Author – The Durango Herald

U.S. religious orders asked to ID priest abusers

NEW YORK – The umbrella organization of Catholic religious orders in the U.S. is suggesting that its members consider voluntarily identifying priests accused of sexual abuse, opening up what...

DATE: Oct 27, 2018 | CATEGORY: Religion

Issue of married Catholic priests gains traction under pope

VATICAN CITY – As the Vatican copes with the growing clergy sex abuse scandal and declining number of priests worldwide, it is laying the groundwork to open formal debate on an issue that ha...

DATE: Oct 23, 2018 | CATEGORY: Religion

Pope opens youth meeting as sex abuse survivors stage sit-in

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis urged Catholic bishops to dream of a future free of the mistakes of the past as he opened a global church leadership meeting Wednesday amid renewed outrage over t...

DATE: Oct 3, 2018 | CATEGORY: Religion

Sex abuse scandal: Pope seeks prayers to fight ‘devil’

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis asked Saturday for daily prayers to protect the Catholic Church from what he says are “attacks by the devil,” in his latest response to the clerical sex abuse and...

DATE: Oct 1, 2018 | CATEGORY: Religion

Pope defrocks Chilean priest at center of abuse scandal

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis has defrocked a Chilean priest who was a central character in the global sex abuse scandal rocking his papacy, invoking his “supreme” authority to stiffen an earl...

DATE: Oct 1, 2018 | CATEGORY: Religion

Pope OKs probe into U.S. bishop as he meets with U.S. delegation

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis accepted the resignation of a U.S. bishop Thursday and authorized an investigation into allegations he sexually harassed adults, adding awkward drama to an audien...

DATE: Sep 13, 2018 | CATEGORY: Religion

Pope summons bishops for February abuse prevention summit

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis is summoning the presidents of every bishops conference around the world for a February summit to discuss preventing clergy sex abuse and protecting children – ev...

DATE: Sep 12, 2018 | CATEGORY: Religion

Sanctions, sex abuse and silence: A primer on the pope saga

VATICAN CITY – Two weeks after Pope Francis’ papacy was thrown into crisis by accusations that he covered-up sexual misconduct by ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Francis has refused to respo...

DATE: Sep 10, 2018 | CATEGORY: Religion

Pope’s alleged cover-up pivots on when, if sanctions imposed

VATICAN CITY – The archbishop of Washington on Monday “categorically denied” ever being informed that his predecessor had been sanctioned for sexual misconduct, undercutting a key element of...

DATE: Aug 27, 2018 | CATEGORY: Religion

Pope: No effort spared to fight abuse, but offers no details

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis vowed Monday that “no effort must be spared” to root out priestly sex abuse and cover-up from the Catholic Church, but gave no indication that he would take actio...

DATE: Aug 20, 2018 | CATEGORY: Religion

Pope rules out death penalty in change to church teaching

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis has decreed that the death penalty is “inadmissible” under all circumstances and the Catholic Church should campaign to abolish it, a change in church teaching th...

DATE: Aug 2, 2018 | CATEGORY: Religion

U.S. nuns demand action to end ‘culture of silence’ on abuse

VATICAN CITY – The largest association of Roman Catholic nuns in the United States urged its members Monday to report any sexual abuse of religious sisters by clergy and demanded that church...

DATE: Jul 30, 2018 | CATEGORY: Religion