"Questions about what John Paul II knew and did as pope have largely been resolved since the Vatican report, so it seems those arguing against his sanctity are now looking to his time in Krakow. But the reliance on secret police files, particularly relating to abusing priests who were subject to threats and blackmail, is highly questionable. The [police] routinely put out false, manipulative information to suit its purposes."

Priests, as the national survey indicates, regard bishops as the last ones to whom they would turn for spiritual or theological support. Is it any wonder vocations to the priesthood are in steep decline, with major archdioceses ordaining no one or only a handful of men. It is much too facile to blame secular culture for this descent. The bishops must examine their own consciences.

In the hierarchical culture and jurisprudence of the Catholic Church, disobedience to legitimate authority is never taken lightly, and when it’s done out loud and in clear public view, it’s akin to the sin against the Holy Spirit.

It’s not as simple as “ Vatican bad, canceled priest good.” One thing has always been clear in Church history: bishops have the authority to change the assignments of priests under them - even when they do it for less-than-ideal reasons, they still have that authority. When a diocesan priest is ordained, he makes a promise to obey his bishop and his bishop’s successor—that promise is far more sacred and engrained in the priestly vocation than any later desire to a specific ministry.

The Maryland Catholic Conference announced Monday it will support legislation to erase the statute of limitations for future victims to sue the church. The church, however, isn’t budging in its longstanding opposition to a “lookback window.” That would permit lawsuits from victims now older than 38 who are currently unable to sue.

A man who had said he was raped as a 10-year-old boy on an overnight trip by a Roman Catholic priest from New Orleans has reached an agreement to drop his lawsuit. The priest, in turn, agreed to drop a countersuit against the accuser, who is now in his 20s. That doesn’t mean the two sides reached a monetary settlement, only that they decided to walk away from the high-profile suits.

He said he’s completely perplexed by the origin of the case filed against him — he said he doesn’t know the name of the plaintiff — and hasn’t been legally served. Father said he was only informed of the accusation because a television station aired a story about him. “I know the accusation is false, nothing happened.” The suit, he said, “came as a shot out of nowhere.” He is the only accused priest in the diocese still serving in a clerical position.

The Diocese acknowledged a request on their part for further examination of Sheen’s record on handling claims of abuse against some priests. Wouldn’t the miracle attributed to Sheen’s intercession warrant and necessitate his beatification regardless of any behavior that may or may not be uncovered? When a miracle is approved, but a cause is effectively put on ice this way, consequences arise that even begin to call into question the entire beatification process.

Currently standing at 227 names, the list is more than three-times longer than the list of alleged abusers the bishop published in 2019, which includes priests deemed to have been “credibly accused” of abusing children by an internal diocesan review board. While the Diocese’s list only includes priests or religious order brothers “credibly accused’ of sexually abusing minors, the advocates' list takes a broader approach, also including lay church employees or priests alleged to have abused adults.

He is seeking $100,000 in damages for “injury to his reputation, honor and dignity." The countersuit claims that the “false” allegations made by the woman continue to cause “serious damage” to the Cardinal's personal and professional reputation. "His international reputation is therefore seriously tarnished by these false allegations,” states the countersuit. “On a more personal level, the Cardinal has experienced significant psychological anguish since the filing of the Application and the Complaint.”

Sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests has induced some jurisdictions, including Ireland, most states and territories of Australia, and some U.S. states, to pass laws introducing an exception to the confessional privilege. These new laws mandate that, when they obtain information in confession about the sexual abuse of a minor, priests and other ministers should report them to the secular authorities.

The Archdiocese released a letter saying that a review board found “no reason to suspect” that the priest was guilty of the allegations. He had stepped away from his duties as pastor during the review. The archbishop said in the letter that he recognizes the “great toll” Father's absence had on the parish and said “I am committed to do everything possible to see that his good name is restored.”

“It has been increasingly alleged that the pope did not deal adequately with [sexual abuse] and did little to address the problem, or even covered it up.” The bishops decried these as a “media assault” on St. John Paul II and his pontificate. The target of such criticisms was “his teaching expressed, for example, in encyclicals such as Redemptor hominis or Veritatis splendor, as well as in his theology of the body, which does not correspond to contemporary ideologies promoting hedonism, relativism, and moral nihilism.”

Filing for bankruptcy, the Bishop said, is a “necessity” so that the bankruptcy court can determine some form of justice for the people who have filed lawsuits. The Diocese does not have the resources to “justly compensate” all those who have alleged abuse, he added. “We can’t undo the wrong. We can’t undo the harm. And, we cannot afford to offer that which perhaps strict justice would demand,” he said. “We are incapable of it.”

The Roman Catholic Church, the main ideological competitor of the communist regime, was closely watched. Pope John Paul II was an icon on the world stage for a quarter of a century as a bishop from a communist country that oppressed the church. These accusations come from the archives of the Communist's security service operating in Poland. People who lived under communism see it as poisonous, a source of accusations and suspicions, and that the Communist Security Service lied and falsified.

“In many ways, this is not a freely chosen decision,” the Bishop said in a statement posted to the diocese’s website. “It is the inevitable result of an insurmountable number of claims.” He said the Chapter 11 process will allow the Diocese to handle the abuse claims collectively, rather than one at a time, while allowing the Diocese “to continue the various charitable ministries in which it is engaged.”

As a deadline nears for new lawsuits in sexual abuse cases, 66 Catholic clergy and religious accused of sexual abuse have been identified. Of those, 14 have been publicly identified for the first time. These new accusations have come to light under a 2019 California law that extended the statute of limitations for abuse cases. Assembly Bill 218 provided for a three-year window that began on Jan. 1 in 2020. The deadline to file new lawsuits is Dec. 31, 2022.