While the problem of priestly abuse might be centuries old, its modern paper trail began after World War II, when ‘treatment centers’ appeared for rehabilitating priests. Many were send to New Mexico.
A 2013 photo that shows people holding a quilt for victims of sexual abuse by priests in the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
David McNew/Reuters
The Second Vatican Council made many doctrinal changes possible in the Catholic Church. An expert argues why the church needs another such council.
New priests being ordained during a ceremony led by Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, when they take vows, including to remain celibate.
AP Photo/Andrew Medichini
The path to justice and forgiveness after Pope Francis’s visit to Ireland.
Members of Chile’s bishops conference, in May 2018, who say they are open to whatever Pope Francis proposes to overhaul the Chilean church devastated by a clergy sex abuse and cover-up scandal.
AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia
Pope Francis has been accused of a cover-up in the sex abuse scandal involving Theodore McCarrick, a former archbishop. Experts explain why it’s hard for the Catholic Church to hold clergy accountable.
Parishioners at Cathedral Church of Saint Patrick in Harrisburg, Penn., in 2018.
AP Photo/Matt Rourke
An expert explains how a complex set of canon laws and trials are the major obstacle to holding priests accountable. The power to take action is often vested in the Vatican.
Pennsylvania grand jury accused Cardinal Wuerl of helping to protect abusive priests when he was Pittsburgh’s bishop.
AP Photo/Kevin Wolf
While many American Catholics believe demons and exorcism to be part of a distant past, an expert explains how beliefs that sexual desires could be part of demonic temptation still persist.
Pope Francis said the death penalty, can never be sanctioned because it ‘attacks’ the inherent dignity of all humans.
AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file
Pope Francis has said that death penalty violates the dignity of a person. But, this might just deepen the debate among Christians, who for a long time have been divided over the issue.
Illustration of Dante’s Paradiso.
Giovanni di Paolo
Different cultural groups respond with numerous, often conflicting, answers to questions about life after death. An expert explains the Christian idea of heaven.
Pakistani Christians attend Easter service in Lahore in April 2018.
AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary
With Pope Francis recently elevating a Pakistani archbishop as cardinal, a scholar traces the history of persecution of the 2.5 million Christians of Pakistan.
Pope Francis has acknowledged that celibacy is one of the challenges of the Catholic Church in the 21st century.
Reuters/Stefano Rellandini
Pope Francis recently acknowledged that the Catholic Church is struggling to recruit new priests, endangering its very future. Why don’t people want to join the clergy?
On March 24, 1980, an outspoken Salvadoran bishop was murdered after decrying his country’s military regime. Thirty-eight years and one civil war later, Pope Francis is set to declare him a saint.
Pope Francis will not ordain women to priesthood.
L'Osservatore Romano/Pool Photo Via AP
The Catholic Church has historically been unwilling to extend full priesthood to women. However, Pope Francis could take the lead in ordaining women to become deacons, a scholar says.
Cardinal Bernard Law in Rome in 2011.
AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia
New economic realities have raised new challenges in applying Biblical principles to economic life. But they could still provide guidance on how to help those in need and how to levy taxes.
A liturgy expert explains that until the 12th century local bishops made decisions on Catholic liturgical practices even though the Catholic Mass was celebrated in Latin until 1970. How did that change?
Pope Francis at the end of a canonization ceremony for Mother Teresa.
Alessandra Tarantino/AP
Professor of Management & Organizations; Professor of Environment & Sustainability; Professor of Sustainable Enterprise at the Ross School of Business and School of Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan