OTTAWA  – A sexual abuse victim from Windsor, Ont., is reserving judgment on the Vatican sex abuse summit until she sees the results.

The abuse summit began with the voices of the abused … five testimonies gathered from around the world.

OTTAWA – The Canadian bishop who participated in the Vatican abuse summit believes the unprecedented gathering of Church leaders is a “sign of hope” that the Church is finally coming to grips with the worldwide problem of sexual crimes against minors.

ROME – The Catholic sisters who took part in Pope Francis' summit on clergy sexual abuse say they hope the presence of a dozen women at the gathering sets a standard for a growing presence of women at Vatican meetings of bishops.

VATICAN – The time has come for an "all-out battle" against the abuse of minors, erasing this abominable crime from the face of the earth, Pope Francis said, closing a global four-day summit on child protection in the Catholic Church.

VATICAN – Transparent, reliable and respectful administration is critical for counteracting sinful behavior within the Catholic Church, said German Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising.

Even before Pope Francis called on bishops from around the globe to meet for a Vatican sex abuse summit, a Toronto priest was travelling to parishes to talk about the origins of and solutions to clergy abuse of minors.

Long ago, a childhood friend and I were walking across an old wooden bridge in the small town where we lived when a car stopped to offer us a ride. The local priest was at the wheel.

It is déjà vu all over again for Canadian bishops who travelled to Rome for the Vatican’s meeting on the protection of minors in the Church.

VATICAN – The abuse crisis in the Catholic Church is a call for bishops to unmask the deep-seated clericalism that placed protection of the institution of the church above the sufferings of victims, said the head of the council of Latin American bishops. 

VATICAN – Catholics need to know that their leaders "mean business" when it comes to protecting minors from abuse, the Vatican's top abuse investigator told representatives of the world's bishops and religious orders.

DUBLIN – Ahead of a major Vatican summit on the protection of minors, Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh, Northern Ireland, has criticized Catholics who use the issue of clerical abuse to score points against people they disagree with in the church.

VATICAN – Catholics should speak up when things go wrong in the church, but theirs must be constructive criticism delivered with love, Pope Francis said, otherwise the devil is at work.

ROME – People must stop using homosexuals as scapegoats for the sexual abuse of children, two male survivors of abuse by priests told reporters.

VATICAN – Twisted ideas of power and authority in the Catholic Church have contributed to the clerical sexual abuse crisis, leaders of religious orders said, but sometimes the positive "sense of family" in their own communities also made them slow to act.