Early Christians were urged to ‘supervise’ one another. In the present times, that theology is often used by the Vatican for a religious investigation a known as the apostolic visitation.
Pope Francis recently removed a secrecy rule to increase transparency for sexual abuse cases.
AP Photo/Andrew Medichini
Pope Francis recently removed a rule known as Pontifical Secrecy, which allowed clergy and church officials to withhold information regarding sexual abuse. Will it make the church truly transparent?
Bishop Richard Malone of Buffalo, at a news conference on Nov. 5, 2018, in Cheektowaga, New York.
AP Photo/Frank Franklin II
Seven US bishops have been removed for covering up clergy sexual abuse since 2015 after decades of no accountability. An expert explains how Catholic movements and whistleblowers forced this change.
Anthony Hopkins (left) as Benedict and Jonathan Pryce as Francis in The Two Popes (2019).
Netflix
The new Netflix film Two Popes focuses on the different outlooks of Popes Benedict and Francis.
Young married Catholic couples in the 1960s were subject to strict religious teachings that decreed artificial contraception unacceptable.
Shutterstock
The ban on the pill led to much sorrow and frustration, but determined couples found imaginative ways to cope and work around it.
Supporters of former Bolivian president Evo Morales rally with indigenous flags outside the city of Cochabamba, Bolivia, Nov. 18, 2019.
AP Photo/Juan Karita
Indigenous people, symbols and religious practices filled the halls of power in Bolivia during Evo Morales’ 14-year tenure. Now a new conservative Christian leader seems to be erasing that legacy.
Even with the National Redress Scheme, pursuing justice through civil litigation is still hugely important to many victims of priest sex abuse.
David Crosling/AAP
Addressing the legal responsibility of institutions for the actions of abusers has proven incredibly complex. Victoria thought it was making things easier for victims, but the opposite is true.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden speaks at a town hall in Florence, South Carolina. He was denied communion by a priest in South Carolina.
Sarah Blake Morgan
Joe Biden was denied communion for pro-choice views. Catholics with ‘unforgiven’ sins can’t receive communion. A theologian says many Catholics would question if Biden was indeed in a ‘sinful’ state.
Pope Francis at the start of the Amazon synod, at the Vatican, Oct. 7, 2019.
AP Photo/Andrew Medichini
Hundreds of bishops, priests, missionaries and tribal leaders are at the Vatican for the Synod of the Amazon, a three-week meeting focused on the environmental crisis threatening Amazonian peoples.
A survey conducted in Jauary 2018 by the Pew Research Centre showed 84 percent of US Catholics had a ‘favourable’ opinion of Pope Francis. Six out of ten people also said he represented a ‘major change for the better’.
Vatican Media/AAP
Pope Francis continues to champion the importance of science in our world. Having the head of the Catholic Church support various scientific movements is a win for us all.
In Catholic understanding, Jesus gave his disciples the power to forgive sins.
Hernán Piñera
Following the sexual abuse scandals, there is a push to force the Catholic Church to compromise the confidentiality of the confessional. A Catholic scholar explains why confession is so important.
Pope Francis at the Monument Mary Queen of Peace, in Port Louis, Mauritius on Sept. 9, 2019.
AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino
Pope Francis recently completed a tour of three African nations. His visit needs to be understood in the context of the church’s long history in Africa and its modern-day difficulties.
The Pennsylvania grand jury report may have played a role in helping survivors come to grips with their past.
AP Photo/Matt Rourke
Last year, Pennsylvania’s grand jury report uncovered sexual abuse allegations by over 300 priests. A scholar explains how the report may have helped survivors come to terms with a painful past.
Child Protection Minister Luke Donnellan said he would prosecute the state’s most senior Catholic, Peter Comensoli, if he doesn’t report suspected child abuse.
AAP Image/Daniel Pockett
The new bill will make it make it mandatory for priests to report suspected child abuse admitted in confidence.
Honduran migrant Vicky Chavez with her daughter Issabella on May 31, 2018 in the First Unitarian Church in Salt Lake City, where she sought protection from deportation in late 2017.
AP Photo/Rick Bowmer
Mario Garcia, University of California, Santa Barbara
The number of migrants living in churches has spiked recently in anticipation of threatened immigration raids, but churches have long protected refugees in an act of faith-based civil disobedience.
Pope Francis with a group of nuns in Saint Peter’s Square, Vatican City, in 2018. History and the Bible provide good reasons why women should be in positions of authority in the Catholic Church.
Ettore Ferrari/EPA/AAP
A recent Vatican commission report on women’s ordination as deacons was inconclusive. But allowing women priests would help the Catholic Church achieve much-needed reform.
Pope Francis recently made it mandatory for clergy to report sexual abuse to church superiors.
AP Photo/Andrew Medichini
Pope Francis is trying to address gaps in the regulatory processes of the Catholic Church. But clergy can still decide whether, and to what degree, to share information.
Professional mountain climbers installing synthetic, waterproof tarps over the gutted, exposed exterior of Notre Dame Cathedral.
AP Photo/Thibault Camus
The influence of Notre Dame Cathedral extended into every part of the life of Paris. The cathedral school was the training ground for medieval thinkers and the place of birth of the first university.
April 15, 2019, 7:34 p.m.: Notre-Dame de Paris in flames.
Leighton Kille
The fire that devastated the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral on April 15 is a historic event that reminds us of the symbolic power of national monuments.