Latest Religious scandals News
Portugal cardinal meets pope as sex abuse allegations swirl
LISBON, Portugal (AP) — The archbishop of Lisbon met Friday with Pope Francis in a private audience at the Vatican to discuss “events in recent weeks that have marked the life of the Church in Portugal,” the Portuguese church said. The two-sentence communique gave no further...
Seven years of sex abuse: How Mormon officials let it happen
BISBEE, Ariz. (AP) — MJ was a tiny, black-haired girl, just 5 years old, when her father admitted to his bishop that he was sexually abusing her. The father, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and an admitted pornography addict, was in counseling with his...
4 takeaways from AP's Mormon church sex abuse investigation
When an Arizona bishop in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, widely known as the Mormon church, learned that a member of his ward was sexually assaulting his 5-year-old daughter, he followed church policy and called the Mormon Abuse Help Line. The bishop later told law...
Bishop accused in lawsuit of abusing child decades ago
BOSTON (AP) — A former parishioner at a Massachusetts church has filed a lawsuit alleging he was sexually abused as a child more than 30 years ago by a Roman Catholic priest who is now an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Detroit. The plaintiff, identified in court documents...
Minnesota case weighs right to emergency contraception
AITKIN, Minn. (AP) — A trial in Minnesota is expected to decide whether a woman's human rights were violated when a pharmacist denied her request in 2019 to fill a prescription for emergency contraception. Andrea Anderson, a mother of five from McGregor, sued under the Minnesota...
Pope visits Nunavut for final apology of his Canadian tour
IQALUIT, Nunavut (AP) — Pope Francis traveled to the edge of the Arctic on Friday to deliver an apology to the Inuit people for the “evil” of Canada’s residential schools, wrapping up his week-long “penitential pilgrimage” to Canada with a dramatic visit to the remote territory of...
Austrian ex-vice chancellor acquitted in corruption trial
VIENNA (AP) — Former Austrian Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache was acquitted Friday in a corruption trial, the second he has faced since a scandal surrounding him brought down the country's government in 2019. Strache was accused of procuring a post on the supervisory board...
High court allows sex abuse suit against diocese to proceed
BOSTON (AP) — A lawsuit brought by a former altar boy who alleges he was sexually abused as a child in the 1960s by a now-deceased Roman Catholic bishop and other clergy can proceed, the highest court in Massachusetts said in a decision released Thursday. The man from Chicopee...
Canada says pope's apology to Indigenous not enough
QUEBEC CITY (AP) — The Canadian government made clear Wednesday that Pope Francis’ apology to Indigenous peoples for abuses in the country’s church-run residential schools didn't go far enough, suggesting that reconciliation over the fraught history is still very much a work in progress. ...
Maine diocese says priest will return to ministry
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A Roman Catholic priest is returning to active ministry after an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse, the Diocese of Portland said Wednesday. The diocese said its investigation into the Rev. Robert Vaillancourt took a year. The allegations...
