March 07, 2006

Church memos detail reports of nuns' abuse

UNITED STATES
The Dallas Morning News

10:30 PM CST on Monday, March 6, 2006

Vatican officials were advised repeatedly in the 1990s that priests and bishops were sexually abusing nuns, according to a 2001Abuse Tracker story.

The Vatican responded by acknowledging publicly that "the problem is known and is restricted to a geographically limited area," which it did not identify. The Vatican said it was "dealing with the question" and urged people not to forget "the frequently heroic fidelity of the great majority" of priests and nuns.

Below are excerpts from two of the leaked church memos that formed the basis of the Reporter's story. (See www.natcath.com/NCR_Online/documents/africadocuments.htm for more details.)

Also Online

Asylum case puts spotlight on nuns' allegations of sex abuse
The nuns who wrote the memos consider them confidential and declined to talk to The Dallas Morning News, spokeswomen for their religious orders said.

Posted by kshaw at March 7, 2006 11:09 AM