Vatican

CNS photo/Evandro Inetti, pool

Vatican City

Pope lifts secrecy obligation for those who report having been abused

Pope Francis has abolished the obligation of secrecy for those who report having been sexually abused by a priest and for those who testify in a church trial or process having to do with clerical sexual abuse.

• Pope’s 2019: Preaching the Gospel globally, dealing with scandals

  

  By CINDY WOODEN, Catholic News Service
  Published December 12, 2019

  For Pope Francis, 2019 included his sixth anniversary as pope and his 50th anniversary as a priest, but it also was a year that saw him still confronted with the clerical sexual abuse crisis and with Vatican financial scandals. He earned more points than ever on his frequent-flyer card, making seven foreign trips in 2019.

• Kindly lights in gloomy world: Pope declares five new saints

  

  By CINDY WOODEN, Catholic News Service
  Published October 17, 2019

  Pope Francis formally declared five new saints for the Catholic Church Oct. 13 including St. John Henry Newman.

• Cardinal Sarah: To oppose the pope is to be outside the church

  

  By CINDY WOODEN, Catholic News Service
  Published October 9, 2019

  Guinean Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, said the people who portray him as an opponent of Pope Francis are being used by the devil to help divide the church.