesuit order — bowed to the crowds in St. Peter’s Square and asked for their blessing in a hint of the austere style he cultivated while modernizing the Argentina’s conservative Catholic church.

In taking the name Francis, he drew connections to the 13th century St. Francis of Assisi, who saw his calling as trying to rebuild the church in a time of turmoil. It also evokes images of Francis Xavier, one of the 16th century founders of the Jesuit order that is known for its scholarship and outreach.

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UNITED STATES
Reuters

By Mary Wisniewski

CHICAGO | Wed Mar 13, 2013

(Reuters) – Pope Francis will face a divided Church in the United States, with the faithful at odds over issues like contraception, same-sex marriage and married priests.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina was chosen to lead the Roman Catholic Church on Wednesday. He took the name Pope Francis.

“Intense prayer from all around the world surrounded the election of Pope Francis I,” Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a statement. “The bishops of the United States thank God for the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the inspired choice of the College of Cardinals.”

In the United States, the results of November’s presidential election highlighted the divide between Catholics who want the Church to modernize and those who favor its traditional ways. U.S. Catholic bishops pushed hard against policies favoring gay marriage and contraception, warning of the “intrinsic evils” of the Democratic platform. But post-election polling showed that most U.S. Catholics favored Democratic President Barack Obama.

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VATICAN CITY
WAVY

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis is the first ever from the Americas, an austere Jesuit intellectual who modernized Argentina’s conservative Catholic church.

Known until Wednesday as Jorge Bergoglio, the 76-year-old is known as a humble man who denied himself the luxuries that previous Buenos Aires cardinals enjoyed. He came close to becoming pope last time, reportedly gaining the second-highest vote total in several rounds of voting before he bowed out of the running in the conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI.

Groups of supporters waved Argentine flags in St. Peter’s Square as Francis, wearing simple white robes, made his first public appearance as pope.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, good evening,” he said before making a reference to his roots in Latin America, which accounts for about 40 percent of the world’s Roman Catholics .

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UNITED STATES
MSNBC

Luke Russert
3:50 PM on 03/13/2013

Faith, guilt and charity. Growing up Catholic I’ve always considered those three ideas to be the hallmarks of my religion. A faith in Catholicism as the embodiment of Christ’s true teaching here on earth, the guilt that comes when we sin or do not live up to Christ’s standard and the charity that is expected from those who are blessed with so much. I was blessed personally by Pope John Paul II twice: once in my mother’s womb and another time when I was an infant. I attended CCD from when I was six years old till I was fourteen. The church is where I’ve been baptized, confirmed, where I’ve confessed and have even gotten to be a godfather. I graduated from one the world’s preeminent Catholic universities and to this day try to attend Mass (and never miss it on days of obligation). I’m that rare twenty-seven year old that proudly still feels a strong connection to my Catholic faith, yet the actions of many in the church over the last fifteen years have put my own personal faith on edge.

Pope Francis I will inherit an American flock where young Catholics have been outraged by countless pedophilia scandals, discouraged by a focus on politics instead of charity and hardened by a Western society where being Catholic is not so much celebrated but ridiculed. In order to reach these people, the new Pope needs to be honest and quite frankly level with parishioners. Instead of a constant focus on social issues, perhaps a focus on caring for the poor or decrying the influence of media manufactured materialism which will plague an entire American generation. Instead of a Catholic faith where priests are expected to completely suppress their sexuality, an acknowledgement that the many of the Church’s recent problems stem from the unnatural requirement of celibacy. Instead of bishops setting the agenda, maybe the nuns have a say too and more of a role for women in the church, for that matter. These types of practical acknowledgements, even if they do not become the new doctrine of the church, will at least restore some faith in the process.

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VATICANO
El Pais (Espana)

El cónclave que convirtió a Joseph Ratzinger en Benedicto XVI no se desarrolló como se pensó en su momento. La principal alternativa a Ratzinger no fue el cardenal jesuita Carlo Maria Martini, sino otro jesuita, el argentino Jorge Mario Bergoglio, quien finalmente se atemorizó y renunció. Es uno de los datos hasta ahora desconocidos sobre la transición en el Vaticano.

Limes, una prestigiosa revista italiana de información geopolítica, publicó ayer un documento insólito: el supuesto diario que un cardenal redactó durante el cónclave de abril. La revista mantuvo en el anonimato la identidad del cardenal, por razones obvias, pero avaló la autenticidad del diario. Fuentes vaticanas se limitaron a comentar que si las revelaciones eran ciertas suponían una grave ruptura del juramento de secreto efectuado por todos los participantes en el cónclave.

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CALIFORIA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

Blog: Sarah Odegaard | 2:03 PM

We are sad and again alarmed to learn of the news of the arrest of a visiting priest from Colombia working in the Diocese of Stockton for child sexual abuse. Time will tell what was known of Rev. Guarin-Sosa’s history and safety in working with children. What is known to us already is that numerous priests have been transferred globally with the aid of the catholic hierarchy after being credibly accused of abusing children. Fr. Nicolas Aguilar is just one example.

Aguilar abused kids in Mexico and then was shipped to Los Angeles, where he abused at least 26 other kids, before being sent back to Mexico. There, he disappeared and continues to evade law enforcement and justice.

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ROME
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on March 13, 2013

We’ve long worried about child sex crimes and cover ups by religious order clerics like the Jesuits. Religious orders have often been worse than bishops at hiding predators.

The Jesuits, in particular, have a troubled track record on children’s safety.

So we’re struck by how this new pope, coming from a religious order, has both an enormous opportunity and duty to help prevent heinous assaults against kids by this crucial and relatively secretive segment of the Catholic clergy.

We’re grateful the new pope isn’t on our “Dirty Dozen” list. But very little about this crisis has been exposed in South and Central America. We worry about the safety of children in the church there. And we hope victims, witnesses and whistleblowers in Argentina will find the courage to step forward and disclose how they have been and are being treated in the new pope’s home archdiocese.

We suspect that supporters of the new pope will find and cite one seemingly positive step he’s made in an abuse case. One such incident, however encouraging it may initially seem, doesn’t necessarily show a pattern. It’s important that we judge his record on abuse and coverup by all of his actions, not one isolated one.

An Argentinian archbishop, Edgardo Gabriel Storni, of Santa Fe, was convicted and sentenced to prison because of sexual abuse. We hope Pope Francis learned the right lessons observing that case.

We are grateful he doesn’t work in the Vatican and isn’t a member of the Curia. We hope that will give him the courage to shake things up and put the prevention of abuse and cover up first on his priority list. For the safety of kids and the healing of victims, we hope he starts by exposing the names of predator priests – current and former, living and deceased – in his home archdiocese.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

Pope Francis I: a humble man from the New World whose first challenge is to end the scandals

By Damian Thompson

Pope Francis I, the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, is a priest of holinesss and tremendous modesty of manner – a man who, until now, has taken the bus to work. His challenge is clear. He needs to learn from Benedict XVI’s greatest success – and his greatest failure. The success was the restoration of reverent, mystical worship to the centre of Catholic life, an achievement that has inspired a dynamic generation of young Catholics. The failure was Benedict’s inability to reform the corrupt structures of the Roman curia, which should be recognised as the rotten core of the abuse crisis, and which is likely to have loomed large as an issue in the conclave. The historic decision to choose a Pope from the New World will perhaps make that task easier.

Alas, cleaning the stables is a more urgent priority than building on Ratzinger’s magnificent liturgical renewal. In many parts of the world, Roman Catholicism has become almost synonymous with sexual abuse and its concealment. The crisis is as bad as it was in 2005, when Benedict was elected, although most of the crimes are now more distant historical events.

Pope Benedict was determined to “purify” the Church of its priestly abusers and their allies. But his civil service, the Vatican dicasteries, were lazy and secretive in their half-hearted pursuit of the truth. Senior clergy who should have been disciplined or prosecuted under John Paul II – including two world-famous cardinals, Mahony of America and Danneels of Belgium, and now our own O’Brien of Scotland – were only recently exposed. This week the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, its former leader Cardinal Mahony and an ex-priest, agreed to pay nearly $10 million to settle four child sex abuse cases brought against them. (The appalling details are here.) That such a scandal should still be unfolding as the cardinals met to elect Benedict’s successor, and over 20 years after cover-ups of clerical paedophilia came to light, gives us some idea of the moral crisis and public relations catastrophe inherited by the new pontiff.

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ARGENTINA
Ventura County Star

The Associated Press
Posted March 13, 2013

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) – Latin Americans reacted with joy, bursting into tears and cheers on Wednesday at news that an Argentine cardinal has become the first pope from the hemisphere.

“It’s incredible!” said Martha Ruiz, 60, who was weeping tears of emotion after learning that the cardinal she knew as Jorge Mario Bergoglio will now be Pope Francis I.

She said she had been in many meetings with the cardinal and said, “He is a man who transmits great serenity.”

Cars honked their horns as the news spread and television announcers screamed with elation and surprise.

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LATIN AMERICA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Juan Carlos Cruz on March 13, 2013

Many bishops in Latin America have covered up and have denied having abuse in their countries. In Chile, the Fr. Karadima case has been one that has unveiled a secret kept by the Catholic hierarchy and that is repeated in many countries in Latin America.

In Chile there are 32 bishops and at least half of them have covered up abuse. Four of them belonged to Karadima’s group and witnessed abuse and now deny it. Recently in Chile, a bishop had to resign for child abuse. Another emblematic priest, Cristián Precht, was charged with child abuse in several counts by the Vatican and the Archbishop of Santiago Ezzati gave him just 5 years of penitence and prayer. After the Karadima case people are astonished. They are still not taking it seriously.

It is very difficult in Latin America because of the culture of reverence to the Catholic Church and the power that it has in the region to go against it. In many countries, the Church is associated with the economic power groupsand it is very difficult to bring something up and not have it crushed by judges that are easily dominated by these groups.

There are reports of abuse in several Latin American countries but the power and control that the Church exercises there is so much that they are constantly crushed and denied.

We need a Pope that deals with the powerful and secretive bishops like the ones in Latin America and has the courage to confront them and let so many good priests take the reins of a ship that is sinking in the region.

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VATICAN CITY
Los Angeles Times

By Emily Alpert
March 13, 2013

Roman Catholic cardinals chose Jorge Mario Bergoglio as pope Wednesday, selecting the Argentine Jesuit to succeed Pope Benedict XVI, who resigned Feb. 28, and lead 1.2 billion church followers around the globe. He was chosen after five rounds of voting in the Sistine Chapel.

The Associated Press reported that Bergoglio, who chose the papal name Francis I, is the first Jesuit pope and has spent nearly his entire career in Argentina, overseeing churches and shoe-leather priests. The AP described him as a modernizer who has lived austerely:

Bergoglio, 76, reportedly got the second-most votes after Joseph Ratzinger in the 2005 papal election, and he has long specialized in the kind of pastoral work that some say is an essential skill for the next pope. In a lifetime of teaching and leading priests in Latin America, which has the largest share of the world’s Catholics, Bergoglio has shown a keen political sensibility as well as the kind of self-effacing humility that fellow cardinals value highly, says his official biographer, Sergio Rubin.

Bergoglio would likely encourage the church’s 400,000 priests to hit the streets to capture more souls, Rubin said in an Associated Press interview. He is also most comfortable taking a low profile, and his personal style is the antithesis of Vatican splendor. “It’s a very curious thing: When bishops meet, he always wants to sit in the back rows. This sense of humility is very well seen in Rome,” Rubin said.

Bergoglio is known for modernizing an Argentine church that had been among the most conservative in Latin America….

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VATICAN CITY
CBC News

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina, who will be known as Pope Francis, has been selected as Pope of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics.

He is the first Pope from the Americas and the first from outside Europe in more than a millennium.

A stunned-looking Bergoglio shyly waved to the crowd of tens of thousands of people who gathered in St. Peter’s Square, marvelling that the cardinals had had to look to “the end of the earth” to find a bishop of Rome.

He asked for prayers for himself, and for retired Pope Benedict XVI, whose stunning resignation paved the way for the tumultuous conclave that brought the first Jesuit to the papacy. The cardinal electors overcame deep divisions to select the 266th pontiff in a remarkably fast conclave.

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VATICAN CITY
The Guardian (UK)

John Hooper in Vatican City
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 13 March 2013

The Roman Catholic church has a new pope: Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio from Buenos Aires in Argentina, , the first ever to come from South America, who has taken the name Francis.

He was announced to the crowd waiting in St Peter’s Square from the vast balcony that runs across the front of St Peter’s basilica.

Earlier, white smoke had flowed from the chimney above the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, signalling that one of the candidates for the pontificate had obtained the necessary two-thirds majority for election. The fumata bianca– the white smoke signal that marks the successful conclusion of a papal conclave – arrived after five ballots on the second day of voting.

The smoke that poured out of the comignolo, the copper and steel chimney on the roof of the Sistine Chapel, was greeted with cries of delight and applause from the crowd below. Soon afterwards, the bells of St Peter’s rang out, confirming that the 266th pope had taken over the spiritual leadership of the world’s 1.2 billion baptised Catholics.

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VATICAN CITY
Daily Mail (UK)

New Pope is a 76-year-old Argentine: Jorge Bergoglio, Archbishop of Buenos Aires, announced to the world as 266th pontiff

By Hugo Gye and Simon Tomlinson

The new Pope has been unveiled as Argentine Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, who will take the name Pope Francis.

The 76-year-old was welcomed by tens of thousands of overjoyed Catholics in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican City after his election was revealed this afternoon at 6pm GMT when white smoke poured out of the chimney of the Sistine Chapel.

Tens of thousands cheered in St. Paul’s Square at the sight of the symbolic plumes, announcing that the successor to Benedict XVI had finally been chosen after two days of intense voting.

After hours braving the cold rain, the huge crowd chanted ‘Habemus Papam’ and ‘We have a pope’ – as the bells of St. Peter’s Basilica and other churches across Rome pealed.

As excitement grew before the Pope Francis’s imminent appearance on the loggia, the crowd repeated the refrain ‘Viva il Papa’ – translated as ‘Long live the Pope’.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Citing the Latin formula, Habemus Papam, the Proto Deacon, French Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran appeared on the central balcony of Saint Peter’s Basilica Wednesday evening to announce the election of the 265th Successor of Saint Peter:

Argentinian Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, S.J., the first Jesuit pope in history, was elected to the papacy, taking the name of Pope Francis.

Cardinal Tauran appeared on the balcony of St. Peter’s basilica at 8:12 p.m. to the cheers of tens of thousands of people gathered under umbrellas in the square. Billowing white smoke appeared from the chimney over the Sistine chapel at 7:06 p.m signalling that the new Pope had been elected in the fifth ballot of the two day conclave.

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VATICAN CITY
LA Weekly

By Dennis Romero
Wed., Mar. 13 2013 at 12:18 PM

Perhaps in a nod to its Spanish speaking majority, the Catholic Church today announced that Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina is its new pope.

He will apparently go by the name of Pope Francis I.

So is this guy the church’s first Latino pope?

Tough question. That’s like asking if L.A. mayoral candidate Eric Garcetti is Latino (he insists he is, pointing to his family’s time in Mexico).

Argentinians are often of pure Italian blood, and Bergoglio’s name certainly points to that.

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VATICAN CITY
GMA News

The Catholic Church has a new Vicar of Christ: Pope Francis I

Cardinal Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergoglio SJ, 77, of Argentina was elected as Supreme Pontiff of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, the Vatican announced Thursday.

White smoke emerged at 2:05 a.m. PHL time from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican Apostolic Palace, where 115 cardinals gathered to elect a new pope Tuesday.

Pope Francis I succeeds Pope Benedict XVI, who resigned on February 28 amid daunting problems facing the Church at one of the most difficult periods in its history.

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VATICAN CITY
WRAL

By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press

VATICAN CITY — —

Argentine Jorge Bergoglio has been elected pope, the first ever from the Americas and the first from outside Europe in more than a millennium. He chose the name Pope Francis.

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VATICAN CITY
Wikipedia

Jorge Mario Bergoglio, SJ (born December 17, 1936) is the current pope of the Roman Catholic Church, elected on March 13, 2013 and taking the regnal name of Francis. Prior to his election, he served as an Argentine cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He has served as the Archbishop of Buenos Aires since 1998. He was elevated to the cardinalate in 2001.

Early life

Jorge Bergoglio was born in Buenos Aires, one of the five children of an Italian railway worker and his wife. After studying at the seminary in Villa Devoto, he entered the Society of Jesus on March 11, 1958. Bergoglio obtained a licentiate in philosophy from the Colegio Máximo San José in San Miguel, and then taught literature and psychology at the Colegio de la Inmaculada in Santa Fe, and the Colegio del Salvador in Buenos Aires. He was ordained to the priesthood on December 13, 1969, by Archbishop Ramón José Castellano. He attended the Philosophical and Theological Faculty of San Miguel, a seminary in San Miguel. Bergoglio attained the position of novice master there and became professor of theology.

Impressed with his leadership skills, the Society of Jesus promoted Bergoglio and he served as provincial for Argentina from 1973 to 1979. He was transferred in 1980 to become the rector of the seminray in San Miguel where had had studied. He served in that capacity until 1986. He completed his doctoral dissertation in Germany and returned to his homeland to serve as confessor and spiritual director in Córdoba.

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VATICAN CITY
The New York Times

By RACHEL DONADIO
Published: March 13, 2013

VATICAN CITY — With a puff of white smoke from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel and to the cheers of thousands of rain-soaked faithful, a gathering of Catholic cardinals picked a new pope from among their midst on Wednesday. The name of the new pope, the 266th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, by tradition would not be revealed until a celebratory announcement on a white balcony on the front of St. Peter’s Basilica.

“Habemus papam!,” members of the crowd shouted in Latin, waving umbrellas and flags. “We have a pope!” Others cried “Viva il Papa!” as all eyes trained on the balcony.

“It was like waiting for the birth of a baby, only better, ” said a Roman man. A child sitting atop his father’s shoulders waved a crucifix.

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VATICAN CITY
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Associated Press

VATICAN CITY —

A church sex abuse victims group is acting out of “negative prejudices” when demanding some cardinals withdraw from the papal election, the Vatican spokesman said Wednesday.

The Rev. Federico Lombardi said at a news briefing that the criticisms raised by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests are “well known” and cardinals already have responded.

The Survivors Network has said Cardinal Roger Mahony should withdraw from the conclave because confidential church files released last month showed the retired Los Angeles archbishop was among church officials who had shielded abusive priests and failed to protect children.

Mahony has apologized repeatedly for how he responded to abuse claims. His successor in Los Angeles, Archbishop Jose Gomez, stripped Mahony of his public duties. But the cardinal has said Vatican officials told him to participate in the conclave, which began Tuesday.

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ROME
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on March 13, 2013

It is always hopeful when someone new takes office. We often assume that the new person will be better than the last person, especially in a scandal ridden institution.

But that assumption is reckless. There’s no guarantee that a new person means a new direction.

Our hope is that the new Pope is that he will be bold and courageous in tackling the centuries-old and ongoing abuse and cover up crisis in the church. It’s long-standing, deeply-entrenched and tragically pervasive. Real reform may well take decades.

To help the institution he loves, Pope Benedict resigned. We hope that this pope will take similarly radical steps to protect children.

Actions, not words protect kids. While long on words, apologies and promises, Benedict was short on decisive action. We hope his successor will be different. We strongly urge him to start by harshly disciplining prelates who are enabling or have enabled child molesting clerics, be they priests, nuns, seminarians, bishops or cardinals.

And we urge Catholics to judge him on the concrete steps he may take to stop the abuse and cover-up, not on the vague pledges he may make about the crisis.

We in SNAP will continue to do everything in our power to safeguard children, expose wrongdoing and heal victims. We will keep working to hold those who commit and conceal heinous crimes against children responsible, and see that they are prosecuted and convicted and kept away from kids. We will vigorously push to reform predator friendly abuse laws, so that more wounded victims can warn families and protect kids through the justice system. We beg compassionate and concerned Catholics to join us in this struggle.

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VATICA CITY
GMA News (Philippines)

White smoke rose from the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel on Thursday 2:04 a.m. PHL time, indicating that Roman Catholic cardinals voting in a secret conclave had elected the successor of Pope Benedict XVI. The identity of the new pope will be known shortly.

Once a new pope has been elected, he is asked if he accepts and by which name he wishes to be known. The ballots are burned with an additive to produce white smoke.

In 2005, the Vatican decided to ring the great bell of St Peter’s Basilica as an additional sign that the pope had been chosen. But confusion among the people who were supposed to ring it meant the bell lagged the smoke by about 15 munutes.

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VATICAN CITY
WAFB

ROME (RNN) – A new leader of the Catholic Church has been chosen.

White smoke poured from the Sistine Chapel chimney at 2:06 ET, 7:06 p.m. in Italy, and the bells have rung in St. Peter’s Basilica.

The new pope, who is expected to meet the crowd in St. Peter’s Square at any moment, was chosen after the fourth round of balloting by the College of Cardinals during the second day of the conclave.

A cardinal needs 77 votes to become pope.

The election for Pope Benedict XVI lasted two days and required four ballots in April 2005. For John Paul II, voting lasted from Oct. 14 to 16 and required eight ballots.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Heise

Während in der Ewigen Stadt, dem Sitz des katholischen Pontifex, die obersten Klausner einen neuen Papst herbeiräuchern, pfeift aus dem Flachland eine fiese Brise Richtung Rom. Gerade fristgemäß, wie man dem Anlass entsprechend meinen könnte. Diesmal sind die armen Mädchen an der Reihe.

Vor denen haben die frommen Sünder nämlich auch nicht halt gemacht: Tausende, die Rede ist von möglicherweise Zehntausenden, stehen auf der Opferliste der katholischen Zuchtlosigkeit. So offenbart es der Untersuchungsbericht, der am Wochenende in Den Haag veröffentlich wurde.

In katholischen Einrichtungen des Nachbarlandes gärte es schon lange. Ob Priester, Klosterbruder, Ordensschwester, auch bedienstete Laien, jede Gruppe ist im frevelhaften Treiben mit vertreten.

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DEUTSCHLAND
netzwerkB

‘Ein Gastbeitrag von Dr. Christian Fiala
(Facharzt für Frauenheilkunde und Geburtshilfe in Wien)

Der Begriff ‘Verjährung’ ist eigentlich vollkommen unpassend im Zusammenhang von sexuellem Missbrauch durch Kirchenangehörige. Weil es ist ja kein Zufall, dass Jahrzehnte seit der ursprünglichen Tat vergangen sind. Sondern dies ist das Ergebnis einer gezielten und letztendlich erfolgreichen Vertuschung durch die Institution der Täter. Der Missbrauch und die systematische, jahrzehntelange Vertuschung wurden von den gleichen Tätern, bzw. der gleichen Institution begangen. Wenn man nun so tut als ob der Missbrauch durch Kirchenangehörige juristisch nicht mehr verfolgbar wäre, dann wird de facto die Vertuschung durch die Kirche, bzw. kirchliche Institutionen de facto belohnt.

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UNITED STATES
All Media NY

-by Alex Mangini, Staff Writer

As the world waits for the Catholic cardinals in the Vatican to select the church’s next pope, President Barack Obama weighed in on the matter in an interview with CBS, expressing his desire to see an American at the top of the Papacy.

”It seems to me that an American pope would preside just as effectively as a Polish pope or an Italian pope or a Guatemalan pope,” Obama told George Stephanopoulos.

“I don’t know if you’ve checked lately, but the Conference of Catholic Bishops here in the United States don’t seem to be takin’ orders from me,” Obama continued. “

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PHILIPPINES
Manila Standard Today

By Jenny Ortuoste | Posted on Mar. 14, 2013

Roman Catholic Church bigwigs in Bacolod City who started a campaign against pro-Reproductive Health bill senatorial candidates were red-faced when a text message circulated naming five priests of the Diocese of Bacolod who sired offspring.

The Church in that city hung huge tarpaulins marked “Team Patay” (Team Dead) identifying the candidates they were exhorting people not to vote for, but the tables were turned when the “Team Tatay” (Team Father) messages spread.

Seems the embarrassment could have been avoided if certain people had used contraceptives, hey?

Clergy having children are nothing new; one of my first cousins is the daughter of a monk. It was a scandal in the town where they lived, but not among the unconventional Ortuoste family, a tolerant and liberal bunch. They understood and accepted the situation especially because the monk in question was my uncle. (He left his order, married his partner, and they set up as a family in the United States.)

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UNITED STATES
KSDK

Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA TODAY

Add another $10 million to the $2.5 billion that the Catholic Church in the USA has spent in confronting the clergy sex abuse crisis.

The settlement announced in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles Tuesday notched up their tally to nearly $700 million in settlements to victims alone, not even adding in the costs of therapy, attorneys’ fees and more. Four men abused a quarter century ago by a now-defrocked priest will divide $10 million, the archdiocese said.

In 2007, the archdiocese, the nation’s largest, announced more than $660 million in settlements to 508 victims.That far surpassed the $84 million settlement record then held by Boston, epicenter of the scandal that exploded in the U.S. church in 2002.

Since then, the abuse scandal has driven up some horrifying statistics. According to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Office of Child and Youth Protection and independent studies commissioned by the bishops, the latest tallies as of 2012 were:

• More than 6,905 accused priests since 1950.

• More than 16,463 victims identified to date, although there is no national database.

• $2.5 billion in settlements and therapy bills for victims, attorneys fees and costs to care for priests pulled out of ministry from 2004 to 2011.

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UNITED STATES
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

Before we get to the smoking moment that heralds the one man standing on a balcony and the cascading cavalcade of comment about him begins, we think this small of space of time should be reserved for mirrors.

The mirrors that 115 men looked into this morning.

One hundred and fifteen faces of men ranging in age from 55 to 80 were reflected back to Cardinal electors as day broke across the EternalCity.

As they looked into their own eyes, we wonder if there was honesty in the moment.

If there had been, we think the circle of them concelebrating in St. Peter’s Basilica would be smaller than it was and the number of them chanting the Litany of the Saints and entering into the Sistine Chapel today would be less, considerably less than 115.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

By Barry Moody and Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY | Wed Mar 13, 2013

(Reuters) – Black smoke billowed from the Sistine Chapel for a second day on Wednesday after a secret conclave of cardinals held two more inconclusive votes for a new pope to lead the troubled Roman Catholic Church.

Following an initial split ballot when they were first shut away amid the chapel’s Renaissance splendor on Tuesday evening, the 115 cardinal electors held a first full day of deliberations but many Vatican watchers expected the waiting to go on.

Once a new pontiff is elected, white smoke will rise from the makeshift chimney in the roof and the bells of St. Peter’s Basilica will ring. But for the time being, none of the cardinals has garnered the two-thirds majority required.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi denied suggestions of any splits between the cardinals in the run-up to the conclave and said the election was proceeding normally.

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ITALIA
La Repubblica

Superando dolore e vergogna Francesco Zanardi, molestato da ragazzo, ha portato allo scoperto una catena di scandali. Denunciandoli sul suo blog e anche con volantini distribuiti in piazza. Per la magistratura i vertici della Curia non hanno pensato a tutelare i minori ma solo a “salvaguardare l’immagine della diocesi”. Quella lettera a Ratzinger, prima che diventasse Papa di MARCO PREVE

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VATICAN CITY
International Business Times

Analysis

By Umberto Bacchi
March 13, 2013

As black smoke billows from the Vatican for a second successive day, announcing that cardinals remain divided over who should be pope, the names of a small bunch of outsiders have begun to set tongues wagging in Saint Peter’s Square.

After three ballots, no candidate has gained the 77 votes necessary to be anointed Pontiff – and speculation about a victory for one of the outsiders continues to mount.

“The more we wait, the better chance we have of having a surprise,” said one of the worshippers who gathered in the Square to get close up to the Conclave.

Negotiations and votes take place behind the closed doors of the Sistine Chapel, and the oath of secrecy remains in force even after the Conclave adjourns for the day.

Before the start of the conclave, the favourite to succeed Benedict XVI was said to be Milan Archbishop Angelo Scola.

However as the hours without Cardinal Protodeacon Jean-Louis Tauran taking the central balcony of Saint Peter’s basilica to pronounce the famous formula “Habemus Papam (We have a Pope)”, Scola’s odds are reportedly shrinking.

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VATICAN CITY
The New York Times

By DANIEL J. WAKIN and ALAN COWELL

Published: March 13, 2013

VATICAN CITY — Black smoke billowed from a makeshift copper chimney atop the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday, signaling that the 115 cardinals of the Catholic Church eligible to vote for a new pope had again failed to muster majority support for a successor to Benedict XVI and that balloting would continue until they do.

A first vote ended inconclusively on Tuesday, and the inky black smoke a day later indicated continuing divisions in two subsequent ballots on Wednesday among the cardinals over what kind of pope they want to confront the pressing, sometimes conflicting, demands for change after years of scandal.

“It’s more or less what we expected,” the Rev. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said of the first three ballots. In relatively recent times, he said. only Pope Pius XII, whose papacy spanned World War II and lasted from 1939 to 1958, had been chosen on the third ballot.

Voting is set to continue on Wednesday afternoon and onward — with up to two rounds each morning and afternoon — until the cardinals reach a two-thirds majority of 77 votes.

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VATICAN CITY
Miami Herald

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press

VATICAN CITY — Cardinals remained divided over who should be pope on Wednesday after three rounds of voting, an indication that disagreements remain about the direction of the Catholic church following the upheaval unleashed by Pope Benedict XVI’s surprise resignation.

In the second day of the conclave, thick black smoke billowed from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, prompting sighs of disappointment from the thousands of people gathered in a rain-soaked and chilly St. Peter’s Square.

“I’m not happy to see black smoke. We all want white,” said the Rev. ThankGod Okoroafor, a Nigerian priest studying theology at Holy Cross University in Rome. “But maybe it means that the cardinals need to take time, not to make a mistake in the choice.”

Cardinals voted twice Wednesday morning in the Vatican’s famed frescoed Sistine Chapel following an inaugural vote Tuesday to elect a successor to Benedict XVI, who stunned the Catholic world last month by becoming the first pope in 600 years to resign.

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ROME
National Catholic Reporter

by John L. Allen Jr. | Mar. 13, 2013

Rome —
Yesterday, I said on CNN more than once that the first ballot of a conclave is the New Hampshire primary of the race for the papacy. After endless speculation and taking stock of candidates, it’s the first real test of strength, the first indication of who might actually be in a position to be elected.

If yesterday was New Hampshire, then today is Super Tuesday.

Granted, analogies to secular politics are always inexact when applied to the Catholic church. Yet as Cardinal Velasio De Paolis of Italy said on his way into the Casa Santa Marta yesterday morning, the election of a pope is both “a spiritual and a political act.” Anyway, imagery drawn from political life is sometimes the only tool we have to explain what’s happening to the outside world.

Here’s why Super Tuesday works as a metaphor for where things stand today, even if it is actually Wednesday on the calendar.

Rather than one ballot, today could bring as many as four, depending on whether or not someone gains a two-thirds majority and is elected pope before things go that far.

Those four rounds of voting loom as the make-or-break test for whoever emerged yesterday as the early front-runner or front-runners. If one candidate continues to gain momentum and appears to be headed to 77 votes, it could be the knockout blow Super Tuesday is designed to deliver in American primaries, allowing one candidate to take control of the race and avoiding gridlock down the stretch.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 13 March 2013 (VIS) – What do the voting ballots for electing a Pope look like? How are the votes counted? Can Cardinal electors who are sick still cast a vote? The Apostolic Constitution “Universi Dominici Gregis” (UDG) responds to these and many other questions. It was promulgated by Blessed John Paul II in 1996 to specifically address the norms that would regulate the Sede Vacante (period during which there is no reigning Pope) and the election of the Roman Pontiff. On 22 February of this year, Benedict XVI released the Motu Proprio “Normas Nonnullas”, which made a few modifications to the Apostolic Constitution. Following are sections 64 to 71 of the UDG—incorporating the modifications of the “Normas Nonnullas”—which deal with the specifics of the voting process during the Conclave in the Sistine Chapel.

64. “The voting process is carried out in three phases. The first phase, which can be called the pre-scrutiny, comprises: 1) the preparation and distribution of the ballot papers by the Masters of Ceremonies—they will have been readmitted in the meantime, together with the Secretary of the College of Cardinals and the Master of Papal Liturgical Celebrations—who give at least two or three to each Cardinal elector; 2) the drawing by lot, from among all the Cardinal electors, of three Scrutineers, of three persons charged with collecting the votes of the sick, called for the sake of brevity ‘Infirmarii’, and of three Revisers; this drawing is carried out in public by the junior Cardinal Deacon, who draws out nine names, one after another, of those who shall carry out these tasks; 3) if, in the drawing of lots for the Scrutineers, ‘Infirmarii’, and Revisers, there should come out the names of Cardinal electors who because of infirmity or other reasons are unable to carry out these tasks, the names of others who are not impeded are to be drawn in their place. The first three drawn will act as Scrutineers, the second three as ‘Infirmarii’, and the last three as Revisers.”

65. “For this phase of the voting process the following norms must be observed: 1) the ballot paper must be rectangular in shape and must bear in the upper half, in print if possible, the words ‘Eligo in Summum Pontificem’; on the lower half there must be a space left for writing the name of the person chosen; thus the ballot is made in such a way that it can be folded in two; 2) the completion of the ballot must be done in secret by each Cardinal elector, who will write down legibly, as far as possible in handwriting that cannot be identified as his, the name of the person he chooses, taking care not to write other names as well, since this would make the ballot null; he will then fold the ballot twice; 3) during the voting, the Cardinal electors are to remain alone in the Sistine Chapel; therefore, immediately after the distribution of the ballots and before the electors begin to write, the Secretary of the College of Cardinals, the Master of Papal Liturgical Celebrations and the Masters of Ceremonies must leave the Chapel. After they have left, the junior Cardinal Deacon shall close the door, opening and closing it again each time this is necessary, as for example when the ‘Infirmarii’ go to collect the votes of the sick and when they return to the Chapel.”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 13 March 2013 (VIS) – This morning at 7:45am, the cardinals electing the Pope left the Domus Sanctae Marthae and moved to the Pauline Chapel where they celebrated Mass from 8:15am until 9:15am. At 9:30am they entered the Sistine Chapel and, after praying the Liturgy of the Hours, proceeded with the two morning scrutinies. The “fumata”, again black, issued forth at 11:40 this morning, around 20 minutes earlier then expected.

At 1:00pm in the Media Center assembled at the Nervi Palace of the Vatican, Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., director of the Holy See Press Office, met with representatives from all the media agencies that are in Rome to report the results of the Conclave.

“We are living a particularly beautiful and intense moment,” Fr. Lombardi said. “We have reached the final stage of the period that begin last month with Benedict XVI’s renunciation and that will conclude with the election of his successor. We can feel the excitement growing: we can see it and feel it. Yesterday evening there was already a large number of people awaiting the “fumata”, even more than I was expecting. This is already an indication of the serene and joyful climate that characterizes these days and reminds me of the election, eighth years ago, of Benedict XVI when people gathered as quickly as they could arrive, on foot because the traffic was blocked, filling St. Peter’s Square to welcome their new bishop, the Bishop of Rome and Pastor of the Universal Church. Then and now we feel the affection that the Romans hold for the Pope, always welcoming him warmly wherever he might come from.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
BishopAccountability.org

Fact Sheet by BishopAccountability.org

March 13, 2013

When Cardinal O’Malley is described as papabile, his work on sexual abuse cases as a bishop is often cited. While O’Malley has considerable experience as a “fixer” in the troubled dioceses of Fall River MA, Palm Beach FL, and Boston, his performance in that role raises concerns. A close look at the cardinal reveals a career-long pattern of resisting disclosure of information, reinstating priests of dubious suitability, and negotiating mass settlements that are among the least generous in the history of the crisis.

See also a PDF of this Fact Sheet.

1. Cardinal O’Malley omitted at least 161 names from his published list of accused Boston priests.

As Boston archbishop, Cardinal O’Malley has disclosed minimal information about accused priests. He did not release a list of accused priests until August 2011, years after committing to do so, and then he re-packaged information that was already public: his list did not reveal the name of even one accused priest who was not already known. In fact, he admitted to withholding the names of 91 accused archdiocesan priests – even though the archdiocese had settled with some of their victims and regarded the allegations as ‘compelling and credible.’ [See O’Malley’s August 25, 2011 letter.]

And unlike at least 10 of more than 25 other US bishops who have released lists, O’Malley refused also to name accused religious order clerics. According to a Boston Globe investigation, at least 70 accused order clerics – including some who have gone to prison for child sexual abuse – are missing from the cardinal’s list.

With only 159 names, O’Malley’s long-awaited list was far shorter than expected. In a secret report by the archdiocese’s abuse delegate in 2000 – two years before the crisis broke in Boston – the archdiocese cited a total of 191 accused priests. In his 2003 report, Massachusetts Attorney General Reilly stated that 237 Boston priests had been accused.

See the Annual Delegate’s Report, FY2000, page 2.
See the Reilly Report, PDF page 19.

2. Cardinal O’Malley has “cleared” a high percentage of accused priests – four times the national average.

According to a largely overlooked archdiocesan report released in April 2006, Cardinal O’Malley’s Review Board “cleared” 45% of priests (32 of 71) investigated for child sexual abuse from July 2003 through December 2005. In these 32 cases, the Board “did not find probable cause that sexual abuse of a minor had occurred.” The names of most of these cleared priests still are not known.

See the Children First Final Report, original page 13, PDF page 25.
Cardinal O’Malley’s 45% clearance rate of accused priests is much higher than the national average. Catholic Church officials nationwide in 2005 deemed only 10% of allegations false or unsubstantiated.

See the 2005 Report on the Implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, original page 32, PDF page 31

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

Sparks between Bertone and the Brazilian Braz de Aviz. And the African Onaiyekan: a bank is not a dogma

Andrea Tornielli (Vatican Insider)

A wind of change blows on the Conclave. For the management of the Curia, for Vatican finances and for a new collegiality that can also function as a deterrent from the risk of a “private-sector-like” management of the Church’s assets. The last General Congregation, now on the eve of the conclave, has seen the return of the IOR, the “Vatican Bank”, as a protagonist in an exchange between cardinal Tarcisio Bertone and the Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, the Brazilian Joao Braz de Aviz. Even a long-time curial such as cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who in the Sistine Chapel will perform the functions of Dean, in taking the floor said that the Curia needs to be changed. While the Brazilian papable Scherer spoke in defence of the Curia.

The push for a new evangelisation, a principal point on the agenda for the new Pontiff and a central theme in the current discussions, cannot be separated from a reform of the curial structures, from greater collegiality or from a serious assessment of whether or not to keep an Oltretevere bank alive.

Vatican spokesman father Federico Lombardi said that Bertone “in concise form” spoke of the “nature of the IOR” and of the “procedure for the inclusion in the international Moneyval system” against money laundering. Lombardi also acknowledged the desire of several cardinals to see more clearly in regards to recent events at the “Vatican Bank” that, as of a few days ago, has a new president.

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VATICAN CITY
John Thavis

After two rounds of black smoke, what does it mean?

First, it’s no surprise. After a month of evaluating papal contenders, the common wisdom in Rome was that no one entered the conclave so heavily favored that he would sweep to a two-thirds majority in three ballots.

Second, it sets the stage for the crucial two ballots on Wednesday afternoon. Here is where a leading vote-getter either puts distance between himself and the rest of the pack, or stalls short of the necessary 77 votes.

White smoke this evening would lead many people to expect one of three men to appear at the central loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica: Italian Cardinal Angelo Scola, Brazilian Cardinal Odilo Scherer or Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet.

Another puff of black smoke would not remove these three contenders from papabile lists, but it would appear to indicate some reluctance among the cardinals in forming a consensus around any one of them.

If Thursday does not produce a pope, the chance of a surprise is even greater.

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ITALY
Slate

By Abby Ohlheiser
Posted Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Just before the doors to the conclave closed on Tuesday, a story that might be the papabile equivalent of an “October surprise” popped up on the Guardian: Angelo Scola, rumored to be the leading candidate of the so-called “reformer” cardinals, was (very) tenuously connected to the mafia.

Scola is the Archbishop of Milan, in the region of Lombardy. According to the Guardian, police conducted a series of dawn raids this morning looking for evidence in an investigation of “corruption linked to tenders by, and supplies to, hospitals.” Scola, it turns out, is a childhood friend of the guy in charge of the regional administration running Lombardy’s health care system, Roberto Formigon. Since this is Italy, the connections here are convoluted but important: Formigon is one of the leading members of the Communion and Liberation movement, a conservative lay Catholic group that, among other things, lent substantial support to former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. Until recently, Scola was the Communion and Liberation movement’s biggest advocate among the cardinals.

But that changed to some extent recently. Scola started distancing himself from the movement last year, after one of its leaders complained directly to Pope Benedict XVI about the Archdiocese. That distance was well-timed for the cardinal contender, as the Guardian writes:

The regional administration headed by Formigoni – a member of Silvio Berlusconi’s party – collapsed last October amid a welter of accusations regarding alleged corruption and misconduct. The final blow came when one of his regional ministers was arrested, accused of buying votes from the ‘Ndrangheta, the Calabrian mafia. Formigoni himself is a formal suspect in an investigation into corruption and conspiracy. He denies the accusations.

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ITALY
Huffington Post

HuffPost Live:

Anti-mafia police on Tuesday raided the homes, offices and clinics in the diocese of papal frontrunner Angelo Scola. According to the Guardian, a statement from police said the raids were part of an investigation into “corruption linked to tenders by, and supplies to, hospitals.”

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ITALIA
Globalist

Il Guardian mette il papabile vicino a Cl in correlazione con gli ultimi arresti che ci sono stati a Milano. Un ultimo messaggio per i grandi elettori?

Questa mattina i cardinali sono stati sollecitati a superare le divisioni nella messa pro eligendo Pontefice in San Pietro. In un’omelia davanti a migliaia di pellegrini e le figure più importanti della chiesa, Angelo Sodano, decano del collegio cardinalizio, ha fatto un ultimo tentativo di evitare le lotte intestine, esaltando le virtù di unità nella diversità.

Ma il Guardian ha colto una correlazione tra i blitz dell’antimafia questa mattina in Lombardia a Milano e il favorito di questo Conclave, Angelo Scola, arcivescovo di Milano. Un modo per azzoppare la candidatura di Scola, secondo la visione del quotidiano inglese.

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ITALY
The Guardian (UK)

John Hooper and Lizzy Davies in Vatican City
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 12 March 2013

Roman Catholic cardinals have been urged to overcome divisions at a special mass ahead of the papal conclave, just hours after anti-mafia investigators carried out a string of raids in the diocese of the leading candidate.

In a homily before thousands of pilgrims and the most senior figures in the church, Angelo Sodano, the dean of the college of cardinals, made a last-ditch attempt to banish infighting, as he extolled the virtues of unity amid diversity.

But even as preparations for the mass were being made, Cardinal Angelo Scola, the archbishop of Milan – and reportedly the hot favourite to be the next pope – suffered a blow.

Anti-mafia detectives swooped on homes, offices, clinics and hospitals in Lombardy, the region around Milan, and elsewhere. A statement said the dawn raids were part of an investigation into “corruption linked to tenders by, and supplies to, hospitals”.

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NEW YORK
The Jewish Week

03/13/13

Adam Dickter
Assistant Managing Editor

In the four years since he was easily re-elected to his fourth term, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes has seen his political fortunes, and the landscape around him, dramatically change.

He’s garnered harsh criticism both from inside and outside the Jewish community on a range of issues, including his office’s prosecution of child sexual abuse cases in the fervently Orthodox community. In addition, the case of Jabbar Collins, who was wrongfully convicted of murdering a rabbi and is now seeking $150 million for the 15 years he spent in prison, has dogged Hynes.

And he now faces two well-financed challengers, former Manhattan prosecutor Abe George and former Brooklyn federal prosecutor Kenneth Thompson, seeking to wrest the Democratic nomination (tantamount to victory) from him in September. Together they have raised more than $500,000 in the past six months, far outpacing the incumbent, suggesting that donors see Hynes as vulnerable.

So this race may turn out to be even tougher for Hynes than the 2005 battle in which more than half of primary voters didn’t support him. He won 41 percent of the vote while State Sen. John Sampson won 37 percent; Mark Peters got 15 percent, and Arnold Kriss, a former assistant district attorney in Brooklyn and a former deputy police commissioner, received 7 percent.

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DEUTSCHLAND
kathweb

Deutsche Bischofskonferenz wirft Studienautor Pfeiffer am Dienstag vor, den gerichtlichen Vergleich fälschlicherweise einseitig als Erfolg darzustellen

12.03.2013

Bonn, 12.03.2013 (KAP) Im Streit um die kirchliche Missbrauchsstudie haben der Kriminologe Christian Pfeiffer und die Deutsche Bischofskonferenz (DBK) einen Vergleichsvorschlag des Landgerichts Hannover akzeptiert. Danach muss die Bischofskonferenz auf ihrer Themenseite zum Thema Missbrauch (www.dbk.de/themen/thema-sexueller-missbrauch) die Darstellung des Konflikts an zwei Stellen ändern, wie beide Seiten am Dienstag in Hannover und Bonn mitteilten. Das berichtet die deutsche katholische Nachrichtenagentur KNA.

Zuvor hatte Pfeiffer eine einstweilige Verfügung beantragt, dass die Bischofskonferenz bestimmte Behauptungen unterlässt. Gegenstand des Streits ist unter anderem die Behauptung Pfeiffers, die Bischöfe hätten die Erstveröffentlichung von Forschungsergebnissen verhindern oder zensieren wollen.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Spiegel

Kardinal Mahony sitzt im Konklave in Rom, doch die Vergangenheit holt ihn ein: Er selbst, die Erzdiözese von Los Angeles und ein früherer Priester zahlen insgesamt zehn Millionen Dollar – im Gegenzug werden Vorwürfe in einer Missbrauchsaffäre nicht weiter verfolgt.

Los Angeles/Rom – In einem spektakulären Missbrauchsfall haben sich die Opferfamilien und die katholische Kirche geeinigt. Die Erzdiözese von Los Angeles, Kardinal Roger Mahony und ein ehemaliger Priester zahlen insgesamt zehn Millionen Dollar – im Gegenzug werden die Vorwürfe in der Affäre nicht weiter verfolgt. Dies teilten die Anwälte der Opfer am Dienstagabend mit. In dem Fall ging es um Missbrauch an vier Kindern.

Der Vereinbarung zufolge soll die Zahlung der zehn Millionen Dollar nicht als ein Schuldeingeständnis gewertet werden. Ein Anwalt der Opferfamilien betonte hingegen, die Zahlung komme sehr wohl einem Schuldeingeständnis “sehr nahe”.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Frankfurter Rundschau

Die Erzdiözese Los Angeles zahlt Opfern sexuellen Missbrauchs knapp zehn Millionen Dollar Entschädigung. Der Fall wirft seine Schatten bis nach Rom. Denn der frühere Erzbischof von L.A., der den Skandal jahrelang vertuscht haben soll, gehört dem Konklave an.

Vier Männer hatten den früheren Priester Michael B. beschuldigt, sie sexuell missbraucht zu haben. Nun hat die Erzdiözese offenbar einem Vergleich zugestimmt, um weitere Ermittlungen gegen B. abzuwenden. Sie zahle 9,9 Millionen Dollar (7,7 Millionen Euro) Entschädigung an die Männer, damit diese ihre Klage zurückzögen, berichtet die L.A. Times unter Berufung auf Anwälte der Kläger.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Die Welt

Los Angeles – Das Erzbistum Los Angeles wird Opfern sexuellen Missbrauchs durch einen pädophilen Priester 9,9 Millionen Dollar (rund 7,6 Millionen Euro) Entschädigung zahlen. Dies berichtete die «Los Angeles Times» unter Berufung auf einen Anwalt der Opfer.

Der Priester soll schon 1986 dem inzwischen emeritierten Erzbischof von Los Angeles, Roger Mahony, Missbrauch an Jungen gestanden haben. Kardinal Mahony, der wiederholt eigene Fehler bei der Verfolgung von Missbrauchsdelikten eingeräumt hatte, hält sich derzeit als Teilnehmer des Konklaves zur Papstwahl in Rom auf.

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VATICAN CITY
Washington Post

By Jason Horowitz and Anthony Faiola,
Updated: Wednesday, March 13, 7:32 AM

VATICAN CITY — The men who will elect the next leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics did not come to agreement during two rounds of balloting on a rainy Wednesday morning, but will return to the Sistine Chapel after a lunch break to try again.

Unlike the first vote on Tuesday evening, which is traditionally a sort of test case to measure support and float favorite candidates, Wednesday’s balloting was expected to provide an opportunity for alliances to begin to take shape.

Black smoke poured from the Vatican chimney at 11:40 a.m. local time (6:40 a.m. Eastern) signaling that neither of the two morning votes had produced a winner.

No one bloc of cardinals, either organized around passport or priorities, has enough votes to push a candidate through. To win, one of the candidates (reported front-runners have included Cardinals Angelo Scola of Italy, Marc Ouellet of Canada, and Odilo Pedro Scherer of Brazil) will need to consolidate support from a diverse cross-section of the 115 voting cardinals.

And if consensus remains elusive, the cardinals could look to the less familiar names in their college, which is what happened when John Paul II was chosen in 1978.

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VATICAN CITY
CNN

[with video]

Will the Roman Catholic Church’s cardinals elect a pope today, the first full day of their conclave? If so, they’ll have to make it happen in their afternoon session.

Black smoke rose from the chimney fixed to the roof of the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday morning, indicating that the cardinals’ first two votes of the day were inconclusive. The cardinals also didn’t come to a conclusion on Tuesday evening, which was their first vote.

They will have two more opportunities to vote on Wednesday afternoon, after they have lunch.

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VATICAN CITY
The Lowell Sun

Updated: 03/13/2013 07:21:

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Black smoke again billowed from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday, meaning that Catholic cardinals hadn’t elected a pope on their second or third rounds of balloting.

Cardinals voted twice Wednesday morning in the Vatican’s famed frescoed chapel following their inaugural vote Tuesday to elect a successor to Benedict XVI, who stunned the Catholic world last month by becoming the first pope in 600 years to resign.

The cardinals break for lunch at the Vatican hotel and return for another two rounds of voting Wednesday afternoon.

The drama — with stage sets by Michelangelo and an outcome that is anyone’s guess — is playing out against the backdrop of the turmoil unleashed by Benedict’s surprise retirement and the exposure of deep divisions among cardinals that ensued. They must find a pope who can both clean up a corrupt Vatican bureaucracy as well as a pastor who can revive Catholicism in a time of growing secularism.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

More alleged victims have come forward in the case of a retired Hunter Valley Catholic priest facing indecent assault charges.

82-year-old Francis William Cable was not present in Newcastle Local Court today, when prosecutors asked for the case to be adjourned for six weeks to compile evidence, saying more victims have recently come forward.

Cable is facing more than 20 charges relating to alleged incidents in the 1960s and 1970s.

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CALIFORNIA
The Record

By Keith Reid
Record Staff Writer

March 13, 2013

LODI – A visiting priest at St. Anne’s Parish in Lodi has been arrested in connection with a Yuba City child molestation case, authorities said.

Julio Guarin-Sosa, 43, who is visiting the United States from Colombia, was arrested at St. Anne’s in Lodi by Yuba City police Sunday. He was transported to Sutter County Jail, where he is being held on $250,000 bail, according to the Sutter County Sheriff’s Department website.

The Diocese of Stockton required a letter of good standing for Guardin-Sosa before he was allowed to work in Lodi, according to a written statement from Bishop Stephen Blaire. Upon his arrest, his permission to work in the Diocese of Stockton was revoked.

Yuba City police Operations Manager Shawna Pavey said Gaurin-Sosa was in Yuba City on Friday for a private Mass inside a residence. He allegedly had sexual contact with a 16-year-old girl inside the home, Pavey said.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph & Argus

By Claire Armstrong, T&A Reporter.

A teenage girl has denied “coming on to” a Roman Catholic priest who is accused of sexually assaulting her. William Finnegan, 59, is standing trial at Bradford Crown Court accused of taking hold of the girl and forcefully kissing her when she was 17.

Finnegan, now of Acacia Close, Castleford, denies the charge.

The alleged assault happened on Easter Sunday last year, while Finnegan was parish priest at St Clare’s RC Church in Fagley, Bradford.

The teenager, now 18 and who cannot be identified, appeared in the witness box yesterday. Her evidence was given through a video interview with police, and she was then asked further questions by barristers in court.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
The Times (UK)

Jenny Booth

Lawyers for one of the cardinals involved in electing the next Pope have agreed to pay out to settle four child sex abuse claims.

Cardinal Roger Mahony was sued along with Michael Baker, a paedophile ex-priest whom he is accused of shielding, and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, which Cardinal Mahony then led.

The total value of the settlement is $10 million. Part of the deal is that none of the three defendants admits wrongdoing.

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CALIFORNIA
The Reporter

By Ryan Chalk/ RChalk@TheReporter.comthereporter.com
Posted: 03/12/2013

Clutching a handwritten apology, a former Fairfield pastor asked for forgiveness in front of a packed courtroom just before being sentenced to 18 years in state prison for the molestation of children at his parish.

Robert E. Ruark, 65, of Suisun City, a former reverend at St. Timothy Orthodox Church, received the sentence in Solano County Superior Court after pleading guilty in January to 19 felony counts related to committing lewd acts on children. The molestation allegations spanned as far back as 1994.

Known by parishioners as “Father Silas,” Ruark was arrested in June by Fairfield police and charged by Solano County prosecutors with more than 30 counts of committing lewd acts on children as young as 13 and, in some instances, photographing them while naked, according to police. The victims told detectives the majority of the molestations took place both at the church on Central Way in Cordelia when they were left alone with Ruark and at his home, according to Fairfield Lt. Greg Hurlbut.

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JOLIET (IL)
Chicago Tribune

By Clifford Ward, Special to the Tribune
8:53 p.m. CDT, March 12, 2013

A settlement reached between the Joliet Diocese and a man who accused one of its priests of molesting him as a boy will result in the release of personnel files and documents related to 15 priests considered sex offenders, it was announced Tuesday.

In announcing the settlement, Bishop R. Daniel Conlon said the diocese would comply with a Will County judge’s ruling that lifts a protective order of specific files and documents of the “priest-offenders.”

Attorneys for plaintiff David Rudofski said there are 7,000 pages of internal diocesan documents dating back decades that detailed abuse allegedly committed by priests. The settlement allows the documents to be released voluntarily by the plaintiff. Three pages were released Tuesday.

Rudofski filed suit in 2007 alleging he was abused as an 8-year-old by the Rev. James Burnett while making his first confession in the early 1980s at St. Mary Catholic Church in Mokena, according to Rudofski’s attorney, Terry Johnson.

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IOWA
KWWL

Written by Becca Habegger, Multimedia Journalist
Updated by Ron Steele, Anchor

DUBUQUE (KWWL) –
A Dubuque man is accused of inappropriate behavior with a minor he met doing mission work for a Dubuque Catholic church.

49-year-old Robert Buss appeared in court Tuesday morning on a charge of Dissemination of Obscene Material to a Minor.

Buss allegedly sent nude photos of himself to a young Haitian man and may have engaged in sex acts with him while on a mission trip to Haiti.

Buss led several mission trips there through St. Anthony Catholic Church in Dubuque.

The Dubuque Archdiocese released a statement Tuesday in response to the morning’s proceedings, saying it has no reason to believe Buss was inappropriately involved with any of St. Anthony’s students. Anybody with information contrary to that belief is urged to contact Dubuque law enforcement officials.

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VATICAN CITY
CTV (Canada)

The second round of voting at the Sistine Chapel Wednesday is now complete, the black smoke seen billowing from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, an indication cardinals have yet to choose a new pope.

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IRELAND
Galway Independent

Posted on 13/03/2013

by Conor Harrington
@galwayindo

The Vatican Conclave is a “crazy” way of selecting the new Pope, according to outspoken Esker Redemptorist priest, Fr Tony Flannery.

The renegade priest, who famously clashed with the Vatican hierarchy last year over his views on women priests, said it was “a total anomaly” that no women were involved in the election of the next Pope and described the Conclave as “a crazy way of doing things”.

“Really what we’re dealing with here is a relic of the middle ages, in fact a relic of even earlier than that, a relic of the old Roman Empire,” he said.

Fr Flannery said reform of the Vatican Curia, the central government of the Catholic Church, is the big challenge facing the next Pontiff, and will also define his own future within the Church.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

By Harriet Ryan and Victoria Kim, Los Angeles Times
March 12, 2013

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to pay nearly $10 million to four men who say they were molested by one of the region’s most notorious pedophile priests.

The agreement brings to an end four lawsuits against the archdiocese involving Michael Baker, a charismatic parish priest accused of molesting at least 23 boys over three decades.

The church has settled numerous cases brought by Baker’s alleged victims in the past, but the $9.9-million settlement announced Tuesday is the first settlement since the January release of 12,000 pages of internal archdiocese records about abuse. Many of those documents detailed Cardinal Roger Mahony’s dealings with Baker.

The priest admitted his abuse of two boys to the then-archbishop during a 1986 retreat. Mahony sent Baker to a New Mexico treatment center but later returned him to the ministry, and Baker molested again. In 2007, he was convicted of abusing two boys and sent to prison.

Two of the civil cases settled were set for trial next month. Vince Finaldi, a lawyer for the alleged victims, said he believed the file release “played heavily” into the archdiocese’s decision to settle the cases.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
euronews

Top US Catholic Cardinal Roger Mahony, who is currently in the Sistine Chapel voting for the next Pope, has agreed to pay a total of nearly $10 million (7.7 million euros) to settle four child sex abuse cases brought against his former archdiocese in Los Angeles, lawyers for the victims said on Tuesday.

Mahony, who retired in 2011 as head of the largest US archdiocese and is now part of the Papal conclave, was accused of helping a confessed paedophile priest evade law enforcement by sending him to an out-of-state Church-run treatment centre, before placing the priest back in the Los Angeles ministry.

The former priest named in all four cases is Michael Baker, imprisoned in 2007 on 12 criminal counts of oral copulation with a minor involving two boys, who had both reached a previous settlement with the Church. The latest agreement comes four weeks before the start of civil suits brought by two men, now in their 20s, who claimed they were molested as 12-year-olds in the late 1990s.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
The Guardian (UK)

Staff and agencies
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 13 March 2013

Two child abuse cases involving a cover-up by one of the cardinals electing the next pope have been settled as part of a $10m (£6.6m) out-of-court deal in Los Angeles.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles will make the payouts to victims of a now-defrocked priest who told Cardinal Roger Mahony nearly 30 years ago that he had molested children.

The cases involving ex-priest Michael Baker span 26 years, from 1974 to 2000. Two were set for trial next month. The cases were settled this week.

Two of the claims alleged Mahony didn’t do enough to stop Baker from abusing children, said the plaintiffs’ attorney John Manly.

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UNITED STATES
Fog City Journal

By Ralph E. Stone

March 12, 2013

With the surprise announcement of Pope Benedict’s resignation and the present selection of a new pope, it is equally surprising that the mainstream media has not included a discussion of the widespread allegations of sexual child abuse by Catholic clergy or the coverup by church officials.

A study conducted by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice found that 10,669 allegations of child sexual abuse were reported to church officials in the U.S. alone between 1950 and 2002.

Similar crimes have occurred in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Italy, and elsewhere. And according to a complaint filed by The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) on behalf of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) before the International Criminal Court, between 1981 and 2005, there are more than 100,000 sexual abuse victims.

The CCR complaint alleges that Vatican officials, including then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, ignored information that subordinates were committing these crimes and engaged in a widespread coverup of such abuse. The complaint alleges that since 1981, when then Cardinal Ratzinger headed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he had primary responsibility for dealing with the clergy sex crimes. His refusal to decisively address the epidemic – and discipline Church officials who protected predator priests – was exacerbated when he became Pope.

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CANADA
Toronto Star

By:Jesse McLean Investigative News reporter, Published on Tue Mar 12 2013

LA MOTTE, QUE.—Inside Épicerie Chez Flo, the convenience store in the heart of this village of 440 people, the topic of conversation has been steady for weeks.

“The pope. The pope. Then the temperature, maybe. Then the pope,” one of the store’s owners, Lise Breault, said.

But as residents proudly talk of their native son, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, few mention his younger brother Paul.

“I don’t think the family will want to discuss that,” Lise’s husband, Florian, warned a journalist.

In 2009, Paul Ouellet was convicted of sexual abuse of two underage girls during the 1980s. He pleaded guilty to having improper sexual relationships with the girls when they were reportedly as young as 13 and 14. He was in his late 30s and early 40s. He was sentenced to 15 months of community detention.

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