News & Updates

A royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse released damning statistics on the scale of the crisis within the Catholic Church.

A prominent and outspoken British member of a papal advisory commission on sexual abuse by the clergy on Saturday refused to step down despite a no-confidence vote, and said only Pope Francis could dismiss him.

MPs, a lord chief justice, a member of the royal family and public school headmasters all intervened to stop a bishop being prosecuted for sexual abuse 22 years ago, the Old Bailey has heard.

The findings are part of a report documenting widespread physical, cultural and sexual abuse at government-sponsored residential schools run mostly by churches that Indian, Inuit and other indigenous children were forced to attend. 

Catholic church leaders accused of creating public nuisance.

Bishop Max Davis is believed to be the most senior clergyman in the Catholic Church, and the first bishop, to be charged with a child sex offence.  

UN experts reject argument that Vatican only exercises control over city state and is not accountable for priests' actions worldwide.

Joint press release by CRIN and OMCT on the UN Committee against Torture's Concluding Observations of the Holy See

In May 2014 the UNCAT reviewed the Holy See, and asked detailed questions about child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. Read the “unofficial minutes” produced by the World Organization Against Torture and CRIN.

Pennsylvania's highest court will review the long-debated prosecution of a Roman Catholic church official who was tried, imprisoned and then freed over his handling of priest sex-abuse complaints.

Vatican has faced sharp questioning by UN about whether it failed to abide by an international treaty against torture in its response to the sexual abuse of children by priests.

Joint press release by CRIN and OMCT ahead of the Holy See's review before the UN Committee against Torture

A new commission that will advise Pope Francis on sex abuse policy within the church includes an Irish psychiatrist who was assaulted by a chaplain when she was 13 years old. But it remains unclear if the commission will deal with the critical issue of disciplining bishops who cover up for abusers. 

This commentary notes how the Holy See has disregarded the rights of victims of sexual abuse by clerics and its mandatory reporting duties to UN bodies, and has been written to coincide with the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child's recent review of the Holy See.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child has released its concluding observations on the Holy See’s review.  

A firm of top international lawyers says it intends seeking huge damages from British public schools where former pupils have suffered serious sexual abuse by teachers.

Report from child rights group outlines allegations and controversies relating to sex attacks by clerics.

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child is reviewing the Holy See on child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church on 16 January. CRIN is reporting LIVE from Geneva.