News of abuse

CHURCH SEX ABUSE SCANDALS

Argentine bishop resumes work in Holy See as Vatican abuse probe wraps

15-06-2020 15:28 Vatican spokesman confirms Archbishop Gustavo Zanchetta has resumed work in Holy See, but claims it in no way interferes with investigations probing alleged sexual abuse.

Argentina

'We live with racism and marginalisation,' assert Afro-Argentine activists

11-06-2020 16:23 Three activists from different cultural backgrounds explain what it means to live as a member of the black community in Argentina, which, according to the last census, numbers more than 150,000.

by Stephanie Peuscovich

FURORE AT PROSECUTOR

Outrage over prosecutor who says alleged rapists were 'letting off steam'

06-06-2020 10:01 Chubut prosecutor Fernando Rivarola comes under criticism for description of 2012 gang rape by five youths.

Assault, torture and sexual abuse

Chaco police officers removed from post after vicious attack on Qom family

04-06-2020 09:00 Shocking scenes go viral on social media of police officers assaulting members of the Qom indigenous community in the Chaco Province town of Fontana. Local authorities intervene, "removing" officers from service and placing them under investigation, amid widespread condemnation of attack.

CHURCH SEX ABUSE SCANDALS

Cardinal Pell lawyers claim child sex conviction is 'wrong' in appeal

11-03-2020 12:48 Lawyers for disgraced cardinal claimed the senior cleric's conviction for child sex abuse was based on "improbabilities", as they launched a last-ditch appeal in Australia's top court on Wednesday.

LANDMARK #METOO TRIAL

Harvey Weinstein sentenced to 23 years for rape, sexual assault

11-03-2020 12:25 Weinstein, who has been accused of violating scores of women, was convicted last month of raping a woman in New York City in 2013 and forcibly performing oral sex on another woman at his apartment in 2006.

Coronavirus outbreak

Vatican suspends investigative mission to Mexico over coronavirus

06-03-2020 17:08 The Vatican suspends a mission to Mexico to investigate clerical abuse due to the inability to travel in the face of coronavirus.

CHURCH SEX ABUSE SCANDALS

French cardinal exits over failure to report alleged sex abuser

06-03-2020 13:34 The Pope has accepted the resignation of French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, whose conviction for shielding an alleged child-molesting priest was overturned on appeal last month.

Church Abuse

Vatican sends top two sex crimes investigators to Mexico

03-03-2020 10:42 Mexico, the second-largest Catholic country after Brazil, will be aided by the same investigators who shed light on Chile's extensive church abuse in 2018.

CHURCH SEX ABUSE SCANDALS

Próvolo abuse survivors ask Pope for justice

22-02-2020 10:26 Deaf survivors of clerical sexual abuse fly to Vatican, hoping to build pressure on Pope Francis to come clean about the crimes committed against them.

Church Abuse

Deaf Argentine abuse survivors target pope with defiant message

19-02-2020 15:33 The victims of the Próvolo Institute are seeking a private meeting with Pope Francis in an effort to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Child Abuse

Boy Scouts of America's future uncertain after bankruptcy filing

18-02-2020 11:51 A new barrage of sex-abuse lawsuits have forced the 110-year-old institution to reassess its future.

Long read: Church Abuse

Disgraced religious order tried to get abuse victim to lie

17-02-2020 16:04 The church went through great lengths to hide the truth that Reverend Reséndiz sexually abused a Venezuelan child, among others.

ABUSE SCANDAL

Harvey Weinstein trial reaches closing stages with jury set to decide fate

14-02-2020 14:01 The weeks-long trial against US movie mogul Harvey Weinstein nears the end with the prosecution making closing arguments in today's trial.

CHURCH ABUSE SCANDALS

Deaf Próvolo child abuse victims accuse Pope Francis of inaction

13-02-2020 14:49 The victims, represented by the global organisation Ending Clergy Abuse, have requested a public audience with the Argentine pontiff.

CHURCH SCANDALS

Pope defrocks Argentine priest for sexual misconduct, abuse of power

10-02-2020 22:57 Pontiff moves against Roberto Juan Yannuzzi, after a four-year investigation determined he had sex with adults under his authority, absolved them of the sin during confession and otherwise abused his power.

Catholic Church Abuse

Pope defrocks fellow Argentine priest Roberto Yannuzzi

05-02-2020 15:27 Yannuzzi stands accused of abusing his power by having sex with adults under his authority.

ABUSE SCANDAL

Court clears French cardinal who failed to report abusive priest

30-01-2020 17:00 Court in Lyon rules Cardinal Philippe Barbarin should not be held criminally liable for his lack of action over behavior of Priest Preynat, who had allegedly abused dozen of boys scouts during the 1980s and the 1990s.

CHURCH SCANDAL

Church sex abuse scandal deepens with La Plata priest’s suicide

21-12-2019 10:36 The recent suicide of Eduardo Lorenzo and the alleged cover-up surrounding possible decades of abuse sparks renewed discussion about the crisis of the Catholic Church in Argentina and around the world.

CHURCH SEX ABUSE SCANDALS

Vatican office lifts veil, revealing vast caseload of abuse claims

20-12-2019 17:28 Unprecedented numbers of reports flood the Vatican's central offices. The tribunal is already straining to keep up, and cases from a slough of new regions indicate that this recent surge is only the tip of the iceberg.

Church Sex Abuse Scandal

Pope Francis strips 'pontificial secrecy' from abuse-related cases in the Church

17-12-2019 13:55 While documentation from the Church's in-house legal proceedings will still not become public, the reform removes any excuse to not cooperate with legitimate legal requests from prosecutors, police or other civil authorities.

CHURCH SEX ABUSE SCANDALS

Legal reckoning: New abuse suits could cost Catholic Church over US$4 billion

02-12-2019 12:59 Catholic dioceses in the United States are facing a new wave of sexual abuse lawsuits after multiple states extended or suspended the statute of limitations to allow claims stretching back decades.

GENDER VIOLENCE

Thousands march to ‘shine a light’ on femicide and gender violence

30-11-2019 11:01 In Mendoza and across the country this week, demonstrators rallied to call for justice and and end to violence against women

by Carly Graf

PRÓVOLO ABUSE TRIAL

‘Survivors, not victims’ – ex-Próvolo students finally find justice in court

30-11-2019 10:50 Celebrations in Mendoza as two Catholic priests accused of sexually assaulting and raping students at Antonio Próvolo Institute for the deaf are sentenced to over 40 years in prison.

by Carly Graf

CHURCH SEX ABUSE SCANDALS

Bishop appears at court in Orán for hearing on abuse charges

27-11-2019 16:57 Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta returns to Argentina from the Vatican to attend hearing on sexual abuse charges.

Church Sex Abuse Scandal

Vatican still refusing to expel priests condemned in Próvolo case

27-11-2019 12:41 Convictions and sentencing of two priests for rape and sexual abuse of minors reignites controversy around Holy See's protection of members of the Catholic Church facing such allegations, many of whom continue to be supported by the institution.

by Mariana Sarramea

CHURCH SEX ABUSE SCANDAL

Próvolo victims hope priests' sentences send Pope a message

27-11-2019 07:25 "This is a watershed case for society, justice, the victims and also for the Church," warns bishop, as victims demand Pope Francis take note of historic abuse case at Provólo Institute in Luján de Cuyo.

TUCUMÁN SENATOR

Alperovich requests leave of absence from Senate after abuse allegations

26-11-2019 16:02 Senator José Alperovich continues to deny all charges of sexual abuse against him, but requests leave of absence, saying he needs time to ‘repair his honour.’

'PRÓVOLO' CASE

Priests who sexually abused deaf children get 40-year jail terms

25-11-2019 14:46 Mendoza court sentences Nicola Corradi to 42 years in prison and Horacio Corbacho to 45 years for sexually abusing deaf children at the Antonio Próvolo Institute for Deaf and Hearing Impaired Children.

CHURCH ABUSE SCANDALS

Verdict nears for Próvolo priests as Church struggles to deal with abuse scandals

25-11-2019 08:58 Pope Francis’ homeland faces a complicated week of reckoning with the sex abuse scandal that has plagued the Roman Catholic Church.

CATHOLIC CHURCH & ABUSE

Próvolo case: Legal team expects justice for Church sex abuse victim

23-11-2019 11:38 In this exclusive report from Mendoza, Carly Graf meets lawyers from Xumek, the NGO representing plaintiffs in the shocking ‘Próvolo’ scandal, in which two priests stand accused of the rape and sexual assault of minors at an institute for deaf children in Mendoza.

by Carly Graf

Ex-Tucumán governor

Relative accuses Senator José Alperovich of rape, sexual abuse

22-11-2019 20:31 Explosive allegations – stretching over period lasting more than a year – against three-time former governor of Tucumán Province spark immediate calls for his resignation.

CATHOLIC CHURCH

Argentine bishop accused of abuse slams prosecutors for seeking arrest order

22-11-2019 10:26 Gustavo Zanchetta has been formally accused of "aggravated continuous sexual abuse” of two seminarians, charges that carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

TRIAL IN MENDOZA

Verdicts for Próvolo priests accused of sexually abusing deaf children due Monday

20-11-2019 13:30 Lawyers ask for sentences of up to 50 years in the 'Próvolo' abuse case, in which two priests and a gardener are accused of rape and sexual assault of minors at institute for deaf children in Mendoza.

HUMAN RIGHTS

UN votes to launch new probe into Venezuela rights abuses

27-09-2019 09:41 Resolution tabled by more than a dozen countries from Latin America, including Argentina,adopted by the 47-member council. It called for the UN's top rights body to "dispatch urgently an independent international fact-finding mission" to Venezuela.

TEENAGE MOTHERS

Adolescent birth rate in Argentina has not dropped for 20 years

25-09-2019 07:30 Every year, 2,500 babies are born to those aged under 15 years old in Argentina. It's a figure that has remained stable for at least two decades.

by Mariana Sarramea

COURTS

Jonathan Fabbro handed 14 years in jail for sexual abuse of niece

29-08-2019 14:58 Former Boca Juniors and River Plate star found guilty of at least five counts of "severely outrageous sexual abuse” against his niece and goddaughter between 2015 and 2017.

CHURCH SCANDAL

Priests accused of abusing deaf students stand trial

10-08-2019 12:31 Nicola Corradi, 83, and Horacio Corbacho, 59, are charged with alleged crimes including rape and sexual abuse against deaf minors.

CHURCH ABUSE SCANDAL

Victims speak out as Próvolo Institute abuse trial begins in Mendoza

10-08-2019 12:17 Some 20 ex-students say they were sexually abused, including cases of rape, by two priests between 2004 and 2016. On Monday, two Catholic priests stood in the dock in Mendoza, charged with 28 alleged crimes, including rape and sexual abuse.

MENDOZA TRIAL

'They're demonic': the deaf victims of Argentina's paedophile priests speak out

05-08-2019 12:03 Victims testimony shakes trial of Catholic priests in Mendoza accused of sexual abuse.

SEXUAL ABUSE

Ex-boxing champion Carlos Baldomir given 18 years for sexual abuse of daughter

31-07-2019 13:26 Former welterweight champion unanimously convicted of "repeated sexual abuse" of a minor in the court.

TRIAL ENDS

Rock star sentenced to 22 years in prison for sexual abuse of minors

12-07-2019 17:36 Cristian Aldana, the leader of local band El Otro Yo, handed more than two decades behind bars after being found guilty of the sexual abuse of minors.

ABUSE SCANDAL IN CHURCH

Bishop close to Pope Francis formally accused of abuse in Argentina for first time

07-06-2019 17:52 The prosecutor's office in Salta Province said Friday that prosecutor Mónica Viazzi had accused Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta of "aggravated continuous sexual abuse."

SEX ABUSE SCANDAL

Pope: Argentine bishop accused of abuse is now facing Vatican trial

28-05-2019 17:27 Pontiff says he received the results of a preliminary investigation into Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta two weeks ago and ordered the case be handed over for trial by a Church tribunal.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Pope Francis fights for Ireland to keep the faith

25-08-2018 11:34 Once a bastion of Roman Catholicism, the nation is unrecognisable from 40 years ago, when divorce was banned and same-sex marriage unheard of.

VATICAN MEETS ‘METOO’

Nuns denounce Catholic priests who abused them

28-07-2018 11:28 Buoyed by the #MeToo movement and the growing recognition that adults can be victims of sexual abuse when there is an imbalance of power in a relationship, sisters are going public after years of inaction by Church leaders.