Catholic Church

Seattle Archdiocese faces new sex abuse lawsuits naming known offenders

Sex abuse survivors ask Vatican to investigate Seattle Archdiocese as Washington's lawsuit fails

On Friday, officials at the Vatican Embassy in Washington, D.C., and in Rome received a letter from Seattle area survivors of child sexual abuse and their advocates. They’re asking top officials to investigate leadership at the Archdiocese of Seattle for allegedly failing to comply with the Washington State Attorney General’s investigation into the sexual abuse allegations against its clergy members.

Washington state sues Seattle Archdiocese over child sex abuse investigation records

Washington state is suing the Archdiocese of Seattle in an effort to compel the institution to turn over documents related to sexual abuse allegations against its clergy, Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced Thursday morning.

National

6 in 10 U.S. Catholics are in favor of abortion rights, Pew Research report finds

Although the Catholic Church officially opposes abortion, the report says there's far greater diversity of opinion among laity in the U.S.

World

A cardinal is convicted of embezzlement and sentenced to 5 1/2 years in Vatican trial

Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the first cardinal ever prosecuted by the Vatican criminal court, was convicted in a complicated financial trial that aired the Vatican's dirty laundry.

World

Francis opens a homeless clinic on the 1st papal visit to Mongolia

Several of the foreign-staffed Catholic religious orders in Mongolia run shelters, orphanages and nursing homes to care for a population of 3.3 million where one in three people lives in poverty.

World

In a historic shift, Pope Francis allows women to vote at bishops' meetings

Catholic women's groups that have long criticized the Vatican for treating women as second-class citizens immediately praised the move as historic in the 2,000-year life of the church.

World

Live Easter reenactments resume in the Philippines despite Catholic Church objections

The real-life reenactments in the farming village of San Pedro Cutud in Pampanga province north of Manila resumed after a three-year pause because of the coronavirus pandemic.

National

Maryland attorney general releases report on decades of sex abuse by Catholic priests

The redacted report paints a damning picture of abuse allegations against nearly 160 priests, involving more than 600 victims and spanning 80 years, and the Archdiocese of Baltimore's response.

National

The Vatican repudiates 'Doctrine of Discovery,' which was used to justify colonialism

The doctrine, with origins in the 15th century, was invoked as a legal and religious standing by Europeans who "discovered" new lands and violently seized it from people who had been living there.