One survivor said a priest forced her to have abortions after raping her. The pope said he has come up with 21 "reflection points" designed to address the crisis.
Theodore McCarrick rose to power as a cardinal and archbishop of Washington, D.C. He became the most senior Catholic Church official in modern times to lose clerical status.
In his new book, soon to be a feature film, Andrew McCarten examines Popes Francis and Benedict XVI — and how having two living popes, for the first time in 600 years, has weakened the papacy.
The Catholic Church has been roiled by revelations about clergy abuse in dioceses across the country in 2018. It began with a Pennsylvania grand jury report in August that detailed decades of abuse.
Priests who sexually abuse children are like Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Jesus Christ, Pope Francis told a gathering of cardinals on Friday.
A preliminary investigation by the state's attorney general revealed the Illinois Catholic Church withheld from the public the names of at least 500 accused priests.
Politically conservative Catholics criticize Francis for being pro-migrant, anti-capitalist and less rigid in doctrine than predecessors. The cleric sex abuse scandals have emboldened these critics.
Guam's archdiocese is facing claims from nearly 200 alleged survivors. "Bankruptcy is the method to deliver the greatest measure of justice to the greatest number of victims," said a Church lawyer.
The list, which includes allegations dating back as far as 1948 and as recently as 1996, was released days after Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Archbishop Cardinal Donald Wuerl.