The international timeline, from Irish Times:
1984 – The first case of clerical child sex abuse to go public – Fr Gilbert Gauthé in Louisiana , USA, is revealed as a serial paedophile.
1985 – Fr Tom Doyle, a US canon law expert, warns of dire consequences if scandal is not dealt with openly and effectively. He is ignored and removed from his position in the Vatican embassy in Washington.
1993 – Pope writes to US bishops – “I share your sadness and disappointment” – but points out that the child sex abuse problem concerns only a small group of priests. His spokesman, Dr Navarro-Valls, sums up the Vatican attitude: “One would have to ask if the real culprit is not a society that is irresponsibly permissive, hyperinflated with sexuality and capable of creating circumstances that induce even people who have received a sound moral formation to commit grave immoral acts.”
1993 – Canadian bishop Hubert O’Connor resigns after being convicted of molesting teenagers at a boarding school.
1995 – Austrian Cardinal Hans Herman Groer resigns as head of the Austrian Catholic Church amidst allegations that he sexually abused boys. He remains on as Archbishop of Vienna.
1995 – Two German Catholic bishops investigated for covering up clerical child abuse
1997 – Australian bishop Ronald Mulkearns resigns after failing to act against a priest later convicted of child abuse.
1997 – Catholic diocese of Dallas, Texas, ordered to pay $118 million to victims of Fr Rudy Kos. It is the largest ever child sex abuse settlement. The diocese was held to have covered up Kos’s abuse.
2000 – UK Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor rejects calls for his resignation over his handling of Fr Michael Hill, who received a five-year jail sentence for child sex abuse.
2001 – French bishop Pierre Pican on trial for failure to report his knowledge of sex abuse crimes by a priest against children. He receives a three-month suspended sentence.
2001 – Reports made to Vatican of widespread sexual abuse of nuns by priests throughout Africa. No response from Vatican.
2001 - Archbishop of Cardiff, Dr John Aloysius Ward, resigns in midst of controversy over his handling of paedophile priests.
January-February 2002 – Clerical child sexual abuse scandal explodes in US with release of thousands of documents implicating Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston in a major cover-up.
March 2002 - Archbishop Juliusz Paetz resigns over allegations of improper behaviour with trainee priests.
April 2002 – US cardinals summoned to Rome by Pope as their child sex abuse crisis spreads nationwide.
June 2002 – Third US bishop resigns over abuse allegations. Bishop of Lexington Kentucky Kendrick Williams joins Bishops Anthony O’Connell (an Irishman) and Bishop Rembert Weakland, both forced to resign earlier in 2002.
October 2002 - Archbishop Edgardo Storni of Argentina resigns amidst allegations that he sexually abused seminarians.
December 2002 – Boston Cardinal Bernard Law resigns over evidence of cover-up.
June 2003 – ex-Governor of Oklahoma Frank Keating resigns as head of US Catholic Church sex abuse oversight panel after comparing some bishops to the mafia.
February 2004 – report finds 10,600 children abused by US priests since 1950.
July 2004 – Diocese of Portland is first in world to sue for bankruptcy in the face of compensation claims from clerical child abuse victims.
April 2005 – Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger becomes new Pope (Benedict XVI), following the death of John Paul II
July 2008 – Pope apologises for clerical child sex abuse scandal in Australia.
September 2009 – Canadian bishop Raymond Lahey resigns after his arrest for distributing and selling child pornography.
And the recent one, November 2009: Experts: Bishops covered up priests' child abuse. DUBLIN — Roman Catholic Church leaders in Dublin spent decades sheltering child-abusing priests from the law and most fellow clerics turned a blind eye, an investigation ordered by Ireland's government concluded Thursday.
I now understand better this yesterday news: Vatican: churches necessitate tickets.
"Paying tickets in the cathedrals and churches may seem inappropriate but it is often absolutely necessary for the enormous costs that the bishops must face..." Francesco Buranelli, secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Cultural Heritage of the Church.
They need money, much money, between trials and reparation...
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