As Theodore McCarrick faces criminal charges for alleged sexual abuse of a 16-year-old boy, the disgraced former cardinal's legal defense team is now claiming he is in steep mental and physical decline and therefore not able to stand trial.

The late Pope Benedict XVI's disgust over the abuse scandals marring the church was made evident even before his election as pope.

This week The Catholic Register publishes a rare guest editorial written by Lea Karen Kivi, author of Abuse in the Church: Healing the Body of Christ, who articulates concerns that we agree must be engaged regarding the effect of the adversarial legal system on clerical abuse cases. 

Montreal’s archdiocesan ombudsman is categorical that the new system to identify and oust clerical sexual abusers remains sound despite recent jarring events indicating the contrary.

Peel Regional Police have charged a retired Toronto priest for sexually assaulting a minor in the early 1980s. 

The retired judge who has co-chaired the Montreal Archdiocese's committee to implement abuse procedures has resigned, saying serious problems remain in the application of "regulations, policies and procedures approved by the archbishop."

Two more bishops, including one still serving, have been named in a new list of offenders filed in the class action against the Quebec Archdiocese.

The state-appointed chairman of the commission to investigate abuse in the Archdiocese of Cologne has quit, saying he doubted the independence of the commission and wondered whether its main aim was to protect Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki.

Two Quebec bishops, one deceased and one living, have been named in a sexual abuse class action against the Archdiocese of Quebec.

The Archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth will pledge up to $10 million to settle a class action lawsuit over acts of sexual abuse committed by diocesan priests dating back nearly seven decades.

The renowned Catholic news organization La Croix International recently published an article appealing for ways to summarize the damage from revelations that 11 French bishops, including a retired Cardinal, are under investigation for sexual abuse.

John Swales, survivor of years of horrific sexual abuse at the hands of London, Ont., priest Barry Glendenning, doesn’t want Catholics to walk away from their Church over another round of abuse revelations emanating now from France. He wants the Church to change.

Italian diocesan "listening centers" for victims of abuse took reports from 89 people against 68 priests or other church personnel in 2020 and 2021, the Italian bishops' conference reported.

The Vatican will open an investigation into French Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, the retired archbishop of Bordeaux, who admitted in a public letter that he had abused a 14-year-old girl 35 years ago.

The French Ministry of Justice announced that France will not extradite Oblate Father Joannès Rivoire to Canada.