Santiago, Chile | AFP | Almost 80 Roman Catholic clergy have been accused of sexually abusing children in Chile since 2000, a US-based monitoring group said Wednesday ahead of a visit to the country next week by Pope Francis. Francis, the first Latin American pontiff, has spoken out against such …
Read More »UK Catholic school master convicted of sex abuse
London, United Kingdom | AFP | A former master at a top British Catholic school was convicted Wednesday of raping and sexual abusing boys in crimes dating back to the 1970s. Andrew Soper, 74, fled to Kosovo in 2011 to avoid prosecution over charges he molested boys at St Benedict’s …
Read More »COMMENT: Superstar sex predators
A psychological explanation for those seeking to understand the apparent nexus of success and abuse COMMENT | RAJ PERSAUD ,PETER BRUGGEN | The Harvey Weinstein sexual assault scandal shows no sign of winding down. Just the opposite: police in the United Kingdom are now investigating several allegations involving the Oscar-winning …
Read More »Workplace harassment not just a Hollywood problem
Los Angeles, United States | AFP | The Weinstein revelations have once again shone a light on Hollywood’s seedy underbelly — but rampant sexual harassment in the workplace is hardly confined to the glamorous world of show business. From the cleaning industry to the corporate world, a common thread is …
Read More »#MeToo: Sexual abuse stories around the world pour out on social media
Washington, United States | AFP | Celebrities and everyday people flooded social media with personal accounts of sexual assault and harassment Monday, responding to calls to break the culture of silence around such abuse. The massive global response was triggered by allegations recently made public against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, …
Read More »Don’t report sex abuses revealed in confessional: Australia bishops
Sydney, Australia | AFP | Priests should not be forced to report child sexual abuse revealed in the confessional, top Australian Catholics said Tuesday, adding they would rather risk jail than break the sacramental seal. The comments follow a national inquiry set up by the government into institutional child sexual …
Read More »547 boys were abused at German Catholic choir school: investigator
Munich, Germany | AFP | At least 547 boys at a German Catholic choir school suffered sexual or physical abuse in what victims have likened to “prison, hell or a concentration camp”, said an investigator releasing a final report Tuesday on one of the country’s worst such scandals. The Regensburger …
Read More »Cardinal Pell back in Australia to face abuse charges
Embed from Getty Images Sydney, Australia | AFP | Vatican finance chief Cardinal George Pell arrived back in Australia on Monday ahead of a court appearance later this month over historical sex abuse charges. The 76-year-old, a top advisor to Pope Francis, touched down in Sydney and was met …
Read More »Pope aide Pell charged with multiple child sex abuse in Australia
Sydney, Australia | AFP | Cardinal George Pell, one of the most powerful figures in the Vatican and Australia’s most senior Catholic, was Thursday charged with historical child sex offences, which he “strenuously denied”. Pell, the Vatican’s finance chief and the highest-ranking Catholic cleric to face such charges, had been …
Read More »Top US boarding school details decades of sexual abuse
New York, United States | AFP | An elite US boarding school that educated the likes of John F. Kennedy, Michael Douglas and Ivanka Trump has released a report detailing decades of alleged sexual abuse. Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Connecticut, where tuition today costs in excess of $43,500, released a …
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