ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Shannon Deery, Herald Sun

POPE Francis has confirmed he will take no action against Cardinal George Pell while an ongoing police investigation into alleged child sex offences continues.

Breaking his silence on explosive allegations levelled at the Cardinal last week, Pope Francis said he would only act at the conclusion of the criminal investigation.

“One must not judge before the justice system judges,” the pope said.

“If I were to make a judgment in favour or against Cardinal Pell that would not be good because I would be making a judgment first.

“There is doubt and there is that clear principle of law: in doubt, pro reo,” he said, a Latin term meaning a defendant cannot be convicted if there are doubts about their guilt.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Pope Francis says he won’t address child molestation allegations against Cardinal George Pell until a police investigation has concluded.

The pope told reporters on a plane returning from World Youth Day in Krakow that the accusations against Cardinal Pell, Francis’ top financial adviser, ‘‘are in the hands of justice.”

He said that the Cardinal deserved the benefit of the doubt, adding that ‘‘once justice has its say, I will speak. “

Cardinal Pell last week urged a criminal investigation into the ABC and rogue Victorian police whom he alleges may be involved in a “conspiracy to pervert the course of justice”, amid new claims the Cardinal molested two boys as a priest in the late 1970s.

The ABC’s 7.30 had reported the claims that Victorian police were investigating multiple allegations of child sex abuse by the cardinal dating back to the 1970s. Two former St Alipius students, Lyndon Monument and Damian Dignan, told the program that Cardinal Pell would abuse boys at the Eureka swimming pool in Ballarat.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News (Australia)

Pope Francis says there are “doubts” over the case being made against Vatican finance chief George Pell, Australia’s most senior Roman Catholic, for alleged child abuse.

“There are doubts. ‘In dubio pro reo’,” he said, using a Latin expression meaning that a defendant may not be convicted by the court when doubts about his or her guilt remain.

“We must avoid a media verdict, a verdict based on gossip,” he told journalists aboard the papal plane during the return trip from Poland, where he had headlined a Catholic youth festival.

The ABC’s 7.30 program aired the details of the sexual abuse allegations against Cardinal Pell last week.

Victoria Police has confirmed it has been investigating a number of complaints for more than a year, but has not sought to interview the Cardinal, who currently serves as the Vatican’s treasurer, reporting directly to the Pope.

Cardinal Pell has vehemently denied the allegations, accusing the ABC of mounting a smear campaign against him and saying the broadcaster had “no licence to destroy the reputation of innocent people”.

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7 News

Pope Francis says he will wait until Australian justice takes its course before taking a position on Cardinal George Pell, who is under investigation in his homeland over sexual abuse allegations.

But the pope, speaking to reporters aboard the plane returning to Rome form Poland on Sunday, said Pell, now the Vatican’s powerful economy minister, should not undergo a trial by the media or by rumour.

Victoria state Police Commissioner Graham Ashton said on a Melbourne radio station program on Thursday that Victoria police had been investigating allegations against Pell for more than a year.

“It’s in the hands of the justice system and one cannot judge before the justice system,” the pope said in answer to a question.

“Justice has to take its course …and justice by the media or justice by rumour does not help. After the justice system speaks, I will speak,” he said.

He said Pell had a right to the benefit of the doubt like all those accused.

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Catholic News Agency

Aboard the papal plane, Jul 31, 2016 / 03:30 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In response to news that Australian authorities are investigating multiple allegations of child abuse leveled against Cardinal George Pell, Pope Francis cautioned against gossip and making judgements before all the facts are known.

“We must wait for justice and not make a first judgement ourselves, a media trial … because this doesn’t help,” Pope Francis said July 31 during his in-flight press conference from Krakow to Rome. “The judgement of gossip and then, one can… We don’t know what the result will be; but be attentive to what justice decides. Once justice speaks, I will speak.”

The Pope was asked about Cardinal Pell, whom he appointed prefect of the Vatican’s Secretariat for the Economy in 2014, by the AP’s Frances D’Emilio. He began his response by noting that “the first information that arrived was confusing. It was news from 40 years back that not even the police made a case about at first. It was a confusing thing.”

Pope Francis then said that the accusation have been “sent to justice” and are now in the hands of justice. “And one mustn’t judge before justice judges, eh?”

“If I were to say a judgement in favor of or against Cardinal Pell, it wouldn’t be good because I (would) judge before. It’s true that there there is doubt, and there’s that clear principal of the law: in dubio pro reo.”

The Pope referred to the legal principle that a party who is accused of a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty, which has been a foundation of law since at least the first Christian millenium.

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National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Jul. 31, 2016

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE TO ROME
Pope Francis has asked the press to withhold judgment on reports that senior Vatican official Cardinal George Pell had inappropriate sexual contact with minors in the past, saying allegations against the prelate are still being investigated by Australian authorities.

In a short press conference aboard the papal flight back from Poland Sunday, the pontiff said the allegations against Pell “are in the hands of the justice system and one must not judge before the justice system judges.”

“If I were to make a judgment in favor or against Cardinal Pell that would not be good because I would be making a judgment first,” said the pope, responding to a question about what actions he may consider taking against the church official.

“There is doubt and there is that clear principle of law: in doubt, pro reo,” said Francis, referring to the Latin term for the concept that a defendant cannot be convicted if doubts about his guilt remain.

“We must wait for the justice system and not make a premature judgment, [or] a judgment in the media, because this does not help,” said the pope.

“Stay attentive to what the justice system decides,” he continued. “Once the justice system speaks, I will speak.”

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Channel News Asia

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE: Pope Francis said on Sunday that he will wait until Australian justice takes its course before taking a position on Cardinal George Pell, who is under investigation in his homeland over sexual abuse allegations.

But the pope, speaking to reporters aboard the plane returning to Rome form Poland, said Pell, now the Vatican’s powerful economy minister, should not undergo a trial by the media or by rumour.

Victoria state Police Commissioner Graham Ashton said on a Melbourne radio station programme on Thursday that Victoria police had been investigating allegations against Pell for more than a year.

“It’s in the hands of the justice system and one cannot judge before the justice system,” the pope said in answer to a question.

“Justice has to take its course …and justice by the media or justice by rumour does not help. After the justice system speaks, I will speak,” he said.

He said Pell had a right to the benefit of the doubt like all those accused.

Victims groups have called on the pope to sack Pell, the highest-ranking Vatican official to be accused of sexual abuse, or for him to resign.

Pell is seen as a test case for the pope because he has vowed zero tolerance for sexual abuse in the Church has said he would sack bishops found guilty of committing abuse or covering it up.

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New York Times

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JULY 31, 2016

KRAKOW, Poland — The Latest on the pope’s visit to Poland (all times local):

11:30 p.m.

Pope Francis says he won’t address child molestation allegations against a top Vatican Cardinal who is one of his most-trusted aides until justice officials in Australia have made a determination.

The pope told reporters on the plane Sunday returning from World Youth Day in Krakow that the accusations against Cardinal George Pell, Francis’ top financial adviser, “are in the hands of justice.”

He said that the accused deserved the benefit of the doubt, adding that “once justice has its say, I will speak. ”

Pell, who has long been dogged by allegations of mishandling cases of abusive clergy when he was archbishop of Melbourne and later Sydney, more recently has been accused of child abuse himself when he was a young priest. Two men, now in their 40s, said he touched them inappropriately under the guise of play at a swimming pool during the late 1970s, according to Australian media who reported the men have given statements to Victoria police.

Pell, 74, has denied any inappropriate behavior.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

Neil Pang | Post News Staff

Despite the press conference held by Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai, apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Agana, on Wednesday, July 27, protests have continued outside the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica.

Yesterday, July 31, a group of about 75 people continued their protest against the Catholic Church calling for, among other things, the defrocking of Archbishop Anthony Apuron.

Members of the protests belonged to the Concerned Catholics of Guam (CCOG), the Laity Forward Movement (LFM) and Silent no More – the three major organizations that have been calling on church officials to act on their concerns.

‘Rather disingenuous’

Vanjie Lujan, secretary of CCOG, stated that in his address, Hon failed to address their concerns in a “real material way” and said that while she appreciates Hon’s retraction of comments made by Apuron and the archdiocese, he failed to mention the Redemptoris Mater Seminary (RMS). Further, Vanjie said she and others want the church to be more transparent with the use of funds raised through the Archdiocese Annual Appeal.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

Robert Q. Tupaz | Post News Staff

This morning the committee on public safety and the judiciary is to resume a public hearing on Bill 326-33 which seeks to eliminate the statute of limitations for civil claims involving sexually abused children. Tomorrow, the committee will hear the nomination of a magistrate hoped to help with the caseload at the Superior Court of Guam.

Before the nomination hearing of Benjamin Sison to the post of magistrate on Tuesday, the committee will continue its hearing from last Thursday during which 13 people provided testimony in support of Bill 326. In testimony provided, each speaker asked lawmakers to pass the bill and to pass it quickly so that victims can bring their abusers to justice and to prevent abusers from hiding behind institutions that may protect them.

Included among those who testified in support of Bill 326 were Walter Denton, Roy Quintanilla and Roland Sondia, who were joined by John “Champ” Quinata, the brother of the late Joseph “Sonny” Quinata. Denton, Quintanilla, Sondia and Sonny Quinata are all alleged child sex abuse victims of Archbishop Anthony Apuron, when they were altar servers at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church in Agat in the 1970s.

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier

Olivia Shying
@oliviashying

31 Jul 2016

THE first Vatican representative to meet with clergy abuse survivors on Ballarat soil has vowed to do all humanly possible to help move the city forward from its “evil” past.

President of the commission for child protection of the Gregorian University Father Hans Zollner vowed to continue to work with survivors deeply affected by the scourge of abuses.

His words comes days after alleged victims of Cardinal George Pell claimed he groped their genitals in the 1970s.

Father Zollner personally backed Cardinal Pell’s March vow to work publicly to assist survivors to make the city a leading healing centre for victims impacted by the Catholic Church’s scourge of sexual abuse at the hands of clergy.

Father Zollner said Cardinal Pell’s pledge had been personal – not one officially backed by the Vatican, making it unclear if this vow would go ahead without the Cardinal.

He said research into the links between abuse, suicide and poor mental health must be done to help heal this community’s deep wounds.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Telegraph

Miranda Devine

Just when you think the demonisation of Cardinal George Pell can’t get any worse, it does. And with every allegation, as flimsy and contagious as they are, comes the damaging insinuation that where there’s smoke there’s fire.

The fanfare around ABC’s 7.30 program last week would make you think Pell has been accused of the most heinous crimes, that he is the master paedophile sitting atop the global paedophile ring that is the Catholic Church.

Some people believe this sick fantasy, or have convinced themselves it is vaguely plausible. Others don’t care about the injustice because they hate Pell, who is that most unloved creature of our times, a conservative Catholic, implacably wedded to Church teachings and unwilling, like his more fashionable brother priests, to accommodate the great causes du jour, same sex marriage, abortion and euthanasia.

Victoria Police has been examining the three-decade old allegations for at least 18 months, without attempting to interview Pell, who offered to be interviewed after allegations leaked in February, on the eve of Pell’s testimony to the child abuse royal commission.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

JOANNE MCCARTHY
31 Jul 2016

FOUR years ago the suicide of Belmont North child sexual abuse victim John Pirona was the catalyst for a royal commission.

On Tuesday the first of back-to-back Hunter public hearings into the Anglican and Catholic churches starts – the 42nd and 43rd hearings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

It has held more than 5500 private sessions with survivors, taken more than 31,000 calls and received more than 18,000 letters and emails. It has referred more than 1600 matters to authorities including the police, leading to prosecutions and investigations across Australia.

The royal commission has funded 24 research projects relating to institutional child sexual abuse in Australia, including how juries assess information during trials, the response of specialist police investigation units to child sexual abuse, the use of evidence during child sex trials, sentencing issues, mandatory reporting laws and specialist prosecution units and courts.

The royal commission has recommended a national redress scheme for abuse survivors that is estimated to cost more than $4 billion, with institutions contributing the bulk of the money.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

JOANNE MCCARTHY
31 Jul 2016

MEN and women involved with Newcastle Anglican diocese’s St Alban’s Children’s Home knew children were being sexually abused, the royal commission will hear.

A public hearing starting on Tuesday is expected to hear evidence that a woman walked into a room more than once where a child was being sexually abused by men, but turned and left the room.

The extent of sexual abuse of children by two men – priest Peter Rushton and youth worker James Brown – is expected to be revealed, along with knowledge within the diocese of that offending.

Former Church of England Boys Brigade members have made statements to police about sexual abuse while on camps. One former member told police about a “f…ing room” at the boys home where Rushton took him and molested him.

The public hearing will be told of child sex allegations about Rushton and others made directly to bishops and senior clergy, but not acted on.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Andrew Bolt, Herald Sun
July 31, 2016

TWO explosive ABC reports last week proved this biased state broadcaster is now a public menace.

First, the ABC falsely presented the restraint by detention staff of a violent youth as the torture of a near-innocent boy.

Next, it presented Australia’s top Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, as a sexual predator of children, based on the highly unreliable memories of people recalling ambiguous events more than 30 years old.

The consequences have been devastating.

In a knee-jerk response to the first report, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called a royal commission into the Northern Territory’s juvenile justice system.

Activists are already exploiting this to turn attention from the deadly dysfunction of Aboriginal society — the most urgent problem — to the inflammatory excuse of white cruelty to black children.

In response to the second report, Pell’s church is being vilified just as it prepares to speak against the planned vote on same-sex marriage — the ABC’s great crusade.

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LOUISIANA
The Advertiser

Ken Stickney, kstickney@theadvertiser.com July 30, 2016

BREAUX BRIDGE — A local Catholic priest, charged with 500 counts of possession of child pornography this week, sent word to his parish that he is sorry for his actions and for the pain and embarrassment he caused his church and diocese.

The Most Rev. J. Douglas Deshotel, bishop of Lafayette, passed along those regrets from the Rev. F. David Broussard, placed on leave at St. Bernard Roman Catholic Church, during Dehotel’s brief homily at the 4 p.m. Saturday Mass at that downtown church. About 300 parishioners, virtually a full house, pressed into the parish hall where Mass was offered. The church building itself is closed for remodeling.

Deshotel, named Lafayette’s bishop in February, will preside over all St. Bernard’s Masses this weekend.

The bishop told parishioners he “had a visit” with Broussard this week — the priest was charged with having pornographic images of children on his personal computer and booked at St. Martin Parish Jail on Tuesday — and asked if Broussard wanted to tell his parishioners anything. That, Deshotel said, was when Broussard expressed his sorrow and offered his apology.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

Robert Mendick, chief reporter Ebba Brunnstrom
30 JULY 2016

A disgraced bishop jailed for a string of sex offences has been given public funding for a legal team at the Government’s child sex abuse inquiry, The Telegraph can disclose.

The decision to pay for lawyers, costing taxpayers up to £200 an hour, to defend the reputation of Peter Ball, the former Bishop of Gloucester and of Lewes, has outraged his victims.

Ball is the first convicted sex offender to be granted taxpayer funds, setting a precedent that could pave the way for dozens of paedophiles to get the same deal.

He received the legal funding because he “may be subject to explicit criticism by the inquiry”.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse, the largest in British legal history, will run into the next decade at a potential cost of hundreds of millions of pounds.

Ball, 84, was sentenced last October to 32 months in jail after pleading guilty to indecent assault and misconduct in a public office over the grooming of young men for sex. He has been called a “sadistic sexual predator”. One of his victims later committed suicide.

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KANSAS
The Freethinker

A court heard this week that Odalis Sharp, above – a mother of ten from Topeka, Kansas – severely abused her children by beating them, screaming at them and calling them names.

According to this report, the court ruled this week that a number of her children should remain in the custody of the Kansas Department for Children and Families after three of them described the abuse they had suffered at the hands of Sharp.

The deranged woman first came to media attention when she and her family sang for a bunch of armed nuts who occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon earlier this year.

The children told the Shawnee County District Court judge how their their siblings would scream in the pain when their mother tried “beat the fire” out of them and fill their mouths with liquid soap.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio, Pacific Daily News July 30, 2016

Guam is on its way to becoming the first U.S. territory to allow victims of child sex abuse to sue their perpetrator at any time, without restriction, on retroactive cases.

As of Friday, there was no opposition to a bill that would remove time restrictions for suing child sex abusers. A public hearing on the bill is scheduled to resume Monday.

“We cannot continue to expect the church to fix itself in this regard,” Chalan Pago resident Gerard Taitano told senators on Thursday. “We must hold child sex abusers and their enablers accountable for their actions. Serious moral, legal and ethical questions arise whenever a prosecutor cannot adequately indict child sex predators or their enablers.”

Other U.S. jurisdictions are considering expanding or eliminating statutes of limitations on rape and child sex abuse, because of high-profile sex abuse allegations, including those involving members of the Catholic church.

In Guam’s case, the recent allegations involve the archbishop, the highest leader of the local Catholic church. The alleged sex abuses, according to his accusers, happened when Apuron was still parish priest at the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church in Agat during the 1970s.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Guardian

Despite public inquiries over the last two decades, such as the Waterhouse inquiry and the Utting report into child abuse in care homes, the institutions of government have failed to deliver justice for survivors or tackle child abuse. And official inquiries have repeatedly absolved central government and the establishment from guilt. Yet there is still no indication of when the £18m Goddard child abuse inquiry will hear evidence regarding high-level abuse and coverups at Westminster.

The inquiry’s truth project began this week but, sadly, the testimonies given to it by survivors will have no direct legal consequences and will only be used as ballast to the final inquiry report; a form of window dressing that may leave many survivors not only bound to secrecy about their testimony but also deeply distressed.

In announcing the initial inquiry two years ago, the then home secretary, Theresa May, declared its remit was to look into institutional responses to all child sex abuse allegations, whatever the circumstances. With estimates of the number of child abuse survivors stretching into the millions, many thought this was a clear signal the government would try to bury the Westminster scandals by casting the net too wide.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Stuff (New Zealand)

KATIE KENNY
July 30 2016

A New Zealand judge is on her way to becoming Britain’s highest paid civil servant according to estimates of her pay and perks.

Dame Lowell Goddard, a former New Zealand High Court judge, is leading the Government’s Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA).

The IICSA was announced in July 2014 by then-British Prime Minister David Cameron. It was set up to address a number of previously covered-up cases of child abuse in hospitals, care homes, churches, and schools.

The Telegraph reported the 67-year-old could receive more than £5 million [NZ$9m] in pay and perks.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

Robert Mendick, chief reporter
29 JULY 2016

Dame Lowell Goddard, the New Zealand judge heading the Government’s child sex abuse inquiry, could receive more than £5 million in pay and perks amid fears hearings will drag on for a decade, The Telegraph can disclose.

Dame Justice Goddard’s remuneration package, which includes numerous free flights home and a £110,000 a year rental allowance, has catapulted her to the top of the public servants’ paylist.

Campaigners described the flight and accommodation allowances as “highly questionable”.

The judge earns a basic salary of £360,000 a year. But that is topped up with the rental allowance, an additional £12,000 a year for utilities bills and a car and driver for official business – all paid for by the Home Office.

The four free return business class flights to New Zealand every year for her and her husband is a further perk reckoned to be worth £40,000 annually. Business class return flights to new Zealand typically cost £5,000.

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ALASKA
KTOO

By Hannah Colton, KDLG
July 27, 2016

The attempted sexual assault case against a Dillingham parish priest has been dismissed by the prosecution.

A grand jury in Anchorage did not return an indictment on the felony charge this week, and the prosecutor dismissed both charges against Father Michael Nicolai.

Nicholai, originally from Kwethluck, has served several years as the priest at the St. Seraphim of Sarov Church in Dillingham, carrying much respect from his parishioners and church leadership.

Dillingham Police were called to the parish home early July 16 with an allegation of domestic violence. Based on an investigation, police charged Nicholai with attempted second-degree sexual assault and fourth-degree assault. Both charges have now been dropped.

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UNITED STATES
The Open Tabernacle: Here Comes Everybody

Posted on July 30, 2016 by Betty Clermont

From the barbarity in Croatia during World War II, there is a direct historical link to the atrocities committed in Argentina’s Dirty War, and certainty of the Catholic Church’s collusion. It’s time for Pope Francis to open his secret archives and make amends.

Jasenovac in Croatia was the third largest World War II concentration camp in Europe by number of victims. It was operated by the Catholic and Nazi-allied Ustasha government. Wartime Croatia has been called “one great slaughterhouse.”

The prisoners – mostly Serbs, Jews and Roma

had their throats cut with specially designed knives, or they were killed with axes, mallets and hammers; they were also shot, or they were hung from trees or light poles. Some were burned alive in hot furnaces, boiled in cauldrons, or drowned in the River Sava.

Here the most varied forms of torture were used. Finger and toe nails were pulled out with metal instruments, eyes were dug out with specially constructed hooks, people were blinded by having needles stuck in their eyes, flesh was cut and then salted. People were also flayed, had their noses, ears and tongues cut off with wire cutters, and had awls stuck in their hearts. Daughters were raped in front of their mothers; sons were tortured in front of their fathers.

Said plainly, in the concentration camps at Jasenovac and Stara Gradiska, the Ustasha surpassed all that even the sickest mind could imagine and do in terms of the brutal way people were murdered. …

More than 74,316 children were killed. During the Second World War, the only place where there were special camps for children was Croatia. …

Estimates of the total numbers of men, women and children killed there range from 300,000 to 700,000.

“700,000 in a total population of a few million, proportionally, would be as if one-third of the US population had been exterminated by a Catholic militia.”

For the Ustasha (Ustase, Ustaša), “relations with the Vatican were as important as relations with Germany because Vatican recognition was the key to widespread Croat support.” (Phayer, The Catholic Church and the Holocaust, 1930–1965 (2000) p. 32)

Ante Pavelic, the “Butcher of the Balkans,” had already been convicted in France for planning the 1934 assassination of King Alexander of Yugoslavia and French Foreign Minister Louis Barthou when he was received in a private audience by Pope Pius XII in May 1941 shortly after becoming dictator of Croatia. “After receiving the papal blessing, Pavelic and his Ustasha lieutenants unleashed an unspeakable genocide in their new country. But Pius XII refused to cut his ties with Catholic Croatia and in 1943 once again imparted the papal blessing on Pavelic, who by that time was a genocidal killer.” (Phayer, Pius XII, The Holocaust, and the Cold War (2008) p. 219)

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WYOMING
K2

By Tom Morton July 29, 2016

The largest church in Casper admits it hired a janitor, knowing he was convicted of third-degree sexual assault, who later assaulted a teenage girl.

But Highland Park Community Church, 5725 Highland Drive, said the court should dismiss the lawsuit filed by a woman who was sexually assaulted by James Jaure at the church four years ago because it “did not breach any duty owed to the Plaintiff” and other reasons, according to its response filed this week by its attorneys Ryan Schwartz and Amy Iberlin of the Casper firm Williams, Porter, Day, & Neville.

The church also asked for a jury trial.

The woman, who was 15 at the time of the assault, has been “irreparably injured and suffered damages” through loss of enjoyment of life, loss of income and earning capacity, emotional and psychological distress, social problems, and medical and counseling expenses, according to her complaint filed June 30 by her attorneys Michael Shickich of Casper and Emily Rankin of the Spence Law Firm in Jackson.

She also seeks punitive damages to deter corporations such as the church from tolerating such behavior in the future.

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LOUISIANA
The Advertiser

Dominick Cross, dcross@theadvertiser.com July 29, 2016

Although Louisiana is one of at least 38 states that does not have a Reporting Child Pornography law on the books, if a computer technician finds child porn while repairing a computer, it is unlawful not to report it to authorities.

So far, Utah, Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and South Dakota do have such a law; Oregon and Florida have taken a look at doing so.

Still, it was a complaint alerting the Louisiana State Police Bureau of Investigations’ Special Victims Unit that a computer under repair allegedly had child porn images on it that led to the arrest Wednesday of the Rev. Felix David Broussard, pastor of St. Bernard Roman Catholic Church in Breaux Bridge.

Following an investigation, Broussard was placed under arrest and booked into the St. Martin Parish jail for violating Louisiana Revised Statute 14:81.1 – Pornography involving juveniles (500 counts).

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LOUISIANA
The Advertiser

In the wake of child pornography charges lodged against a Breaux Bridge parish priest this week, the Diocese of Lafayette has expressed its commitment to transparency in such cases.

Monsignor Curtis Mallet, vicar general, said Bishop J. Douglas Deshotel wants his flock to know he and church leaders take seriously accusations, that parishioners at St. Bernard Catholic Church and the diocese should know their spiritual shepherd is following state law and Pope Francis’ mandates, expressed in June, when it comes to crimes against vulnerable children.

That marks a step forward for this diocese, historically tight-lipped about its priests and credible accusations of sex crimes involving children.

The arrest of the Rev. F. David Broussard, St. Bernard’s pastor, represents an accusation; he has been charged, not convicted and should be considered innocent until proven guilty. Broussard was charged with 500 counts of possession of child pornography after that many images were found on his personal computer.

In a Wednesday news conference — a news conference in itself marked diocesan progress toward openness — Deshotel said the diocese cooperated with state investigators; State Police confirmed Friday that investigation remains “open.” Broussard is on leave.

In the U.S., acknowledgement of both widespread sex abuse and church cover-ups began to rise some three decades ago in Louisiana, including within the Lafayette diocese. Two years ago, court records connected to a Minnesota lawsuit revealed the names of at least 10 local priests credibly accused in child molestation cases.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

[with video]

Neelima Choahan, Timna Jacks

Parents at a Catholic primary school in Mentone are agitating to have a portrait of Cardinal George Pell removed from their school hall after allegations of sexual abuse emerged against the priest recently.

On Wednesday night, ABC’s 7.30 aired detailed allegations made by former students of St Alipius primary school in Ballarat, who alleged Cardinal Pell would play with them in the swimming pool and molest them by touching their genitals under water.

Cardinal Pell has rejected the accusations, which are being investigated by Victoria Police.

Parents at St Patrick’s Parish Primary school say they have been asking for the painting to be taken down for “years”, but the new allegations have brought matters to a head.

All four of Claire Bilos’ children have been at the school in the last 12 years. Her daughter Renee is currently in grade 6, and Ashleigh is in grade 3.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

Debra Killalea
news.com.au
@DebKillalea

WHEN Joan Isaacs told her parish priest she was being sexually abused, he advised the then teenager to “find a man her own age”.

Aged just 15 and full of shame and fear, the young Joan bravely revealed the months of grooming and sexual abuse she experienced at the hands of local priest Francis Edward Derriman.

But despite reporting it, nothing happened, then there was silence — and lots of it.

What began as a fight for justice turned into a 40-year battle for the truth after endless stonewalling from the Catholic Church.

It would take a Royal Commission, years of therapy as well as the love and support from her family before she could even begin to heal.

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AUSTRALIA
Sunday Herald Sun

Miranda Devine, Sunday Herald Sun

JUST when you think the demonisation of Cardinal George Pell can’t get any worse, it does. And with every allegation, as flimsy and contagious as they are, comes the damaging insinuation that where there’s smoke there’s fire.

The fanfare around ABC’s 7.30 program last week would make you think Pell has been accused of the most heinous crimes, that he is the master paedophile sitting atop the global paedophile ring that is the Catholic Church.

Some people believe this sick fantasy, or have convinced themselves it is vaguely plausible.

Others don’t care about the injustice because they hate Pell, who is that most unloved creature of our times, a conservative Catholic, implacably wedded to Church teachings and unwilling, like his more fashionable brother priests, to accommodate the great causes du jour: same-sex marriage, abortion and euthanasia.

Victoria Police has been examining the three-decade-old allegations for at least 18 months, without attempting to interview Pell, who offered to be interviewed after allegations leaked in February, on the eve of Pell’s testimony to the child abuse royal commission.

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ALASKA
Bristol Bay Times

July 29th Dave Bendinger, KDLG

A Russian Orthodox priest has been suspended from his duties after allegations of domestic violence and attempted sexual assault.

Dillingham Police have charged Michael Nicolai with attempted sexual assault.

Nicolai is the priest at Saint Seraphim of Sarov, Dillingham’s Russian Orthodox church. He has been suspended from his duties.

Police responded to the parish home behind the church early on July 16 after a woman reported that she had been assaulted, said Dillingham Police chief Dan Pasquariello. He was taken to jail that day, and released on bail on July 18.

“The officers responded to a report of a domestic disturbance,” he said. “They went there, they interviewed all parties involved, they made an arrest. The information they gathered, after conferring with the district attorney, led them to charge Father Nicholai with attempted sexual assault and a physical assault.”

The investigation revealed that Father Michael had been drinking that night, and the victim said he had been viewing pornography, which led to arguments and eventually an assault. Officers found ripped clothing and undergarments which corroborated the victim’s initial description of the nature of the assault.

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LOUISIANA
WBRZ

BATON ROUGE – A win for the Roman Catholic Church for the Diocese of Baton Rouge today in a legal case that centered around a church doctrine prohibiting a priest from revealing what is said inside a confessional.

A state appeals court affirmed that Father Jeff Bayhi does not have to reveal any conversation between him and a woman who claims she was sexually abused by a now deceased parishioner.

Rebecca Mayeux claimed in a lawsuit against the Church that she told Bayhi about the alleged behavior in 2008 and that those statements between the two should be included during any trial proceedings. Mayeux was 14 at the time.

However, attorneys for Mayeux say the court ruling today allows her to testify what was said in the confessional.

The ongoing court case has been the subject of a series of reports by the News 2 Investigative Unit.

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LOUISIANA
Louisiana Record

Dawn Geske Jul. 29, 2016

BATON ROUGE, La. — The lawsuit against a television station by a priest over an inaccurate graphic that aired, labeling him as child molester, has been dismissed.

The case was dismissed by a District Judge Wilson Fields against WBRZ-TV. The priest, Rev. Jeff Bayhi, filed the case in regards to a graphic that was aired saying that he abused a parishioner at the age of 14. The graphic also stated that Bayhi died during the time of the investigation.

The graphic aired inaccurately and was corrected at the end of the news broadcast. The 14-year-old girl was abused, but not by Bayhi. She did relay this information to Bayhi during a confessional, which Bayhi is sworn to secrecy from reporting through his priest commandments

Through the lawsuit Bayhi was looking to receive compensation as well as hold the news station accountable for its actions. The station aired the graphic as part of a news story that focused on secrecy of the confessional and allegations of sexual abuse by a now deceased parishioner George Charlet Jr. The graphic didn’t include Bayhi’s name.

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ISRAEL
JTA

(JTA) — A rabbi who was extradited back to Israel from South Africa was indicted for several sexual assaults, including of a teenage girl.

Rabbi Eliezer Berland, 79, was arrested in April in Johannesburg and extradited to Israel earlier this month prior to his indictment at the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court Friday, Army Radio reported.

Berland, who has denied the allegations against him, is accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl. Prosecutors said he abused his status within the girl’s community. He is also accused of trying to engage in sexual acts with four women who came to him seeking his advice and help, the radio station reported.

Berland, founder of the Shuvu Bonim religious seminary in Israel, fled to South Africa for a year before he was extradited to Israel earlier this month. He was arrested in April in Johannesburg.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

FRANK BRENNAN
The Australian July 30, 2016

Wednesday night’s 7.30 program on ABC television carried allegations against Cardinal George Pell that, if true, are devastating: life-ruining for victims such as Damian Dignan and Lyndon Monument; confronting for all citizens committed to the wellbeing of children; and earth-shattering for Catholics who still have faith in their church. The ABC report is also troubling for those of us concerned about due process and the rule of law.

With the benefit of hindsight, we can all say it would have been better if onlookers such as Les Tyack in the Torquay Surf Club — claiming to have credible evidence of unseemly behaviour by an adult such as Pell towards children — went to the police promptly rather than waiting 30 years. As it was put on 7.30, “One summer day, (Tyack) says he witnessed a strange incident, so strange it later compelled him to go to police.” The incident is alleged to have occurred in the mid-1980s.

Pell has been the focus of attention during the long-running Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. He was grilled publicly for days on end about what he knew about abuse committed by others when he was a priest in Ballarat and when he was auxiliary bishop in Melbourne.

The commission has been so focused on Pell that it decided to make the abuse by Peter Searson its primary focus when investigating abuse by Melbourne priests. This was not because Searson was the worst abuser but because he worked in the region of the archdiocese where Pell had supervision as auxiliary bishop.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

JOHN FERGUSON
Victorian EditorMelbourne
@fergusonjw

One of Australia’s most respected Catholics has lashed out at Victoria Police’s handling of the George Pell sex abuse alle­gations, reigniting a long-running feud about the way the force has treated the church.

Father Frank Brennan has warned that “police obfuscation’’ and “media titillation’’ has the potential to undermine the child sex abuse royal commission and to inflict further damage on victims.

Father Brennan has also ­lamented that a key “witness’’ to allegedly sexual behaviour by Cardinal Pell towards children took nearly 30 years to report the matter to police,

In an article published in today’s The Weekend Australian, Father Brennan has warned that if Cardinal Pell were found to be an abuser, he should be ousted from the Vatican.

“Make no mistake, if Pell is a child abuser, I want him out of the Vatican and out of the way of children,’’ he says. “But if he’s not, I want the Victoria Police to come clean and get back to routine policing, rather than media titillation, for the wellbeing of all of us.’’

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ISRAEL
Jerusalem Post

Rabbi Eliezer Berland was indicted by the Jerusalem District Attorney, Friday morning at the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court for sexual assault.

The charges included assault against minor and using his position as a service and educational worker to assault others.

The induction came after a three year manhunt for the rabbi.

His followers demonstrated outside the court house in support Berland.

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ISRAEL
Arutz Sheva

Ido Ben Porat, 29/07/16

The Jerusalem District Attorney’s office today (Friday) filed an indictment in the city’s Magistrate Court against Rabbi Eliezer Berland on charges of indecent acts without consent, indecent acts towards a minor by exploiting a disciplinary and educational relationship, and aggravated assault.

In the indictment, Rabbi Berland is named as having served as the Rabbi and leader of the “Shuvu Banim” community and Yeshiva in Jerusalem, many of whose members were concentrated near his residences in Jerusalem and Beitar Ilit.

As part of the obligations associated with his position, he held meetings for purposes of religious and spiritual guidance and instruction with male and female members of his community, and others, in his house and other places.

The indictment states that Rabbi Berland took advantage of these meetings and his status on numerous occasions to commit sexual acts – without consent and while exploiting a disciplinary and educational relationship – with women and female minors.

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UNITED STATES
New York Times

By GERALD POSNER
JULY 29, 2016

On Friday, Pope Francis is to become the third Roman Catholic pope to visit Auschwitz. John Paul II was the first Polish pope in the church’s 2,000-year history. Auschwitz is less than an hour from where he was born, and his 1979 visit was poignant. Every bit as dramatic was the 2006 visit by the German-born Benedict XVI who had at 14 been a member of the Hitler Youth.

But Francis’ visit could be the most significant ever if he uses the symbolic backdrop to break with the policies of six predecessors over 70 years and order the release of the Vatican’s sealed Holocaust-era archives.

The debate over the church’s secret wartime files is not new. The Vatican is the only country in Europe that refuses to open all of its World War II archives to independent historians and researchers. The issue is more than simply an academic debate over the appropriate rules for public disclosure of historically significant documents. The church’s files are thought to contain important information about the Holocaust in Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe. The Vatican had eyes and ears in the killing fields: tens of thousands of parish priests who sent letters and reports to their bishops, who in turn forwarded them to the secretary of state in Vatican City. One of the monsignors in charge of reviewing those thousands of reports was Giovanni Battista Montini, later Pope Paul VI.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Peter Cox Jul 29, 2016

A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge has rejected a request to consolidate the assets of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, a blow to clergy sexual abuse victims who have filed claims in the court as creditors.

Creditors had argued that the archdiocese had taken steps to hide and shield assets including changing corporate documents, painting over cemetery signs, removing references to the archdiocese on the Catholic Cemeteries’ website, and creating new foundations to divert revenue.

In his decision, Judge Robert J. Kressel said creditors had failed to provide sufficient facts to support the motion to consolidate.

“There is no doubt that the Catholic Church is hierarchical in its organization and authoritarian in doctrinal matters,” Kressel wrote. “But those characteristics are insufficient for a court to ignore its corporate legal structure. The typical substantive consolidation is reserved for situations where the finances of two or more debtors are so confusingly intertwined that it is impossible to separate them.”

Jeff Anderson, an attorney representing the creditors group, said the amount available without assets from parishes, schools and other entities is substantially smaller.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Church Times

by Gavin Drake

Posted: 29 Jul 2016

THE Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) has begun a “rapid evidence assessment” as part of its investigation into the Anglican Churches in England and Wales, the Inquiry’s Counsel, Ben Emmerson QC, said this week.

Mr Emmerson made his com­ments on Wednesday at the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand, Lon­don, where Justice Lowell Goddard was holding a series of preliminary hearings into the Inquiry’s different strands.

He revealed that the Inquiry’s research team was sifting through information and evidence from 114 different sources. Among them was the Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England, which had sup­plied over 7000 items of evidence relating to the diocese of Chichester and the case of Bishop Peter Ball, which are being used as case studies by the Inquiry.

”Initial analysis of the evidence so far received is well under way,” Mr Emmerson said. This would lead to “additional requests for informa­tion” being made.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

A 73-year-old former Catholic Marist Brother has been accused of indecently assaulting a boy when he was teaching at a WA primary school more than 30 years ago.

Police say the arrest by Rockingham detectives comes after an extensive investigation into the alleged offending against the boy, who was aged 10 at the time of the first incident in 1982.

The man has been charged with two counts of indecent treatment of a child under 14 years of age and is due to appear in the Perth Magistrates Court later on Friday.

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AUSTRALIA
Border Mail

Melissa Cunningham
@MeljCunningham

29 Jul 2016

Jesuit priest and human rights lawyer Frank Brennan has called for Victoria Police to travel to Rome immediately to interview Ballarat’s Cardinal George Pell over allegations of child sexual abuse.

In an opinion piece for public affairs publication Eureka Street the outspoken priest said the whole saga wreaked of injustice and incompetent policing. He also called for the Victorian Government to take resolute action and demand Victoria Police chief commissioner Graham Ashton get to the bottom of the leaks.

It followed two alleged victims coming forward who say Australia’s most senior Catholic cleric groped their genitals in the 1970s. Another says he saw the priest expose himself to young boys.

Damian Dignan and Lyndon Monument disclosed their alleged abuse on ABC’s 7.30 Report this week. Cardinal Pell has maintained his innocence and released a robust rebuttal, accusing Victoria Police and the ABC of conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

“If Damian Dignan, Lyndon Monument and George Pell are to receive justice Graham Ashton should commission his SANO Taskforce to travel to Rome immediately,” Father Brennan said. “More police obfuscation and media titillation merely risks undermining the standing and outcomes of the present royal commission and further unnecessary suffering for victims seeking justice and closure.”

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Shannon Deery, Herald Sun
July 29, 2016

CARDINAL George Pell will not be asked to stand down from his powerful Vatican post while a police investigation into alleged child sex offences continues, church insiders say.

But the cardinal could be forced to step aside if the alleged abuse is reported to the church’s internal Towards Healing scheme.

There have been calls for the cardinal, who works closely with Pope Francis as the Vatican’s finance chief, to stand down this week following explosive allegations he fondled two boys while swimming with them in the 1970s.

Cardinal Pell has emphatically denied the allegations.

Victoria Police has not ruled out laying charges as a result of the investigation but are awaiting advice from the Office of Public Prosecutions.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Sussex Express

Huw Oxburgh
huw.oxburgh@jpress.co.uk
Friday 29 July 2016

Victims and alleged victims of the former Bishop of Lewes will give evidence to the Goddard inquiry into child sexual abuse despite initially being turned away.

In all six complainants – either allegedly abused or established to have been abused by disgraced bishop Peter Ball – will be allowed to give evidence after being named as ‘core participants’ in the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), also known as the Goddard inquiry.

They were provisionally denied this status as they were over 18-years-old at the time of the offences and alleged offences, falling outside of the inquiry’s initial remit. This decision was later reversed and confirmed at a preliminary hearing of the inquiry on Wednesday (July 27).

Set-up in 2015 in the wake of the Jimmy Saville case, the Goddard inquiry aims to investigate the extent to which UK institutions have failed to protect children. Chaired by Dame Lowell Goddard it is looking at a number of institutions including the Anglican Church.

Following the preliminary hearing, Graham Tilby the Church’s national safeguarding adviser said: “We welcome today’s (July 27) update on the investigation into the Anglican Church in England and Wales and the acknowledgement from the Inquiry that the material already submitted is relevant and useful. We note that the Inquiry has received a substantial amount of material from us and other core participants and the analysis of this is now underway as is the process of identifying possible witnesses.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Jul 29, 2016

By Krystal Paco

He’s been on the job as Guam’s interim archbishop for over a month. While he’s expected to make right the wrongs of the previous church administration, apostolic administrator Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai says he has plenty of work ahead of him.

It’s a multimillion dollar question: who owns the Redemptoris Mater Seminary? According to the Vatican-appointed apostolic administrator, the Yona property is owned by the Archdiocese of Agana. “The archdiocese owns that property. No doubt of it. And then there’s a certain ambiguity who has the right to use it. And on this matter, I’m going to have a review of it,” Archbishop Hon stated.

Hon isn’t new to Guam. He was here on island last year with Reverend Father Tadeusz Nowak and Archbishop Martin Krebs. Back then, he observed issues with communication at the Agana archdiocese, an issue he says still needs to be worked on today. “We recognized certain difficulties in this archdiocese in terms of communications, within the church or the church with the society,” he stated.

Hon’s appointment as Guam’s interim archbishop follows allegations of molestation against Archbishop Anthony Apuron, who has since been placed on leave. Hon tells KUAM News he continues to reach out to the alleged victims. He also clarifies he wasn’t aware he was in the presence of one of the alleged victims who was picketing outside the Hagatna Cathedral moments before Sunday morning mass. “Unfortunately at that time I did not notice the presence of Mr. Walter Denton, so I did not ignore him. I’m sorry if by chance I could not recognize him or did not realize he was there. Create certain pain to him, I’m sorry for that,” he apologize.

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AUSTRALIA
Church Times

by Muriel Porter, Australia Correspondent

Posted: 29 Jul 2016

THE Bishop of Newcastle, New South Wales, the Rt Revd Greg Thompson, has publicly condemned his diocese’s previous handling of sexual-abuse cases, accusing former diocesan personnel of removing documents and covering up serial offending.

Speaking on a current-affairs programme on national television, Bishop Thompson said that “this is what ‘mates looking after mates’ looks like in the Church at times. And that is an appalling thing to say for a Christian person.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Times

The long legal saga involving the highest-ranking Catholic church official ever charged and convicted in connection to the church’s child sex abuse scandal is nearly over.

The questions and moral dilemma that have swirled around this most controversial case? Far from it.

Msgr. William Lynn has now been behind bars for three years after being convicted of a single charge of endangering the welfare of children for his actions involving a suspected predator priest.

Make no mistake, Lynn was never charged as an abuser. His “sin” – in legal terms – was connected to his role as secretary of the clergy for the archdiocese of Philadelphia, where he served under Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua. It was in that role that he faced charges connected to his supervisory role over a priest accused of sexually abusing children. In effect, the district attorney alleged Lynn enabled pedophile priests, assigning them to new parishes, where they likely molested more children.

A grand jury report gave a damning version of church policy in connection with problem priests, in effect saying the church routinely moved predator priests from one parish to another, with no warning to parishioners about the priests’ past, thus putting more children at risk.

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AUSTRALIA
Religion Digital

Cameron Doody, 28 de julio de 2016

(Cameron Doody).- “Cuando la situación llega al nivel de acusaciones que, bajo cualquier estándar razonable, se merecen que se les dé crédito, creo que tiene que dar un paso atrás”. El psicólogo forense y ex-sacerdote Terry Laidler se ha referido así a la posición cada vez menos sostenible del cardenal George Pell, Prefecto de la Secretaría para la Economía de la Santa Sede, tras la emisión de un programa televisivo australiano que reveló que la fiscalía australiana le está investigando al cardenal por múltiples delitos de abusos sexuales a menores supuestamente cometidos entre la década de los 70 y la de los 90.

El espacio The 7.30 Report informó este miércoles que la policía del estado de Victoria, tras un año de investigaciones, ya ha mandado a la fiscalía un dossier que contiene al menos ocho declaraciones de testigos, víctimas y familiares afectados por abusos que habrían sido perpetrados por el cardenal Pell, tanto durante su período de párroco en la Victoria rural en los 70 y 80 como en su etapa de arzobispo de Melbourne, la capital del estado, en los 90.

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AUSTRALIA
PerthNow

DANIELLE LE MESSURIER, PerthNow
July 29, 2016

A FORMER Marist brother has been charged over the alleged indecent assault of a 10-year-old boy at a WA primary school.

Police will allege the man, now 73, was employed as a teacher when he indecently assaulted the boy for the first time in 1982.

He was arrested by Rockingham Detectives and charged with two counts of indecent treatment of a child under 14 years of age.

The man is due to appear in Perth Magistrates Court on July 29.

In a statement, the Marist Brothers’ Province of Australia said the allegations were serious and appropriately before the courts.

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

A federal judge has declined to include parishes and other church properties among assets in the bankruptcy of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Kressel ruled Thursday on the request by a committee representing clergy abuse victims. The committee wanted to consolidate the assets of various entities in the archdiocese, which would have meant more money to pay victims’ claims.

Kressel wrote that the victims’ attorneys failed to show that the benefits of consolidation outweighed the harm to those entities.

Jeff Anderson, an attorney for victims, issued a statement accusing the archdiocese of hiding assets and promised an appeal.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph and Argus

POLICE have confirmed they are investigating an historical rape claim against a vicar.

The victim, who is now a priest, alleges he was repeatedly raped at the age of 16 by the vicar in Bradford in 1984.

The victim says he made verbal allegations to the Right Reverend Peter Burrows, The Bishop of Doncaster, as well as the Right Reverend Stephen Croft, the former Bishop of Sheffield, and now Bishop of Oxford; and the Right Reverend Martyn Snow, a former Archdeacon of Sheffield and Rotherham, and now the Bishop of Leicester, between July 2012 and February 2013. He is accusing them of failing to act.

The priest has also alleged that the Archbishop of York John Sentamu and the Right Reverend Glyn Webster, the Bishop of Beverley, were also made aware when they were copied in to a letter sent to the Right Reverend Croft in June 2013.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

John Silvester

Is there a more polarising figure in Australia than Cardinal George Pell?

His clipped speech, at times imperious language, and senior position in a church that failed lamentably to deal with paedophiles in its own ranks has left him detested by many.

But that is a long way from declaring him a criminal, a predator and child molester.

Pell is the subject of a police investigation that he sexually assaulted young boys at the Ballarat public swimming pool in the 1970s.

Earlier this week two complainants told their story to the ABC and the response has been explosive.

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UGANDA
News 24

Kampala – A Ugandan pastor allegedly sexually abused several women in his congregation in an effort to make them “fertile”, the Daily Monitor reports.

The suspect, from the country’s Lira district, was arrested on Tuesday after several allegations of sexual assault were made against him. He could face charges of extortion due to his collection of money from the public in exchange for “blessings”.

The investigating officer, Francis Liiga Francis, said the suspect was attached to the Pentecostal Ministries. He said several complaints had been received from market vendors who claimed the church leader had been extorting money from them.

Victims alleged the man wanted 15 000 Ugandan shillings from them, with the promise of banishing all their financial and personal problems.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

The Archdiocese of Agana recently announced changes in addressing sexual abuse allegations. Now, church leaders must turn rhetoric into reality.

Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai, appointed by the Vatican to temporarily oversee the archdiocese, said on Wednesday, July 27 he recants and retracts statements made by Archbishop Anthony Apuron.

Three former altar boys and the mother of a deceased former altar boy accused Apuron of sexually assaulting the boys in the 1970s.

Apuron, who has not been charged with any crime, made statements that essentially called the accusers liars.

The accusers, through their attorney, filed a $2 million libel and slander lawsuit against Apuron, the archdiocese and others.

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AUSTRALIA
Wall Street Journal

By FRANCIS X ROCCA
July 28, 2016

Australian police are investigating a senior cardinal at the Vatican over accusations that he sexually abused minors several decades ago.

The case stems from accusations that Australian Cardinal George Pell, the chief of a finance body recently established by Pope Francis, sexually abused children on various occasions in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

The police commissioner of the Australian state of Victoria told a Melbourne radio station on Thursday that authorities have been investigating the accusations for more than a year and are continuing with their inquest,

The comment came in response to an Australian television program broadcast earlier this week that reported the accusations.

The police commissioner, Graham Ashton, said he had referred the charges to prosecutors, who would consider possible indictments. However, the state’s Office of Public Prosecutions said its director returned the file to the police for them to decide on any charges.

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LOUISIANA
The Advertiser

A grim Bishop J. Douglas Deshotel stepped up to the podium in the John XXIII Room in the Immaculata Center Wednesday afternoon.

Deshotel had to address child pornography images allegedly found on the personal computer of the Rev. F. David Broussard, pastor of St. Bernard Roman Catholic Church in Breaux Bridge.

Broussard was arrested earlier in the day by the Louisiana State Police for possession of child pornography, some 500 images and 500 counts worth. He was released from the St. Martin Parish jail later the same day on $25,000 bond.

Deshotel put Broussard on administrative leave from his priestly duties and called the press conference.

In June, Pope Francis issued a decree, in the form of an apostolic letter, that bishops can and should be removed if they actively or passively sanction sex abuse in their dioceses.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MISSOURI
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

By Nassim Benchaabane St. Louis Post-Dispatch

ST. LOUIS • A St. Louis-area priest urged a federal court Thursday to rule that an advocacy group has defied a court order to hand over private information about people who accused him of sexual abuse of a minor and to impose sanctions.

The Survivor’s Network of those Abused by Priests has fought an order from a federal judge in St. Louis to hand over emails, text messages and contact information of people who accused Rev. Xiu Hui “Joseph” Jiang of sexually abusing a boy in a Catholic school bathroom on charges that were later dropped.

Jiang filed a civil lawsuit against the boy’s parents, police and SNAP leaders David Clohessy and Barbara Davis, alleging they conspired against him for monetary gain, and that police officers went after him because of his religious and racial background.

SNAP had until July 22 to comply with the order, which also required turning over all records of donations attorneys for SNAP have made to the organization. The order said federal law does not guarantee privacy in the production of pre-trial evidence.

Clohessy said the order was too broad and that it sought all communications about anything discussed between SNAP and the group’s lawyers for 10 years. His group joined an emergency motion filed by other people who have made accusations against Roman Catholic priests asking that the order be stayed. They said their rights would be violated if SNAP handed over the information and pointed to a state court ruling that SNAP may qualify as a rape crisis center, entitling it to keep certain communications with its clients private.

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CANADA
Windsor Star

DAVE BATTAGELLO, WINDSOR STAR

Published on: July 28, 2016

A priest found guilty of stealing up to $234,000 from his own church should be sentenced to jail for 15 months, a Crown prosecutor said Thursday during a sentence hearing in Ontario Superior Court of Justice.

Given how Rev. Robert Couture created a “lavish lifestyle” for himself that included a new car, vacations, a hefty retirement account and extensive wardrobe, assistant Crown attorney Tom Meehan also asked the court to sentence the priest to two years probation.

He added the priest should be forced to pay back $178,624 for his crime — or reimburse the church to the greatest extent possible.

During his trial last fall, the court heard that from 2002 to 2010, Couture stole for his personal use between $170,000 and $234,000 from Ste. Anne Parish in Tecumseh.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

Chris Johnston

Cardinal George Pell was a larger-than-life figure at the Eureka pool in Ballarat through the summers of the late 1970s. This was when – it is now sensationally alleged – he sexually abused two boys in the pool.

“A big, strong, good-looking man,” says Paul Tatchell​, a former mayor of Moorabool shire and himself a victim of rape by a notorious Catholic priest in Ballarat – Edward Dowlan​ – in the bad old days. Pell was on Richmond’s reserves list to play footy 20 years before. He gave up sport for the church. But he had kept in shape.

“He was never short of admirers,” says Tatchell. Pell, now the Vatican’s head of finance, would have been 38, 39 years old. “He was in very good nick. Everything he did was done with a grandeur – and he reckoned he went all right.”

Many of the Catholic schools nearby used Eureka as their pool, but the best time to be there was summer school holidays and Pell was always there then, too.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Laura Yuen Jul 29, 2016

A Twin Cities priest’s summer trip with John Nienstedt was about to get excruciatingly uncomfortable.

The priest had joined the then-bishop of New Ulm, Minn., on a visit to Nienstedt’s second home, not far from Lake Huron in Michigan. It was July 2004. At the time, the 37-year-old man considered Nienstedt, 20 years his senior, a close platonic friend.

One night, after the two men attended a private event near Detroit, the priest offered to drive the roughly 60 miles home. Nienstedt had drunk too much, he figured.

In the car, the priest would later recount to investigators, Nienstedt spoke affectionately and placed his hand on the priest’s neck. The bishop then began to massage it, according to the priest.

“I felt extremely awkward and did not know what to do,” he said, according to a document released by Ramsey County last week. The priest considered the gesture an unwelcome sexual advance.

• Court document: Concerns from a diocesan priest

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LOUISIANA
The Advertiser

Dominick Cross, dcross@theadvertiser.com July 28, 2016

A Breaux Bridge priest accused of possessing child pornography was held in high regard in the parish, according to Bishop J. Douglas Deshotel, of the Diocese of Lafayette.

The Rev. F. David Broussard, pastor of St. Bernard Roman Catholic Church in Breaux Bridge for the past two years, was arrested Wednesday by Louisiana State Police on 500 counts of possession of child pornography.

Broussard also is the chancellor of St. Bernard School in Breaux Bridge.

“As we know, in our society, child pornography is a plague,” Deshotel said. “It runs the gamut of all strata of society.”

Deshotel spoke at a news conference Wednesday regarding charges that Broussard possessed child pornography on his personal computer.

“It’s something that has to be addressed right at the beginning as soon as it’s known,” he said. “Which is why I was happy to cooperate with the state officials in dealing with that for the protection of young and innocent people.”

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AUSTRALIA
Sunshine Coast Daily

Bill Hoffman | 29th Jul 2016

REQUIREMENTS for celibacy and the exclusion of women from the priesthood were areas the Catholic Church could consider as it grapples with issues of child sexual abuse.

Former Dean of the North Coast Parish of the Catholic Church, John Dobson, speaking in the wake of the latest allegations levelled again Cardinal George Pell, said psychologists dealing with offending priests have raised issue with the benefits of enforced celibacy.

Father Dobson said once people were set up as direct representatives of God it opened a lot of doors to odd places.

And he said only fools would argue women lacked the gifts and abilities to make them suitable for priesthood.

Father Dobson said problems in the church were more about institutional culture rather than individual evil.

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IRELAND
RTE News

Advocacy groups assisting people affected by Ireland’s treatment of unmarried mothers and their children have urged the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes to be proactive in inviting submissions to its key investigation committee.

Justice for Magdalenes Research (JFMR) and the Adoption Rights Alliance (ARA) say they have discovered that people who thought they had made a submission for the purpose of the commission’s investigation had in fact just met with the body’s confidential committee.

In a joint statement, the groups have urged the commission to explain to those affected the different powers of both committees.

They welcomed yesterday’s interim report from the commission, which persuaded the Government to extend the timeline for its three reports, allowing them all to be published in February 2018 instead of adhering to the original staggered timeline which envisaged the final report alone being published on that date.

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LOUISIANA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, July 27

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

A Lafayette priest has been arrested on child porn charges. Now, it’s up to his Catholic supervisors and colleagues to aggressively seek out anyone with suspicions or knowledge of any crimes by him and beg them to call law enforcement.

[KATC]

It’s not enough for church employees to claim they’re “cooperating with authorities.” (In our experience, that usually means they’re doing the bare minimum to avoid being charged with obstruction of justice.) Catholic officials gave this volunteer access to kids. So they owe it to parents, parishioners, police, prosecutors and the public to use their vast resources to actively help law enforcement solve this case and to find and help others who may have been hurt by this volunteer.

Specifically, we call on Bishop Daniel Deshotel to personally visit Fr. David Broussand’s parish this weekend (and any other church where he may have been) begging victims, witnesses or whistleblowers to call police. Deshotel should also put announcements in church bulletins, parish websites and other diocesan publications and outlets.

We have serious doubts about Lafeyette’s bishop:

[SNAP]

It was 32 years ago, in this same Diocese of Lafayette, that the first US predator priest, Fr. Gilbert Bauthe, created national headlines.

No matter what lawmakers or church officials do or don’t do, we urge every single person who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes and cover ups in Catholic churches or institutions to protect kids by calling police, get help by calling therapists, expose wrongdoers by calling law enforcement, get justice by calling attorneys, and be comforted by calling support groups like ours. This is how kids will be safer, adults will recover, criminals will be prosecuted, cover ups will be deterred and the truth will surface.

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LOUISIANA
The Advertiser

Dominick Cross, dcross@theadvertiser.com July 28, 2016

An official at the St. Martin Parish jail confirmed Thursday morning that the Rev. Felix David Broussard, arrested and booked Wednesday on 500 counts of possessing child pornography, was released later the same day on $25,000 bond.

Broussard, pastor of St. Bernard Roman Catholic Church in Breaux Bridge for the past two years, was arrested by Louisiana State Police.

Broussard, the 50-year old priest was ordained for the Diocese of Lafayette on June 12, 1993, according to a biography on the St. Bernard church website. His pastoral assignments in Acadiana included Parochial Vicar of St. Mary Magdalen in Abbeville; Pastor of Our Lady of Mercy in Opelousas; St. Joseph/St. Michael in Iota/Egan, Our Lady of the Holy Rosary/St. Francis Cabrini in Kaplan, and St. Joseph/St. Jules in Evangeline/Petit Mamou.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, July 27

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

The impending freedom of Msgr. William Lynn – only the second US Catholic official to be convicted of essentially enabling child sex crimes – will no doubt feel like yet another blow to hundreds of wounded Philly area abuse victims and thousands of betrayed Philly area Catholics.

[PhillyVoice]

Needless to say, it’s more important than ever that people with knowledge or suspicions about complicity by Lynn or other church officials call secular authorities.

And needless to say, no matter how uphill it might seem, we hope prosecutors seek a new trial. Vigorously pursuing those who act recklessly, callously and deceitfully with kids’ safety is one sure way to make kids safer and more recklessness, callousness and deceit is deterred.

No matter what lawmakers or church officials do or don’t do, we urge every single person who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes and cover ups in Catholic churches or institutions to protect kids by calling police, get help by calling therapists, expose wrongdoers by calling law enforcement, get justice by calling attorneys, and be comforted by calling support groups like ours. This is how kids will be safer, adults will recover, criminals will be prosecuted, cover ups will be deterred and the truth will surface.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

AUSTRALIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, July 27

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

Police have sent to prosecutors their investigation into the second most powerful Catholic official on earth. Eight brave individuals – most of them alleged child sex abuse victims – have given sworn statements. Three are courageously disclosing their names and giving credible interviews to a credible, mainstream news source in a new 30 minute program.

[ABC News]

One man says he hopes these developments will prompt others with information about Cardinal George Pell’s wrongdoing to come forward. We share that hope. Despite Pell’s power, it’s crucial that others with suspicions or knowledge of his wrongdoing find the strength to speak up to secular authorities, not church figures.

After a lengthy investigation, police have deemed eight accusers’ accounts are credible enough that they’re giving the evidence to prosecutors. That speaks volumes.

Pell refuses to be interviewed about the serious allegations. That too speaks volumes.

We commend the compassion and courage of Les Tyack, Lyndon Monument, Damian Dignan, Darreen Mooney, and forensic psychologist and former priest Terry Laidler who agreed to be interviewed for the program.

No matter what lawmakers or church officials do or don’t do, we urge every single person who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes and cover ups in Catholic churches or institutions to protect kids by calling police, get help by calling therapists, expose wrongdoers by calling law enforcement, get justice by calling attorneys, and be comforted by calling support groups like ours. This is how kids will be safer, adults will recover, criminals will be prosecuted, cover ups will be deterred and the truth will surface.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
Star Trubune

By Jean Hopfensperger Star Tribune JULY 28, 2016

Parishes and other church properties cannot be included among the assets in the bankruptcy of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Kressel denied the request by a committee representing clergy abuse victims to consolidate the assets of various entities in the archdiocese, which would have the effect of increasing the money available to settle the victims’ claims.

The argument by victims’ attorneys “failed to sufficiently show that the benefits of consolidation outweigh the harm to creditors,” Kressel’s ruling said.

Victims’ attorney Jeff Anderson issued a statement protesting the ruling.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

By Belinda Grant Geary For Daily Mail Australia

A woman who was groomed and sexually assaulted by a chaplain when she was a young girl has spoken out about how she was silenced by her abuser and the Catholic Church.

Joan Isaacs, 63, was fifteen-years-old when a ‘charismatic’ chaplain of the Sacred Heart Convent at Sandgate, Brisbane, started paying her and a select few of her classmates ‘special’ attention.

Father Francis Edward Derriman passed the school children notes about musicians, gave them nicknames, and challenged the religious ideas that restricted their lives – all in an attempt to carefully construct an image of a man who was ‘different’ and could be trusted.

‘Father Derriman was not handsome. But what he did have was a strong charisma and a power over people,’ Ms Issacs wrote in her autobiography, To Prey and to Silence.

‘He made them feel good. He made them feel special.’

Derriman told them he was dying of a terrible lung disease but insisted they keep it a secret. She said he positioned himself as a vulnerable and lonely man who needed their help and support.

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AUSTRALIEN
religion@orf

Medienberichten zufolge ermittelt die Polizei im australischen Teilstaat Victoria gegen Kurienkardinal George Pell wegen des Verdachts sexuellen Missbrauchs, wie Kathpress berichtet.

Nach Angaben des Fernsehsenders ABC vom Mittwoch sind die Ermittlungen eingeleitet worden, nachdem Zeugen vor dem Untersuchungsausschuss der australischen Regierung entsprechende Vorwürfe erhoben hätten.

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VATICAN CITY
Religion News Service

By Josephine McKenna

VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Vatican’s finance minister, Cardinal George Pell, has strenuously rejected the latest claims that he sexually abused children many years ago as a priest.

Pell — an Australian who is third in the Vatican hierarchy, after Pope Francis and Secretary of State Pietro Parolin — is the most senior figure in the Catholic Church to be accused of sexually abusing minors.

“The allegations are untrue. I deny them absolutely,” 75-year-old Pell told journalists in Rome on Thursday (July 28).

This week, a TV report by the Australian Broadcasting Corp. said police in the state of Victoria were investigating claims that Pell had touched boys inappropriately and, in a separate incident, appeared naked in front of three boys at a surfing club locker room in the late 1980s.

“Untested allegations should be put through the proper procedures,” Pell said. “I’m quite prepared to cooperate. … I won’t cooperate with trial by the media. I think it’s unjust and inappropriate.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Review

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | Tuesday, July 26, 2016.

EBENSBURG — A former house parent at a central Pennsylvania Catholic school has been charged with sexually attacking two Chinese international students he supervised.

John Bowman Thornberry, 28, of Mills River, N.C., declined to comment when reached Tuesday by The Associated Press. He was charged Monday by the Ebensburg police and the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office.

Thornberry has lived in North Carolina since he was removed from his job overseeing Chinese international students at Bishop Carroll High School in February.

That’s when school officials alerted authorities upon learning of the accusations during a meeting with the foreign students.

During the meeting, some students spoke of their treatment by Thornberry, including one who asked school officials, “How can you respect someone who puts their hand down your pants?”

That boy eventually told police Thornberry fondled him after first taking him to a part of the building beyond the view of surveillance cameras. A second boy told authorities he fought off a molestation attempt by Thornberry that made the student feel “disgusting and meaningless.” Officials are trying to locate at least one other boy who also may have been molested by Thornberry since December 2014, four months after the school hired Thornberry, according to the charges.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

[with video]

Haidee V Eugenio, Pacific Daily News July 29, 2016

The younger brother of a man allegedly molested by Archbishop Anthony Apuron told lawmakers Thursday he remembers when his brother, Joseph Anthony “Sonny” Quinata, came home crying.

“Senators, I know my brother was raped by Archbishop Apuron. He was sodomized. He was only 9 years old,” John Michael “Champ” Quinata said as he testified on a bill that would lift the statute of limitations, allowing victims of child sex abuse to sue their alleged perpetrators at any time.

Quinata’s mother, Doris Concepcion, first came forward with abuse allegations against Apuron in May, saying “Sonny” told her, just before he died 11 years ago, that Apuron had molested him in the late 1970s.

Apuron also has been accused of molestation or rape by three other former Agat altar boys — Roy T. Quintanilla, Walter G. Denton and Roland Sondia. Apuron was parish priest at the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church at the time of the alleged attacks. The accusers said he assaulted them during sleepovers at the church rectory. Apuron has denied the allegations.

“Pass this bill. Protect the boys and girls and help my brother Sonny, Roy, Roland and Walter, and others like them to go after their abusers and the institutions that protect them or cover for them for their past crimes and to deter any other potential abusers from doing the same,” Champ Quinata said. “Healing cannot begin without justice.”

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

Judge Denies Consolidation Request in Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis Bankruptcy Case

Creditors Committee, Survivors to Appeal Decision

Order Denying Substantive Consolidation
Timeline – ADSPM Maneuvers Post-CVA

(Minneapolis, MN) – In an order issued today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Minnesota, Judge Robert J. Kressel denied a motion to consolidate assets in the Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis bankruptcy case.

On May 23, 2016, the creditors committee moved to consolidate several entities into the bankruptcy estate. Included in this motion was an outline of the complicated and deceptive legal maneuvers taken by the Archdiocese after the Minnesota Child Victims Act was passed in May 2013 to divert and shelter funds from sexual abuse survivors.

These deceptive actions taken by the Archdiocese to hide and shield assets include, among others, changing corporate documents, painting over cemetery signs, removing references to the Archdiocese the Catholic Cemeteries website, and creating new foundations to divert revenue.

“The Archdiocese hid assets that could and should be available to survivors the same way they hid sexual offenders and their misconduct for years,” said Attorney Jeff Anderson. “We won’t stand by while the Archdiocese uses bankruptcy to hide its assets and we will continue to fight against this injustice.”

Contact Jeff Anderson: Office/651.927.7872 Cell/612.817.8665
Contact Mike Finnegan: Office/651.927.7872 Cell/612.205.5531

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Jul 28, 2016

By Krystal Paco

John “Champ” Quinata details the night his older brother Joseph “Sonny” Quinata was allegedly molested by Archbishop Anthony Apuron. Champ was only 8 years old when he recalls Sonny came home from Apuron’s house. Sonny said he was touched by Apuron and that he was in pain.

The boys were both altar boys at Mt Carmel Parish where Apuron was a priest at the time. The boys tried to tell others what had happened, but no one listened.

Today, at the public hearing for a substituted version of Bill 326 which lifts the statute of limitations for child sex crimes, Champ said “Finally, people are listening.”

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Jul 28, 2016

By Krystal Paco

Justice shouldn’t have an expiration date – that sentiment echoed all morning at the Guam Legislature during a public hearing for a substituted version of Bill 326. The legislation would lift the statute of limitations for child sex abuse cases, and its introduction follows recent public accusations of molestation made against Archbishop Anthony Apuron.

And as was revealed today, one of the alleged victims almost took his secret to the grave.

Annabelle Cruz is a longtime social worker, and says that it’s not unusual for child victims of sexual abuse, especially boys, to go their whole lives without sharing their stories. Cruz and a dozen others testified in support of a substituted version of Bill 326. “Most child victims, especially male child victims, won’t tell. The majority of male victims will not tell. In fact, they would go to their grave having never opened their mouth because of the implications of disclosure.”

A perfect example of this can be seen with alleged victim Joseph “Sonny” Quinata. Quinata passed away, but it was only on his death bed did he allegedly tell his mother, Doris Concepcion, that he was molested by Archbishop Apuron. Sonny along with Roy Quintanilla, Walter Denton and Roland Sondia were all altar boys at Mount Carmel Parish in Agat when they were allegedly molested by Apuron, who was a priest at the time.

Testifying on Sonny’s behalf was his younger brother, John Michael Quinata. Quinata was only 8 and Sonny was 9. That morning, Quinata remembers Sonny coming home from a sleepover at Apuron’s house, saying, “He said, ‘father Apuron touched me.’ He said he was hurting badly and could not use the bathroom. I did not understand what he was saying at the time. I was eight years old. What did he mean by the bathroom or the pain? I knew when he came home that morning, he changed.”

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AUSTRALIA
Telegraph (UK)

Jonathan Pearlman, sydney
28 JULY 2016

Cardinal George Pell, one of the most powerful figures in the Vatican and Australia’s most senior Catholic cleric, is facing a police investigation over an alleged series of child sexual assaults, including claims he inappropriately “grabbed” boys at a swimming pool in the state of Victoria.

In a statement issued by his office in Rome, Cardinal Pell, the Vatican’s finance chief, emphatically denied the allegations, accusing police and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation of “conspiring” to destroy his reputation.

He accused police of illegally leaking “inaccurate and unfounded” allegations.

“I have done nothing wrong,” he said. “I bear no ill will and have no desire to cause them [the alleged victims] harm but what they say about me is not true.”

Two former students at St Alipius, a school in the town of Ballarat, have publicly accused the cardinal of abuse dating back to the 1970s during sessions at a local swimming pool. Cardinal Pell was responsible for education in the area and regularly visited the students.

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AUSTRALIA
Australian

JOHN FERGUSON
Victorian EditorMelbourne
@fergusonjw

Victoria Police yesterday opened the door to charging Cardinal ­George Pell with child sex offences as senior Catholics stridently backed the faith’s third most senior figure amid a fresh wave of devastating publicity over alleged abuse.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton yesterday made clear that charging Cardinal Pell was a live option for the force after confirming the Office of Public Prosecutions was investigating multiple allegations against the Vatican’s Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy.

The Australian has seen no evidence in the public realm to support charges against Cardinal Pell and Mr Ashton has declared that the force will be guided by the ­direction of the OPP.

Cardinal Pell yesterday called for a criminal investigation into the ABC and police after the ­national broadcaster reported ­allegations that the Vatican’s treasurer had molested two boys at a pool in Ballarat, western Victoria, in the late 1970s.

Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher yesterday backed Cardinal Pell, who has denied allegations he is a sex offender.

All publicly known allegations of criminal wrongdoing against Cardinal Pell have so far not led to any charges although police are also examining alleged abuse at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne, the church’s heartland in Victoria.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

TESS LIVINGSTONEThe Australian
July 29, 2016

Like any red-blooded 25-year-old male on the verge of taking a vow of lifelong celibacy, George Pell regarded that requirement of his chosen career with consternation, which he poured out to his closest friend in Rome in 1966 during an afternoon walk over the bridges that cross the Tiber.

As a student approaching ordination as he was then, and for decades afterwards, the most difficult aspect of mandatory celibacy, a discipline he supports for Catholic priests, was not living without sex but “living without the love and close companionship of a wife and children’’.

That’s what he said during an interview for his biography in 2002. His perspective has not changed.

The many family members, friends, colleagues and staff — and their children — to whom he is unswervingly loyal know the appalling conduct of which he has been accused is not in his nature.

Nor would his conscience allow it. Even in informal situations he is proper and prudent, albeit with a reputation, in his younger days, for tough tackles on the football field and pummelling other seminarians with news­papers on picnics.

How and why these claims have emerged 40 years after the alleged events is a mystery, especially to anyone who remembers the controversies of 2002 — the year, by sheer coincidence, I was writing his biography for Sydney publisher Duffy & Snellgrove.

It was in August 2002 that Pell stood aside as archbishop of Sydney while retired Victorian supreme court judge Alec Southwell inquired into claims that as a young seminarian, he had molested a boy at a holiday camp on Phillip Island in 1961. He was exonerated.

The uproar, with the story on every front page and every news and current affairs program, was intense.

In that glare, others with something to say would surely have come forward, to the police or to one of many character assassins who were circling.

Piecing together his life, it was clear that high spirits, pillow fights on camp and yes, tossing games in the local pool, in full public view, were the young Pell’s style.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

JOHN FERGUSON
Victorian EditorMelbourne
@fergusonjw

Victoria Police Commissioner Graham Ashton has put George Pell on notice. He made it clear yesterday that charges against the cardinal, while not inevitable, are a live option.

Details of multiple allegations against Pell are sitting in the Office of Public Prosecutions, which will guide police on whether to proceed against the world’s third most senior Catholic.

On what The Australian has seen this week, it would seem highly unlikely charges will flow from the allegations of two Ballarat men highlighted by the ABC report — in the same way that the most serious claims of sexual wrongdoing in the past against Pell have fallen over.

To this end, the cardinal’s decision to go thermonuclear against Victoria Police and the ABC was ill-judged. First, the response simply threw kerosene on the campfire; second, there is no obvious evidence to suggest police had anything to do with the airing of the stories, although it would be unsurprising if the force was somewhere in the shadows.

In this instance, the cardinal’s problem is not a legal one but one of perception.

This is not seeking to diminish the complaints of the men but to acknowledge the profound difficulty any court would have in prosecuting allegedly submerged water activity that it is claimed happened nearly 40 years ago.

By waging a war with police, Pell is effectively daring detectives and police hierarchy to push the button and charge him with an offence or offences and let the courts decide.

There is a high-profile precedent in Victoria. Just more than a decade ago, police charged state Labor minister Theo Theophanous with rape on Christmas Eve — killing his career — only for the case to collapse in awkwardly spectacular fashion.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Doncaster Free Press

Sarah Marshall, Multimedia Reporter
sarah.marshall@jpress.co.uk
Thursday 28 July 2016

A priest has accused the Bishop of Doncaster and other church officials of failing to act on allegations that he was repeatedly raped by a vicar when he was 16-years-old.

The victim says he made verbal allegations to the Right Reverend Peter Burrows, The Bishop of Doncaster, as well as the Right Reverend Stephen Croft, the former Bishop of Sheffield, and now Bishop of Oxford; and the Right Reverend Martyn Snow, a former Archdeacon of Sheffield and Rotherham, and now the Bishop of Leicester, between July 2012 and February 2013.

The priest has also alleged that the Archbishop of York John Sentamu and the Right Reverend Glyn Webster, the Bishop of Beverley, were also made aware when they were copied in to a letter sent to the Right Reverend Croft in June 2013.

Responding to the allegation concerning Bishop of Doncaster, Peter Burrows, a spokesman for the Diocese of Sheffield said: “The Diocese of Sheffield takes the safeguarding and protection of children and vulnerable adults very seriously indeed. We are, of course, unable to comment on the detail of live investigations and complaints.

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CONNECTICUT
WTNH

SEYMOUR, Conn. (AP) — A Roman Catholic priest charged with stealing more than $30,000 from the Connecticut church where he served as pastor will have his criminal record wiped clean if he returns to his native Democratic Republic of the Congo.

A judge has approved the Rev. Honore Kombo‘s request for accelerated rehabilitation, a form of probation under which a defendant can have criminal charges dismissed if they comply with all terms.

Related Content: Seymour priest accused of stealing, attorney says he tried to pay it back

The New Haven Register reports that the judge approved the deal because the 50-year-old Kombo has already repaid the money to St. Augustine’s parish in Seymour.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Shannon Deery, Herald Sun

CARDINAL George Pell, under fire over fresh allegations of sex abuse against him, has pleaded for a “fair go”.

Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton confirmed on Thursday that a Victoria Police investigation into sex abuse allegations against the cardinal was continuing while the Office of Public Prosecutions analysed a brief of evidence.

In February, the Herald Sun revealed that the world’s third-most powerful Catholic was being investigated by Taskforce Sano, which probes cases arising from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

On Wednesday night, two men whose claims are being investigated came forward with their allegations that during the summer of 1978-79, when they were boys, the then Father Pell groped them at Ballarat’s Eureka Pool.

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AUSTRALIA
New York Times

By BRETT COLE
JULY 28, 2016

SYDNEY, Australia — Cardinal George Pell, the de facto Vatican treasurer and Australia’s most senior Catholic cleric, is being investigated in connection with multiple allegations of child sexual assault that date back four decades, a top police official said on Thursday.

The official, Graham Ashton, chief police commissioner of the Australian state of Victoria, confirmed a report by the government-run Australian Broadcasting Corporation that detectives were investigating and had submitted an account of the allegations to Victoria’s Director of Public Prosecutions.

“We investigated and are still investigating,” Mr. Ashton said in an interview with the radio station 3AW in Melbourne, when asked about an inquiry.

The Victoria police have established a task force that is looking into such allegations in both religious and nongovernmental organizations.

Earlier, the police had refused to indicate whether Cardinal Pell was the subject of the investigation, which the ABC reported on Wednesday. But in an email, the police said, “Detectives are investigating allegations of historical sexual assaults committed in Ballarat East between 1976 and 1980 and East Melbourne between 1996 and 2001.”

The email added: “A brief of evidence has been prepared and presented to the Director of Public Prosecutions for advice. Once the advice from the D.P.P. is received it will be reviewed. However, as with any investigation, it remains a decision for Victoria police as to whether charges will be laid.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Myles Wearring

The Vatican is not likely to respond to child abuse allegations against Cardinal George Pell until the outcome of police investigations, according to a Vatican expert.

“The Vatican will want to wait and see how any investigation proceeds,” Christopher Lamb, correspondent for Catholic journal The Tablet, told Lateline.

“I don’t think they’ll be taking any kind of actions or any steps before that legal process concludes.”

Mr Lamb, currently in Krakov, Poland to cover World Youth Day, said the allegations against Cardinal Pell had “certainly been on the radar here”.

“I know that people will be monitoring it, be looking at it,” he said.

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CONNECTICUT
Republican-American

Sunday, May 22, 2016

Priest was hiding overseas

BY MICHAEL DOOLING REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

A quarter century after he fled New Mexico, and 51 years since he left Naugatuck, Arthur Perrault is no longer a priest with the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.

“His faculties have been revoked,” said Santa Fe’s former archdiocesan chancellor, the Rev. Timothy Martinez, when contacted several years ago.

The archdiocese was asked for, but did not provide, a list of parishes where Perrault served.

The Rev. Thomas Zotter, who replaced Perrault as St. Bernadette’s pastor, told the Republican-American that the late Helen M. Keller, who had served both priests as an assistant, once mailed something to Perrault with an address in Morocco.

Perrault’s signature is on file with the Bernalillo County Clerk’s Office in New Mexico, after he needed to sell a house he owned in Albuquerque in 1994. He sold it to his assistant, Keller, and her husband. The 20-year mortgage he held provided a monthly payment to him of $469.69, according to the records.

The contract was signed by Perrault and notarized in Gibraltar, a British territory at the southern tip of Spain and is a short ferry ride from Tangier, Morocco.

After Helen Keller died in 2003 her brother, Richard Rawe, was appointed personal representative in her will. To sell her house, the county required a replacement warranty deed signed by Perrault; again his signature was notarized in Gibraltar. Rawe told the Republican-American in an email that once the deed was signed, it was transmitted to him through an intermediary named Dan Paulos.

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CONNECTICUT
Republican-American

Sunday, May 22, 2016

A priest charmed his flock, but victims say he had a dark secret

BY MICHAEL DOOLING
REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

Editor’s note: Part 2 of a two-part report about the Rev. Arthur Perrault, a Bristol native and one-time Connecticut priest from 1964-65 who decades later fled the country after multiple allegations of sexual abuse in New Mexico.

When the Rev. Arthur Perrault left St. Francis Church in Naugatuck he was sent to Via Coeli, a residential treatment facility run by the Servants of the Paraclete in Jemez Springs, N.M.

The center, outside Santa Fe, originally treated priests with emotional and addictive problems including drug dependency and alcoholism. In the 1950s, the church began to refer pedophile priests there, with increasing frequency.

The center’s history is documented in letters from its founder, who urged the church to remove such men from the priesthood, and in depositions made public after lawsuits began to be filed in New Mexico in the 1990s.

Perrault remained in New Mexico after Via Coeli. Less than a year after leaving St. Francis, Perrault became active in parish work in Albuquerque. He is mentioned, again and again, in editions of the Albuquerque Journal and the Santa Fe New Mexican from 1966 well into the 1980s: officiating at a marriage ceremony, moderating a YWCA “Girls into Women” conference on sex education, teaching religion and ethics at St. Pius X High School, running a youth choir.

The Archdiocese of Hartford officially transferred Perrault to the Archdiocese of Santa Fe in 1967 although he had been removed from Connecticut more than a year earlier.

All ties to the Archdiocese of Hartford ended in August 1967, said Maria Zone, communications director. In an email, Zone said the archdiocese could not release further information or comment about Perrault because personnel information is kept confidential.

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CONNECTICUT
Republican-American

Sunday, May 22, 2016

BY MICHAEL DOOLING
REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

A new assistant pastor, Rev. Arthur J. Perrault, arrived at St. Francis Parish in Naugatuck in September 1965.

Two weeks ago, Perrault, an accused pedophile, was found living in Morocco. He had fled his New Mexico parish in 1992 after lawsuits alleging sexual abuse were filed against him and the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.

The news rattled memories among those who knew the priest in Naugatuck. Perrault’s brief stint there, and his abrupt departure within two months, went almost unnoticed, except by a group of eighth-grade boys who feared him.

Father Perrault brought the boys of the class of 1966, who wore white shirts and blue ties monogrammed “SFS,” to dimly lit and secluded areas in the church, or to the principal’s office after school when the hallways and classrooms were empty.

These meetings were always one-on-one. Word on the playground before school, and at recess, was that “Father Art” was having “The Talk” with every boy in class about how babies are made.

There they were, awkwardly alone, face-to-face with a veritable stranger who was determined to educate them about the subject, or least part of the subject. Perrault was less descriptive of sperm and egg and concentrated more on describing the mechanics and hydraulics of the male anatomy.

Then the priest inquired how knowledgeable each boy was, how familiar he was with his own body, and what he had experienced, said class members who recall the uncomfortable conversations.

The boys told no one beyond their friends — no teachers, no adults, no parents. It was just too embarrassing, they decided.

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MISSOURI
CBS St. Louis

Kevin Killeen (@KMOXKilleen)
July 27, 2016

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) – The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) continues to refuse a federal court order to hand over the names of alleged sexual abuse victims.

SNAP founder David Clohessy says the judge could possibly find him in contempt and fine him, but he says the victims’ names can’t be divulged.

“We’re concerned about the emotional well-being of people, some of whom may be suicidal,” Clohessy said, “and we’re worried about the health and well-being of kids who are molested, and being molested right now, who are pondering – should I tell my school counselor? Should I tell my school therapist? And now they’re worried their privacy won’t be protected.”

A judge ordered the names released in response to a lawsuit by Father Joseph Jiang. Jiang alleges SNAP conspired to direct alleged victims to an attorney known for filing civil suits against the church– in exchange for financial donations the lawyer allegedly made to SNAP.

Clohessy denies he’s involved in a conspiracy.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Philly.com

by Joseph A. Slobodzian, STAFF WRITER

As he awaits a possible retrial, Msgr. William J. Lynn will be paroled Oct. 16 after three years in prison for his now-overturned conviction in the Catholic clergy sex abuse case.

In a motion filed Wednesday for Lynn’s immediate release on bail, defense lawyer Thomas A. Bergstrom wrote that Lynn, 65, learned last week from the state Board of Probation and Parole that he will be paroled effective Oct. 16.

Bergstrom wrote that Lynn should be released on his original bail of $250,000, adding that the parole board’s decision “was a recognition that he was not a danger to the community.”

Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Gwendolyn N. Bright set a hearing on the motion for Tuesday.

Lynn’s bail motion followed Tuesday’s ruling by Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court rebuffing the district attorney’s appeal of December’s new-trial order by Superior Court.

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LOUISIANA
KATC

[with video]

By Travis Guillory

Residents of Breaux Bridge react to charges of child pornography against Fr. David Broussard.

According to Bishop J. Douglas Deshotel, there were at least 500 images of child porn found on Broussard’s personal computer, and there has never been a complaint filed against him.

The bishop said Fr. Broussard took his computer in for repairs, and the technician fixing the computer reported the child pornography to the authorities. It’s something that has left many residents and parishioners shocked.

Joey Broussard said, “He seemed like a good priest and everything. It’s shocking that something like this would happen. You never know what happens behind closed doors.”

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

By Dr. Jeff Mirus
Jul 27, 2016

Over the last several years, the effort to make the administration of Vatican funds more transparent—and the administrators more accountable—has reached center stage in the ongoing process of curial reform. Economic and financial reform have become increasingly important with rising concerns about money laundering, particularly in support of terrorism. In addition, it has become clearer to those inside the Vatican that, in some cases, curial congregations had become economic fiefdoms with insufficient consistency in accounting and financial management.

None of this is surprising. Governments and major organizations (i.e., conglomerates, universities, etc.) always have multiple levels of budgeting, financial administration, procedural control, income and expenditure. Over time bad habits can develop in some sectors, or at least there can be turf wars over control of budgets and the accountability between one sector and another. CatholicCulture.org has steadily reported on Vatican efforts at financial reform under Pope Francis, but I do not believe we have presented a snapshot of the overal Vatican financial structure to provide greater context. I’d like to do that now—in the very broad strokes of a non-specialist (and so subject to improvement).

Institute for the Works of Religion

The biggest financial scandals over the past generation have occurred in the Vatican’s Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR), which is essentially a bank for Catholic institutions worldwide. Like all banks, the IOR has separate accounts, owned by the account holders, for a wide variety of Catholic entities, including embassies, congregations, dioceses and religious orders around the world. While about 80% of its funds are in the Catholic institutional accounts, the IOR also has individual accounts, such as employee accounts.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

Liz Burke
news.com.au
@lizeburke

CALLS have been made for Cardinal George Pell to stand down from his senior role at the Vatican and return to Australia to face allegations of child sex abuse made against him.

Speaking about the allegations on Melbourne’s 3AW radio, commentator Neil Mitchell said Pell needed to return to Australia.

“George Pell needs to step down from his role at the Vatican and come back to Australia,” Mitchell said this morning.

“He has reportedly accused Victoria Police and the ABC of acting effectively illegally against him, conspiring against him.

“He needs to come back and prove that. Deal with it, and deal with the now detailed public allegations and accusations of assaulting children. Allegations he denies.

“I think he has to come back and confront it — step down from the Vatican, leave of absence.”

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

By Frank Coletta, Lucy Mae Beers and Brianne Tolj For Daily Mail Australia

Cardinal George Pell has accused Victorian police of ‘conspiring’ against him after revelations he faces multiple child abuse allegations after two men came forward claiming they were groped by the Catholic cleric in the 1970s.

But Victoria Police deny some officers leaked information to the media about the ongoing investigation into Australia’s highest ranking Catholic.

Cardinal Pell called for a fresh review after ABC television on Wednesday night aired a story saying he was being investigated over multiple allegations related to inappropriate behaviour involving children.

The cardinal denies all of the allegations made by the complainants and says he’s being subjected to trial by media on the back of leaking ‘by elements of the Victoria Police to the ABC’.

The Victorian Police have denied they leaked the allegation to the media.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

RICK WALLACE
JournalistMelbourne
@rickwallaceoz

Victoria Police chief commissioner Graham Ashton got out of the blocks early today to fend off claims of conspiracy from Cardinal George Pell as the issue of the sexual abuse claims against the cleric flared again.

Cardinal Pell responded overnight to ABC reports containing interviews from alleged victims of abuse at his hands in the 1970s to deny all allegations. He also accused rogue police and the national broadcaster of a “conspiracy to pervert the course of justice”.

The Vatican-based cardinal has also called for a criminal investigation be carried out into his claims.

But Mr Ashton said on radio yesterday morning: “We (Victoria Police) haven’t provided the ABC with materials.

“Anyone who saw that show last night on the ABC it was clear that the source of that information was the victims,’’ he said.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

JULY 28, 2016

Angus Livingston

Les Tyack says he saw a naked George Pell expose himself to three young boys in the Torquay surf club changerooms in the late 1980s.

The businessman said he told his wife and some friends about the incident 15 years ago and gave a statement to Victoria Police five years ago.

But he went public this week in a bid to encourage others to come forward.

“I thought there may be other situations that people have witnessed and have thought about it but never done anything about it,” Mr Tyack told AAP on Thursday.

“I’ve got nothing against the church, nothing against anyone.”

Mr Tyack said he regretted not talking to the boys or telling people at the surf club straight away about Cardinal Pell, who was then a senior priest in Melbourne.

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AUSTRALIA
The Times (UK)

Bernard Lagan, Sydney
July 28 2016
The Times

The head of Vatican finances, the Australian Cardinal George Pell, is being investigated by police over allegations that he sexually abused boys while a young priest.

Commissioner Graham Ashton, chief of police in the Australian state of Victoria, said today that charges could be laid against Cardinal Pell, 75.

Mr Ashton confirmed the police investigation after the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Wednesday broadcast the allegations against the cardinal, who was called to the Vatican in 2014 by Pope Francis to take charge of the Vatican’s finances.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

Beau Donelly

A Torquay man who made explosive allegations about Cardinal George Pell exposing himself to children first contacted police about the incident almost four years ago, before the child abuse royal commission started.

And the Ballarat swimming pool at the centre of separate historic child abuse allegations levelled against Cardinal Pell by two other men has been the subject of a police appeal for information about alleged sex crimes in the late 1970s.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton confirms Cardinal George Pell is under investigation for a series of child sex abuse allegations.

In an interview with the ABC’s 7.30 program on Wednesday night, Les Tyack​ accused Cardinal Pell of exposing himself to three young boys in the Torquay Surf Life Saving Club change rooms in 1986-87.

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AUSTRALIA
Reuters

SYDNEY | BY JANE WARDELL AND TOM WESTBROOK

Cardinal George Pell, the Australian-born Vatican treasurer, is being investigated in relation to multiple allegations of child abuse in his home country, Victoria state police said.

Victoria state Police Commissioner Graham Ashton said on a Melbourne radio station program on Thursday that Victoria police had been investigating allegations against Pell for more than a year.

“The investigation is ongoing,” Ashton told Radio 3AW, confirming an Australian Broadcasting Television report on Wednesday that detailed allegations of abuse dating from the 1970s to the 1990s in interviews with alleged victims.

In a statement issued in Rome on Wednesday, Pell’s office said he “refutes all the allegations made on the program”.

ABC said it has obtained eight police statements from complainants, witnesses and family members who were helping with the investigation. The broadcaster said it received no information from police for its story.

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