Church Sex Abuse Scandal

The director of Spotlight, Tom McCarthy, has made just five films, but he’s already one of the fine directors in this country. He’s precise and deliberate…

In 1960, an Irish priest sexually abused Marie Collins. Now Pope Francis has named her to a Vatican panel on the church pedophilia crisis.

Pope Francis ordered his staff to promote measures that protect minors above all. A leading victim advocacy group dismissed the pope's call, saying, "actions speak louder than words."

The new pontiff has no real record of speaking out about sexual abuse cases, though one prominent priest under his leadership was convicted in 2009 in Buenos Aires.

The settlement stems from what Cardinal Roger Mahony, who is in Rome helping elect the next pope, called "the most troubling case of his tenure."

Alleging that the cardinals either ignored or covered up cases of sexual abuse involving priests, the groups are pushing to keep those cardinals from being part of the deliberations. The cardinals have either not commented or denied wrongdoing.

During sentencing the judge said William Lynn had enabled "monsters in clerical garb" to abuse children.

Msgr. William J. Lynn was found guilty of endangerment but acquitted of conspiracy. Lynn was the first Catholic official in the country to face trial in the aftermath of the abuse scandal.

In a Philadelphia courtroom Thursday, jurors will hear closing arguments in a historic case involving the Catholic sex abuse scandal. William Lynn, a monsignor in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, is the first high-level church official to be tried for his involvement in covering up child abuse.

The Philadelphia clergy sex-abuse trial has been brutal for Monsignor William Lynn, the first high-level Catholic official to be criminally prosecuted. Lynn's charges are not for abusing minors, but for failing to protect children from predator priests.