While the doors of the Synod on Synodality, taking place in the Vatican Oct. 4-29, are closed to journalists and the public, a group of survivors of sexual abuse anxiously awaits news on how the assembly addresses the clerical sexual abuse that affected their lives so painfully.

The Massachusetts sex abuse case against former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick fell apart Wednesday as all criminal charges were dismissed due to the disgraced former cleric being deemed no longer mentally competent.

A 33-year-old Catholic priest is charged with sexual assault and sexual interference with a minor as a result of an investigation by Peterborough Police Service’s Sexual Offences Unit.

Disgraced former cardinal Theodore McCarrick is not competent to stand trial in Massachusetts on charges that he sexually abused a teenage boy nearly 50 years ago, according to the prosecution's expert brought in to examine the now 92-year-old.

Retired Quebec Justice André Denis has been appointed by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, OMI Lacombe Canada and the Oblates of the Province of France to lead the Oblate Safeguarding Commission, an independent examination of historical allegations of sexual abuse against Johannes Rivoire.

What is the price of an abusive kiss by a predatory priest? How much should an unwanted fondle fetch to serve justice to the victim? Ask the class-action lawyers.

Survivors of abuse at the Mount Cashel orphanage in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s, and by clergy from the Archdiocese of St. John’s through the years, are poised to receive a financial settlement from the archdiocese by the end of the year.

More than 60 victims of sexual assault by clergy in the Archdiocese of Montreal, and their lawyers, will be poised June 9 to divide up a collective settlement approaching $15 million.

Dozens of survivors of abuse at the Mount Cashel Orphanage in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s will receive compensation from the Archdiocese of St. John’s beginning in the fall.

The Pope’s prayer intention for March 2023 was that victims of abuse find within the Church herself a concrete response to their pain and suffering. One organization already responding to such pain by building spiritual bridges between victims/survivors of clergy sexual abuse and the general Church community is Awake Milwaukee (Awake).

Pope Francis has updated the procedures for investigating allegations of sexual abuse or the cover up of abuse, specifying that the leaders of Vatican-recognized international Catholic lay associations and movements have the same responsibilities over their members that a bishop has over the priests of his diocese.

Publishing the names of credibly accused child sex abusers, as Canada’s Jesuit Fathers did March 12, is one small step toward creating a better Church, but it’s not enough for abuse survivor John Swales.

Canada’s Jesuit Fathers have published the names of 27 of their own men who, over a span of 70 years, have been credibly accused of sexually abusing children and young people under 18. 

Disgraced former cardinal Theodore McCarrick, whose attorneys have argued he should not stand trial due to "progressive and irreparable cognitive deficits," recalled the name of the man he allegedly sexually abused as a child, although he denied the sexual assaults.

A final report on abuse of children in Portugal’s Catholic Church has revealed more than 4,800 children had been victims of clergy sexual abuse in the country from 1950 to 2022.