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LOS ANGELES (AP) — After decades of dealing with the boyhood trauma of being molested by a priest, Jim Bartko sued the Roman Catholic church two years ago.
But the lawsuit was dismissed when he died four days after speaking publicly about it.
AP Explains: Why Pope Francis wants global approach to abuse scandal
DOVER, Del. (AP) — A preliminary voting report in the Boy Scouts of America bankruptcy indicates the group’s reorganization plan has failed to win the desired support from tens of thousands of men who say they were sexually abused as children.
Desmond Tutu is being remembered for his passionate advocacy on behalf of LGBTQ people as well as his fight for racial justice. But the South African archbishop’s campaign against homophobia had limited impact in the rest of Africa, where same-sex marriage remains illegal and most countries criminalize gay sex.
OECUSSE, East Timor (AP) — A defrocked American priest accused of sexually abusing orphaned and disadvantaged young girls under his care in East Timor was found guilty Tuesday and sentenced to 12 years in prison, in the first case of its kind in the staunchly Catholic nation.
DOVER, Del. (AP) — Congregations affiliated with the United Methodist Church have agreed to contribute $30 million to a fund for victims who say they were molested as youngsters in the Boy Scouts of America, an attorney said Tuesday.
ROME (AP) — Pope Francis agreed Monday to meet with the commission that published a ground-breaking report into clergy sexual abuse in the French Catholic Church and, separately, expressed “sadness” over the sudden downfall of the archbishop of Paris, according to French bishops who met with him.
ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) — Pope Francis said Monday he accepted the resignation of the archbishop of Paris because the monsignor could no longer govern effectively thanks to the “gossip” about his relationship with a woman a decade ago.
Phil Saviano was a clergy sex abuse survivor whose courage to go public and resolve to hold abusers and their enablers accountable inspired and strengthened survivors from around the world, his brother said at his funeral Mass on Friday.
PARIS (AP) — Pope Francis on Thursday accepted the resignation of the archbishop of Paris, who unexpectedly offered to step down last week after admitting to an “ambiguous” relationship with a woman in 2012.
NEW YORK (AP) — Columbia University and New York-Presbyterian Hospital announced a settlement Wednesday with 79 women who say they were abused by former gynecologist Robert Hadden, who faces federal criminal charges of sexually abusing patients over nearly two decades.
BOSTON (AP) — Phil Saviano, a clergy sex abuse survivor and whistleblower who played a pivotal role in exposing decades of predatory assaults by Roman Catholic priests in the United States, has died.
Defrocked Cardinal Theodore McCarrick is facing another sexual abuse lawsuit, from a man who claims McCarrick abused him in the 1980s in New Jersey.
In the lawsuit filed in state court and announced Tuesday, Michael Reading alleged McCarrick engaged in sexual contact with him in 1986 while on a trip to the New Jersey shore, around the same time McCarrick ordained Reading as a priest.
COLOGNE, Germany (AP) — Germany's Roman Catholic archdiocese of Cologne held a service of penance Thursday for cases of sexual abuse by clergy, saying the ritual was not an absolution for the perpetrators but a “confession of guilt.”
PARIS (AP) — France's Catholic Church announced on Monday that it would financially compensate sex abuse victims by selling property assets or taking out a loan if needed.
French bishops said in a written statement they will set up an “independent, national body” tasked with addressing compensation issues.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska attorney general's office investigation identified 258 victims who made credible allegations of sexual abuse against 57 Catholic church officials in the state going back decades, including many that high-ranking church leaders knew about and didn't report to the authorities, according to a report released Thursday.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A Roman Catholic priest facing child pornography charges in Rhode Island was released on unsecured bond and will be allowed to travel to Kansas to stay with a family member while he awaits trial.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A Roman Catholic priest who had been serving as pastor at a church in Providence is facing child pornography charges, according to Rhode Island State Police.
The Rev. James Jackson, 66, was arrested on Saturday after a court-authorized search warrant was executed at St.
When Amish gather for worship each week, they regularly sing the solemn, German-dialect hymns that their spiritual forebears composed nearly five centuries ago in a condition akin to that of 17 missionaries recently kidnapped in Haiti — captivity.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A top Southern Baptist Convention administrator is resigning amid internal rifts over how to handle an investigation into the SBC's response to sexual abuse, a decision that underscores the broader ongoing turmoil in the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — House Democrats are calling for action on legislation that would remove time limits restricting when sexual assault victims could file lawsuits against their perpetrator. The lawmakers are also urging that hearings be held on a bill that would lift caps on pain-and-suffering awards in lawsuits brought by rape victims.
ROME (AP) — The Catholic Church’s foremost research institute studying sexual abuse of minors is expanding its mandate to also include the sexual and spiritual abuse of adults, evidence of the Vatican's increasing awareness that children aren’t the only victims of clergy who abuse their power and authority.

