The 2023 Synod on Synodality can’t come fast enough for physician, ethicist and expert on sexual abuse by priests Sr. Nuala Kenny.

Just in case any of us thought the abuse crisis in the Church has moved from a boil to a simmer, the report from an independent commission on sexual abuse in France has turned up the heat yet again — as it should.

AUCKLAND, New Zealand -- Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Charles Drennan of Palmerston North.

WASHINGTON -- Theodore McCarrick, a former cardinal and archbishop of Washington who was laicized last February following a Vatican trial on sexual abuse charges leveled against him, continued to deny he had abused anyone in an August interview with the online journal Slate.

FREIBURG, Germany -- Responding to criticism of notes he published about the roots of the clerical sexual abuse crisis, retired Pope Benedict XVI said the fact that the critiques barely mentioned God proved his point.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- An independent investigative firm is reviewing the Diocese of Charlotte's priest personnel files as part of the diocese's effort to release the names of all clergy credibly accused of child sexual abuse, the diocese announced Aug. 12.

VATICAN CITY -- As the Catholic Church in Chile continues to deal with the fallout of clerical sexual abuse and its cover-up, the Chilean government passed a law removing the statute of limitations on sex abuse crimes against children.

OTTAWA -- Pope Francis is leading efforts to heal the wounds of the sexual abuse scandals so the Church can fulfill her mission, says Canada’s apostolic nuncio.

As the U.S. Catholic bishops met in Baltimore to discuss new mechanisms to hold themselves accountable on sex abuse, the Southern Baptist Convention was wrestling with the same vexing issue at its annual meeting June 11-12 in Birmingham, Alabama.

BALTIMORE -- As has been the case for years now, a small group of protesters dismissive of the U.S. bishops' efforts to enact reforms in their handling of sexual abuse cases gather outside the Baltimore hotel where they conduct their general meeting.

The Church has a major communications problem when it comes to clerical abuse.

That’s the conclusion from communications professionals working for the Church after seeing the results of an Angus Reid Institute poll that said more than three-quarters of Canadians (78 per cent) believe the Catholic Church has done a poor or very poor job of handling the sexual abuse crisis.

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Should an appeals court uphold his conviction for child sexual abuse, Australian Cardinal George Pell appears to have come to terms that his spectacular fall from grace could be complete in upcoming days.

OTTAWA -- A majority of Canadian Catholics believe the clerical sexual abuse crisis has been mishandled by the Church, but the scandals have not caused a faith crisis and most Catholics still support Pope Francis, according to a national survey.

VATICAN CITY – The clerical abuse crisis and the "crisis of credibility" it created for the U.S. bishops have led to serious divisions within the U.S. Catholic Church and to a temptation to look for administrative solutions to problems that go much deeper, Pope Francis told the U.S. bishops.

BALTIMORE – Luis A. Torres Jr. stood before a group of U.S. bishops during one of the most publicly watched of their fall annual meetings Nov. 12 in Baltimore and in doing so revealed to the world the reality that he has lived with since childhood: that he was abused by a priest.