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More Than 300 Priests In US Accused Of Sex Abuse Of Over 1,000 Children

Agencies
August 15, 2018

Aug 15: The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Tuesday released a sweeping grand jury report on sex abuse in the Catholic Church, listing more than 300 accused clergy and detailing a "systematic" coverup effort by church leaders over 70 years.

State Attorney General Josh Shapiro said at a news conference Tuesday that more than 1,000 child victims were identified in the report, but the grand jury believes there are more.

The investigation is the most comprehensive yet on Catholic Church sex abuse in the United States. The 18-month probe, led by state Attorney General Josh Shapiro, on six of the state's eight dioceses - Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Scranton, Erie and Greensburg - and follows other state grand jury reports that revealed abuse and coverups in two other dioceses.

Shapiro said that the report details a "systematic coverup by senior church officials in Pennsylvania and at the Vatican."

The nearly 1,400-page report's introduction makes clear that few criminal cases may result from the massive investigation.

"As a consequence of the coverup, almost every instance of abuse we found is too old to be prosecuted," it reads.

"We subpoenaed, and reviewed, half a million pages of internal diocesan documents. They contained credible allegations against over three hundred predator priests. Over one thousand child victims were identifiable, from the church's own records. We believe that the real number - of children whose records were lost, or who were afraid ever to come forward - is in the thousands."

Some details and names that might reveal the clergy listed have been redacted from the report. Legal challenges by clergy delayed the report's release, after some said it is a violation of their constitutional rights. Shapiro said they will work to remove every redaction.

The report has helped renew a crisis many in the church thought and hoped had ended nearly 20 years ago after the scandal erupted in Boston. But recent abuse-related scandals, from Chile to Australia, have reopened wounding questions about accountability and whether church officials are still covering up crimes at the highest levels.

The new wave of allegations has called Pope Francis's handling of abuse into question as many Catholics look to him to help the church regain its credibility. The pope's track record has been mixed, something some outsiders attribute to his learning curve or shortcomings and others chalk up to resistance from a notoriously change-averse institution.

The Pennsylvania grand jury report follows the resignation last month of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, a towering figure in the U.S. church. The former archbishop of Washington, D.C., was accused of sexually abusing minors and adults for decades. Both have further polarized the church on homosexuality, celibacy and whether laypeople should have more power. It has also triggered debate about whether statutes of limitations should be expanded.

"We're dealing with a long-term struggle not only about the meaning of justice, but about the meaning of memory," said Jason Berry, a reporter and author who has covered the sexual abuse crisis for decades. "And how honest church has been about this crisis. Most bishops, besides apologies, have not been on the cutting edge of change."

Church officials have already begun bracing for the aftermath of the report. On Monday, Washington Archbishop Cardinal Donald Wuerl, former longtime leader of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, warned his priests in a letter that the probe will be "profoundly disturbing."

Harrisburg's bishop Ronald Gainer said earlier this month that he'd remove the names of all accused bishops from diocesan buildings and rooms. Erie Bishop Lawrence Persico last month told PennLive.com, a digital news site based in central Pennsylvania, that the report will be "sobering" and "is rather graphic."

"While I expect that this report will be critical of some of my actions" in Pittsburgh, "I believe the report also confirms that I acted with diligence," Wuerl wrote to Washington's clergy. Wuerl is one of Pope Francis's closest U.S. advisers, and sits on the Vatican's bishop oversight committee. The bishop is expected to retire in the next few years.

The investigation took about two years. The report's length is expected to be from 8oo to 1,000 pages, the Post-Gazette reported. It covers all dioceses except the two already studied - Philadelphia and Altoona-Johnstown. Pennsylvania is believed to have done more investigations of institutional child sex abuse than any other state.

Berry said the report - coupled with the McCarrick scandal and others - shows the church needs a major overhaul in how it polices itself. He said the church needs a "separation of powers, an independent oversight."

"Canon law is not equipped for this kind of thing. It's an enormous criminal sexual underground. It's been surfacing like jagged parts of an iceberg for 30 years," Berry said.

Yet others fear the progress made by the church since the early 2000s is being overlooked. The number of new allegations is down, and the vast majority took place decades ago.

"The church has done things right since 2002 - Dallas was a game-changer," said Nick Cafardi, former dean of Duquesne University School of Law, a Catholic school in Pittsburgh, referring to the city where the church passed its crackdown rules on child sex abusers in 2002. "But what was done before Dallas is indefensible."

Yet the fact that such a small number of high-level clerics - as opposed to parish-level priests - have been held responsible is glaring to many Catholics.

The question of whether the church's sins have been confronted remains raw. Wuerl in an interview earlier this month with the Catholic station Salt & Light said he doesn't think "this is some massive, massive crisis." He then suggested the creation of an oversight board of bishops. Some critics saw his comments as tone-deaf.

That same week, Albany Bishop Edward Scharfenberger said the slew of recent scandals signals a new phase.

"While I am heartened by my brother bishops proposing ways for our Church to take action in light of recent revelations . . . I think we have reached a point where bishops alone investigating bishops is not the answer," he wrote.

Worldwide, the Vatican is dealing with law enforcement targeting abuse with in the church. In Chile, prosecutors and police are staging raids on church offices, confiscating documents and looking for evidence of crimes that went unreported to police. On Tuesday, the Associated Press reported a prosecutor said authorities were raiding the headquarters of Chile's Catholic Episcopal Conference.

As part of the probe, a prosecutor's office has summoned the archbishop of Santiago, Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati, to testify amid accusations that he was involved in the coverup of abuse.

"People are basically revolting against what had been these sacred cows," said Juan Carlos Cruz, a Chilean abuse victim who earlier this year spent several days with the pope. "In the 1970s and 1980s, the church was a lighthouse for the country. And it's incredible to see this 180-degree turn. People who venerated the church, now they actually despise what they're doing."

The crisis in Chile is just one case in a new wave of abuse-related revelations that have raised pressure on Pope Francis to deal more forcefully with abuse. In France, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin is facing an upcoming trial on criminal charges for not reporting sexual abuse. In Australia, one archbishop was recently convicted in a criminal court for concealing sexual abuse, and a top Francis lieutenant, Cardinal George Pell, will soon stand trial on charges related to sexual offenses.

"Accountability from inside the church is not happening," said Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, which that tracks sexual abuse cases. "But secular society is beginning to affect the most change."

Doyle said the Pennsylvania grand jury report could also lead the way for the state to reform statute of limitations laws related to abuse.

Todd Frey, 50, who says he was abused when he was 13 by a priest in Lancaster County, spoke to the grand jury. He said he told church and law enforcement officials over the years, but nothing was done. The report will be his first opportunity to see if the priest is accused of abusing others, and who in the church knew.

"Who else did he pick?" Frey said Monday, as his lawyer David Inscho listened in. Survivors like Frey, who is unable to work, "know their little part," Inscho said on the phone call, "what they saw through eyes of a 12- or 13-year-old and now they can see everything. And that is really, really important - the validation of it. The having been heard by law enforcement. Actually caring makes a big difference instead of saying 'We can't do anything.'"

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News Network
March 2,2020

Paris, Mar 2: A global agency says the spreading new virus could make the world economy shrink this quarter, for the first time since the international financial crisis more than a decade ago.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development says Monday in a special report on the impact of the virus that the world economy is still expected to grow overall this year and rebound next year.

But it lowered its forecasts for global growth in 2020 by half a percentage point, to 2.4 per cent, and said the figure could go as low as 1.5 per cent if the virus lasts long and spreads widely.

The last time world GDP shrank on a quarter-on-quarter basis was at the end of 2008, during the depths of the financial crisis. On a full-year basis, it last shrank in 2009.

The OECD said China's reduced production is hitting Asia particularly hard but also companies around the world that depend on its goods.

It urged governments to act fast to prevent contagion and restore consumer confidence.

The Paris-based OECD, which advises developed economies on policy, said the impact of this virus is much higher than past outbreaks because "the global economy has become substantially more interconnected, and China plays a far greater role in global output, trade, tourism and commodity markets."

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News Network
April 23,2020

Geneva, Apr 23: The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday (local time) said that the COVID-19 crisis will not end any time soon, with several countries only in the initial stages of the fight against the virus.

"Make no mistake, we have a long way to go. Coronavirus will be with us for a long time. There is no question that stay at home orders and other physical distancing measures have successfully suppressed transmission in many countries," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a press conference.

"Most countries are in the early stages of their epidemics. And some, which were affected early in the pandemic, are now starting to see a resurgence in the number of cases," he added.

COVID-19 has infected more than 2.6 million people around the world and a total of 1,83,027 people have died due to coronavirus, according to data from US-based Johns Hopkins University.

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News Network
June 19,2020

United Nations, Jun 19: Half of the world's children -- one billion every year -- are affected by physical, sexual or psychological violence, suffering injuries and death because countries have failed to follow established strategies to protect them, the first report of its kind from the UN has said, with experts noting that the coronavirus-related lockdowns have left far too many youngsters stuck with their abusers.

While nearly all countries (88 per cent) have laws in place to protect minors, less than half (47 per cent) say they strongly enforce them, said the Global Status Report on Preventing Violence Against Children 2020 launched on Thursday.

Because countries have failed to follow established strategies to protect children, about one billion are affected each year by physical, sexual or psychological violence, it said.

"There is never any excuse for violence against children," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

"We have evidence-based tools to prevent it, which we urge all countries to implement. Protecting the health and well-being of children is central to protecting our collective health and well-being, now and for the future," he said.

The report -- launched by the World Health Organisation, the UNICEF, the UNESCO, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Violence against Children and the End Violence Partnership -- charted progress in 155 countries against the "INSPIRE" framework, a set of seven strategies for preventing and responding to violence against children.

The report signaled a clear need in all countries to scale up efforts to implement them. It included the first ever global homicide estimates specifically for children under 18 years of age -- previous estimates were based on data that included 18 to 19-year olds.

According to the findings, in 2017, around 40,000 children were victims of homicide.

"Violence against children has always been pervasive, and now things could be getting much worse," UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said.

"Lockdowns, school closures and movement restrictions have left far too many children stuck with their abusers, without the safe space that school would normally offer. It is urgent to scale up efforts to protect children during these times and beyond, including by designating social service workers as essential and strengthening child helplines," she said.

UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the related school closures, "we have seen a rise in violence and hate online – and this includes bullying".

"Now, as schools begin to re-open, children are expressing their fears about going back to school. It is our collective responsibility to ensure that schools are safe environments for all children. We need to think and act collectively to stop violence at school and in our societies at large," Azoulay said.

Stay-at-home measures including school closures have limited the usual sources of support for families and individuals such as friends, extended family or professionals.

This further erodes victims’ ability to successfully cope with crises and the new routines of daily life. Spikes in calls to helplines for child abuse and intimate partner violence have been observed, the report said.

While online communities have become central to maintain many children's learning, support and play, an increase in harmful online behaviors including cyberbullying, risky online behavior and sexual exploitation have been identified.

“Whilst this report was being finalised, confinement measures and the disrupted provision of already limited child protection services exacerbated the vulnerability of children to various forms of violence," said Najat Maalla M’jid, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Violence against Children.

Of the INSPIRE strategies, only access to schools through enrolment showed the most progress with 54 per cent of the countries reporting that a sufficient number of children in need were being reached in this way.

Between 32 per cent and 37 per cent of the countries considered that victims of violence could access support services, while 26 per cent of the countries provided programmes on parent and caregiver support; 21 per cent of the countries had programmes to change harmful norms; and 15 per cent of the countries had modifications to provide safe physical environments for children, the report said.

Although a majority of countries (83 per cent) have national data on violence against children, only 21 per cent used these to set baselines and national targets to prevent and respond to violence against children, it added.

The report said about 80 per cent of countries have national plans of action and policies but only one-fifth have plans that are fully funded or have measurable targets. A lack of funding combined with inadequate professional capacity are likely contributing factors and a reason why implementation has been slow.

"Ending violence against children is the right thing to do, a smart investment to make - and it's possible. We can and must create a world where every child can thrive," Howard Taylor of the End Violence Partnership said.

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