The latest revelation of widespread child sexual abuse by US Catholic clergy has given impetus to efforts by legislators, including a Pennsylvania lawmaker who has said he was raped by a priest as a child, to make it easier to prosecute such cases.

Pennsylvania State Representative Mark Rozzi, 47, said he has fought for years to give people who say they were sexually assaulted as children more time to report such crimes to police in Pennsylvania, one of 14 US states considering bills to extend the statute of limitations for such offenses.

“We’re going to get what the victims want,” Rozzi said in a telephone interview on Wednesday, a day after a grand jury found that about 300 priests had sexually abused about 1,000 children over the past 70 years in Pennsylvania.

“You either support victims or you support pedophiles,” Rozzi said.

The grand jury report was the latest revelation in a scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church since the Boston Globe in 2002 reported that priests had preyed on young boys and girls and that church leaders had covered it up.

Similar reports have emerged in Europe, Australia and Chile, prompting lawsuits, sending dioceses into bankruptcy and undercutting the moral authority of the leadership of the Church, which has some 1.2 billion members around the world.

A statute of limitations is a law requiring that prosecutors bring a criminal case within a certain time frame. The advocacy group Child USA said such statutes can block justice as children may not realize they were victims of sex crimes for decades.

Amy Hill, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference, the bishops’ political arm in the state, declined on Wednesday to say whether bishops supported or opposed eliminating statutes of limitations.

“The time to discuss legislation will come later,” she said. “Our focus now is on improving ways that survivors and their families can recover.”

In the past, the group had spoken out against the idea. The national bishops’ conference did not respond to a request for comment.

Some 41 states have eliminated statutes of limitations for criminally prosecuting child sex abuse. Earlier this year, Michigan and Hawaii passed laws giving victims more time to report sexual assaults on children.

Pennsylvania was one of the first US states to raise the age for reporting child sexual abuse. In 2002 it lifted the age to 30 from 23 and five years later raised it to age 50.

State legislators are ready to take up Rozzi’s bill eliminating the limit, said Steve Miskin, a spokesman for House Majority Leader Representative Dave Reed. “It’s definitely something that he’s looking to bring up sooner than later,” Miskin said.

Tuesday’s report could help push through bills in states from California to New Hampshire that would relax the limits for criminal or civil action on sexual assaults on children, said Marci Hamilton, chief executive of the advocacy group Child USA.

Sexual abuse of children extends far beyond the Catholic Church, with teachers and sports coaches also facing accusations.

Given that child abusers in positions of power can continue to assault children for decades, making it easier to prosecute them could prevent future abuse if abusers are imprisoned or lose their positions, Hamilton said in a telephone interview.

“What we want to do is to find out who the hidden child predators are,” said Hamilton, who is also a professor of religion and law at the University of Pennsylvania.

Costs related to such cases have taken a heavy toll on church coffers, reaching nearly $600 million since July 2013, according to a May report by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

US church leaders have said that they have implemented extensive new measures to prevent the sexual abuse of children by clergy.

(Source: Reuters)

Escalating violence in Cameroon, including graphic violence against women and children, has drawn condemnation from the World Council of Churches (WCC).

“The World Council of Churches condemns all forms of violence in Cameroon and calls on the government to stop using any force to punish its people in the English-speaking region of Cameroon,” said Prof. Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri, WCC acting general secretary, commenting on the current cycle of violence in the Central African country.

“Cameroon authorities must immediately cease the use of disproportionate and deadly force against civilians and protect the human rights of all,” she added.

The incidents are part of increasing violence against civilians in Cameroon, where, in the last three years, the Cameroonian military has been waging a multifront war against Anglophone separatists, especially in the western part of the country, and against Boko Haram in the north.

Phiri also called for prayers for peace in Cameroon and reaffirmed the WCC’s solidarity with the estimated 160,000 civilians who have been displaced by the fighting.

In recent weeks, a video that appears to show Cameroonian soldiers in the Mayo-Tsanaga region executing two women, a young girl and a baby was widely circulated on social media, bringing to light one of the atrocious aspects of the conflict. Another video was broadcast in June showing soldiers wearing Cameroonian uniforms setting fire to two houses in a village located in the English-speaking region of the country.

The government of Cameroon initially denounced the Mayo-Tsanaga video as “fake news” but has since announced a formal investigation and arrested four soldiers.

Phiri also noted the severe gender injustice going on in Cameroon. “As in most conflict situations worldwide, violence disproportionally affects women, who become especially vulnerable when law and order break down,” she said.

The Presbyterian Church in Cameroon in July organized a “Week of Prayer for Cameroon in Times of Crisis,” calling for repentance, a cease fire and a peace plan. The World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) is planning a solidarity visit to Cameroon.

There is growing concern that upcoming presidential elections, scheduled for 7 October, will lead to further intensification and militarization of the conflict in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions. President Paul Biya has been in power since 1982 and announced on 13 July that he will be running for a seventh term.

Source: WCC

An Australian archbishop convicted of concealing abuse by a notorious pedophile priest in the 1970s says he hopes his stepping down would be a “catalyst to heal pain and distress” after his resignation was accepted by Pope Francis.

The Vatican announced on Monday the departure of Philip Wilson, sentenced to a year in detention earlier this month, after becoming one of the highest-ranking church officials to be convicted on the charge in May.

Wilson was found guilty in an Australian court of failing to report allegations against pedophile priest Jim Fletcher.

He submitted his resignation, which he says was not requested by the Vatican, on July 20, a day after Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called on the Pope to sack the 67-year-old.

In a statement released by the Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide on Monday, Wilson said, “I made this decision because I have become increasingly worried at the growing level of hurt that my recent conviction has caused within the community.”

Turnbull welcomed the resignation in a statement to Fairfax Media on Monday, adding that “there is no more important responsibility for community and church leaders than the protection of children.”

Wilson had long denied the charges and initially resisted calls to resign pending an appeal against his conviction.

His legal team made four attempts to have the case thrown out, arguing that their client suffered from Alzheimer’s and should therefore avoid trial.

But a magistrate in Australia found Wilson guilty of concealing a serious indictable offence of another person, concluding that his primary motive was to protect the church.

He said when sentencing him Wilson had showed “no remorse or contrition.”

The court has adjourned the matter until August 14 to assess whether Wilson can serve his sentence under home detention.

Wilson’s conviction comes amid a host of accusations that the Catholic Church ignored and covered up child abuse in Australia, charges that have also plagued other countries.

Over five years of investigations, the royal commission spoke to thousands of victims and heard claims of abuse, involving churches, orphanages, sporting clubs, youth groups and schools.

Wilson’s departure comes just two days after the Pope accepted the resignation of US cardinal Theodore McCarrick, 88, accused of sexually abusing a teenager while working as a priest in New York in the early 1970s.

McCarrick is just the second cardinal ever to lose his status. He remains a priest pending the Vatican investigative process.

Last month, Francis accepted the resignation of five Chilean bishops amid accusations of abuse and related cover-ups.

(Source: AFP)

The Government of Ghana has promised to help return the body of the late Ghanaian missionary who was gruesomely killed in Cameroon .

This follows complaints by the family of the 28-year old missionary to the effect that the government had ignored their calls for help.

The deceased, Apostle Isaac Attoh, who is survived by a young widow and a two-month old baby boy was shot dead in the troubled town of Batibo in Cameroon.

The deceased was dressed with his clerical when he was killed.

Observers have condemned the death of the pastor, but the church in Cameroon is yet to make an official intervention.

Unconfirmed reports say Attoh was killed alongside two other Ghanaians who are yet to be identified.

Efforts by some stranded Ghanaian pastors and friends in Cameroon to retrieve the body of the deceased had proven futile, as the military was unwilling to release the body to anyone.

The late Isaac Attoh, the third of four siblings is survived by his wife and a 2-month-old baby boy.

His family had earlier urged the Ghanaian government and the International community to intervene and get his remains ferried to Ghana for burial.

It is unclear why the pastor will be shot, but there is currently a fast-escalating chaos in Cameroon after some activists began peaceful protests to request that English language be used in the courtrooms and public schools of the country’s two anglophone regions including Bamenda.

Dozens of people have so far died, with hundreds imprisoned, and thousands escaping across the border to Nigeria as a result of the situation.

If the situation is not defused through dialogue, the entire country could be destabilised ahead of elections in the autumn, according to the International Crisis Group.

Source: Modern Ghana

Sermon by Fr. Maurice Ashley Agbaw-Ebai (AMDG)

Mulhiem an der Ruhr, Germany, July 22, 2018

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Praise Be Our Lord Jesus Christ, Both Now and Forever, Amen!

During this Liturgy on this Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, July 22, 2018, we are gathered in this beautiful Church here at Mulhiem an der Ruhr, Germany, for two reasons: Firstly, to worship God, Father, Son and Spirit, on this Day of the Lord, Dies Domini, as all good Catholics should. More specifically, and this is the second reason for our gathering here today, this time of worship together has the particular intention of praying for the Emeritus Bishop of Mamfe, Francis Teke Lysinge. We are praying for Bishop Lysinge today because he is, in a certain sense, the spiritual grandfather of this Cameroon Catholic Community here at Mulhiem, Germany. Thank you for being here. Thank you for your generosity in many ways.

Given my relationship with Bishop Lysinge, I thank God that I am able to be here in Mulheim, Germany, for this mass offered for Bishop Lysinge. I am also grateful to Fr. Constant Leke, your beloved pastor of this Cameroon Catholic Community, and my dear friend, for the privilege to both preside and preach at this Holy Mass. In the name of Fr. Constant Leke and the Cameroon Catholic Community here at Mulhiem, I offer a warm welcome to all of you here present, especially our non-Catholic friends that have responded to our invitation. Living in a social media age, I am conscious that even as I speak, this celebration is a “happening now” on many Facebook pages, WhatsApp accounts, Twitter, Instagram, et cetera. On this note, I offer warm greetings to all those the world over who might be live streaming this event on social media. May Jesus bless you with peace, health and joy, wherever you might be on God’s good planet.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, today’s liturgy of the word offers us the account of the return of the apostles from the evangelization mandate commissioned by Our Blessed Lord – Mk. 6:30-34. Last Sunday, Jesus had sent them out two by two, with authority over unclean spirits, to cast out demons, to preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and to heal the sick (Mk. 6:7-13). This Sunday, we get the feedback. The apostles are back, and apparently recorded great success. With the Lord, success in terms of fruitfulness is often the likely outcome, even when we feel that we are useless servants, doing no more than our duty (Lk. 17:10).

Dear Brothers and Sisters, the urgency of this mandate to bring men and women to Christ is reflective even in the post-evangelization reporting in the gospel text of today’s liturgy:  “When he (Jesus) disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.” How can we too not be moved, even today, when we see the brokenness of lives, almost littered all around us? Yes, even today, the Lord looks on us with pity, for he seeks our broken lives, our poor lives, marked often times, by the desire to do the good, to want to be better, yet, failing, again and again, falling from the mark, which is etymologically what sin is, that is, to miss the mark! We too, as responsible beings, miss the mark when we allow ourselves to be seduced by the triple concupiscence enlisted in 1John 2:16: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Even our  beloved homeland has become a battle field, with people being massacred on a daily basis, while the so-called International Community, in words reminiscent of the Soldiers on Good Friday on that Sacred Hill of Calvary, are sitting and watching (Mathew 27:36)! The Soldiers on Calvary seem to be the Patron Saints of the  International Community: they sit and watch, as lives are being lost on a daily basis  in the new Calvary of Southern Cameroons.

Benedict XVI captured this drama of evil, pain and brokenness in the world, with admirable precision and heightened intensity, in his homily inaugurating his Petrine Ministry. Using the image of the Pallium, which is the piece of cloth worn by Metropolitan Archbishops, the Holy Father captured the existential drama of contemporary life with evocative and trenchant imagery. Permit me cite him:

“For the Fathers of the Church, the parable of the lost sheep, which the shepherd seeks in the desert, was an image of the mystery of Christ and the Church. The human race –   every one of us – is the sheep lost in the desert which no longer knows the way. The Son of God will not let this happen; he cannot abandon humanity in so wretched a condition. He leaps to his feet and abandons the glory of heaven, in order to go in search of the sheep and pursue it, all the way to the Cross. He takes it upon his shoulders and carries     our humanity; he carries us all – he is the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. What the Pallium indicates first and foremost is that we are all carried by Christ. But at the same time, it invites us to carry one another. Hence the Pallium becomes a symbol of the shepherd’s mission, of which the Second Reading and the Gospel speak. The pastor must be inspired by Christ’s holy zeal: for him it is not a matter of indifference that so many people are living in the desert. And there are so many kinds of  desert. There is the desert of poverty, the desert of hunger and thirst, the desert of      abandonment, of loneliness, of destroyed love. There is the desert of God’s darkness, the   emptiness of souls no longer aware of their dignity or the goal of human life. The   external deserts in the world are growing, because the internal deserts have become so vast. Therefore, the earth’s treasures no longer serve to build God’s garden for all to live in, but they have been made to serve the powers of exploitation and destruction. The   Church as a whole and all her Pastors, like Christ, must set out to lead people out of the desert, towards the place of life, towards friendship with the Son of God, towards the One  who gives us life, and life in abundance” (Benedict XVI, April 24, 2005).

Dear Friends in Christ, it is clear that the Gospel text places the figure of the Shepherd, the Apostles, front and center, in the Lord’s mandate of bringing hope to the people. Pastores dabo vobis, iuxta cor meum, the Lord says to the Prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 3:15) – I will give you shepherds after my own heart! Given that we are gathered here this Sunday in a special way to pray for Francis Teke Lysinge, our beloved Bishop Emeritus of Mamfe, it is in place to say a few words about the calling of this good and holy bishop. But first, we must remind ourselves that in the light of the Gospel text of today’s liturgy, bishops as pastors, are the successors of these apostles that we read of in the gospel of this liturgy. That is how the Catholic tradition has understood it.

And this process of self-understanding, of ecclesial maturation, has unfolded in the Church’s long history. At the First Vatican Council (1869-1870), in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Pastor Aeternus, the Council taught the infallibility of the Bishop of Rome. It taught that the Bishop of Rome as Supreme Pontiff, when he teaches ex cathedra, that is, from the chair, meaning in his capacity as Pope, Successor to the Apostle Peter, what he teaches, pertaining to faith and morals, is solemnly binding on the universal church and Catholics are expected to give an assent of mind and heart to such a proclamation. The outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), interrupted the Council and prematurely ended it. That left Catholicism with an unbridled monarchical papacy, in which the Bishop of Rome was left hanging alone, as it where, above the Church.

With the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), the Bishops gathered in Council, as Successors of the Apostles, sought to do an ecclesial balancing act of the unfinished business of the First Vatican Council. In the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, and in the Decree Concerning the Pastoral Office of Bishops in the Church, Christus Dominus, the Bishops taught that as Successors of the Apostles, Bishops were not mere emissaries or ambassadors of the Pope. Pertaining to their local churches, they are proper pastors who, certainly, together with the Pope, sub and cum Petro, constitute an apostolic college charged with the governance of the universal Church. In this way, Vatican II enfleshed the monarchical character of governance of the Petrine ministry with a collegial character of the Episcopate.

This is the body, the Episcopate, into which on April 21, 1999, Francis Teke Lysinge was called into, by the Grace of God and the Apostolic See. Born in Bokwango on December 28, 1938, to Albert Lysinge and Juliana Jofi Mbua, both long called to eternal rest, Francis Teke Lysinge is the second son in a family of four boys and three girls. His father was from Bokwango Village while his mother was from Buea Town. His father was a teacher in the Native Authority (NA) School of Muea and so eventually moved from Bokwango to Muea. His parents were Protestants, and so originally Bishop Lysinge was baptized in the Basel Mission Church Bimbia-Victoria where he started his Primary School in 1945 as Godwill Teke Lysinge.

As a young man, Godwill Teke Lysinge, as he was then known, had gone to Sasse College, the Premier Secondary School in the then West Cameroon, – which we say now with clear nostalgia, – to pursue the dreams of a brighter future the aspiration of every young person. He studied in Sasse from 1953-1958. Bishop Lysinge did not go to Sasse to become a priest! It was in 1955, while in Sasse, that the young Lysinge felt that the Lord, whom he had always loved and knew, might have other plans for him. He repeatedly told me that priesthood was never in his mind when he entered Sasse. He will later on say YES to the Lord, proceeding to Bigard Memorial Seminary, Enugu, Nigeria, for Major Seminary Studies in Philosophy and Theology. On April 17^th 1966, together with his lifelong friend, Christian Cardinal Tumi, Emeritus Archbishop of Douala and others, Godwill Teke Lysinge who, upon “converting” to Catholicism had taken the name Francis after St. Francis Xavier, said ad sum to the Lord’s call, and was ordained a priest of God, secundum ordine Melchizedek. His service as Spiritual Director in St. Thomas Aquinas’ Major Seminary is legendary.

Now is not the time to offer an assessment of the rich episcopacy of Francis Teke Lysinge. I will offer two indications that are pointers to what I consider to be the most enduring legacy of our beloved Francis Teke Lysinge. And all are derived from the choices he made from the Word of God, first, at his ordination as priest, and secondly, as bishop.

At his ordination as a priest, the young Fr. Francis Lysinge chose as his ordination motto, the self-effacing words of St. Paul, Apostle to the Gentiles: I am what I am, by the grace of God (1 Corinthians 15:10). Anyone who has ever encountered this Priest of God knows that it is never about Francis Lysinge. Meeting Lysinge, it is always about God. His instinctual temperament could best be described with the words of John the Baptist vis-à-vis Our Lord: He must increase, I must decrease (Jn. 3:30).

If the date of one’s birth can have a significance for one’s life, then the birth of Francis Teke Lysinge on December 28, 1938, could very well be read as prophetically symbolic. December 28 is still within the Octave of Christmas, which is a time when the Church recalls in her liturgical and spiritual life, that at the fullness of time, God sent his Son into the world (Gal. 4:4). At the heart of Christmas is the basic, essential truth: God has entered the world. God is close to us. God is near us. We are not alone. I am not alone.

I am what I am, by the grace of God! Isn’t this essentially what the Christmas message causes to happen? Because God has entered history, I am! I am! I have being. I am not nothingness. I am someone. I have a name. God knows my name. Even if the powerful of the world do not know me, do not acknowledge me, do not recognize me, I am, by God’s grace. In this priestly ordination motto of the young Lysinge, one encounters a deeper theological metaphysics. It is an affirmation that my life is grounded on the firmer ground of the Lord: “The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock” (Matthew 7:25).

On April 21,1999, Francis Teke Lysinge who all along had always seen himself as being, thanks to grace of God, -I am what I am by the grace of God,-  entered into a new consciousness of what it means to live by the grace of God. For his episcopal motto, he chose, Fiat Voluntas Tua (Matthew 6:10). This is taken from the prayer of Jesus to the Father. The Our Father mirrors the relationship of intimacy between the Father and the Son. With this choice, Francis Teke Lysinge, in his unassuming way, manifested the core of his rich spiritual life: God is the center. My responsibility is to follow God.

But what does it mean to follow God? Essentially, and Lysinge’s life is a testimony to this, it is not a calculatedness in which I fashion God into my own image and likeness. To follow God is to place my life in the hands of God, knowing that it will ultimately end well, for even if I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for your shepherd rod and staff protects me (Ps. 23:4).

I am what I am by the grace of God! Thy Will Be Done! Dear Brothers and Sisters, in these two texts from Scripture, and the consistent and admirable way in which Francis Teke Lysinge lived them, we can be sure, that in Francis Lysinge, the Diocese of Mamfe and the Church in Africa, is offering the universal Church a sign of God’s presence, a mark of lowliness and humility, a presence of translucent holiness. Francis Teke Lysinge is a holy man. Francis Teke Lysinge is a holy priest. Francis Teke Lysinge is a holy bishop of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. It wouldn’t be presumptuous and out of place to hope that someday, God willing, the pilgrim Church will call on him from the triumphant church for help on the way, as the Church here, in the words of legendary Bishop of Hippo, Augustine, sails through the vicissitudes of the world, amidst the persecutions of the world and the consolations of God.

On January 25, 2014, our beloved Bishop Francis Lysinge handed over the See of Mamfe to his younger spiritual son, Most Rev. Andrew NKEA, current Bishop of Mamfe. Two years ago, Bishop Andrew Nkea sent Bishop Lysinge to Rome for medical attention, regarding his eyes. I was anxious that he Lysinge might not be able to “see” me again in this life, given the deteriorating condition of his eyes. From Regensburg, Germany, I quickly flew to Rome, to spend time with Bishop Lysinge. I can never forget that moment, in which I entered his room at the Mater Ecclesiae house in Rome. It was for me great joy that he could see me. It was a great joy for both of us, for in a unique way, which perhaps none of you sitting here in this Church might fully comprehend,in Francis Teke Lysinge, God gave me a fatherly love that I might never have had. I was anxious for him to see that a book I was working on, On the Question of God in the Theology of Joseph Ratzinger, is being dedicated to him. I showed him the manuscript and asked him to read the dedication page. When he read it and read his name, he smiled. Tears welled up in my eyes. He then said to me that though he is retired, he has not retired from prayers. And that he prays for me daily. He said the only work he does now for Mamfe is to pray for his successor and for Mamfe diocese, that the diocese will continue to grow.

We can be sure, that now that his sight is failing him, Francis Teke Lysinge is seeing much more now with the heart, like Blessed John Henry Newman – Cor ad cor loquitur – Heart speaks to heart. The one who throughout his life has spent countless hours before the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, gazing at the Lord, looking at him, listening to him, falling in love with the Lord, speaking with the Lord, now has those biological eyes that give him physical sight, almost taken away. Bishop Lysinge, like the saints before him, has entered into his own via Crucis. And like most of the saints, has accepted the crosses that come with aging:

“O Lord, it is you who are my portion and cup; it is you yourself who are my prize.
The lot marked out for me is my delight: welcome indeed the heritage that falls to me!

I will bless the Lord who gives me counsel, who even at night directs my heart.
I keep the Lord ever in my sight:
since he is at my right hand, I shall stand firm.

And so, my heart rejoices, my soul is glad;
even my body shall rest in safety.
For you will not leave my soul among the dead, nor let your beloved know decay.

You will show me the path of life, the fullness of joy in your presence, at your right-hand happiness forever” (Ps 16:5-11).

Thank you, God, for the gift of your priest, holy Bishop Francis Teke Lysinge. May your grace sustain him during this Nunc Dimittis period of his life. And may his prayers for  the world continue to keep the window of the world open to the life-giving breath of God, saving us from a suffocating despairing nihilism! Amen.

Cameroonians in the Federal Republic of Germany are hoping that it will be a beautiful, sunny afternoon in Mulheim an der Ruhr, as members of the Cameroon Catholic Community gather in St. Mariae Rosenkranz Catholic Church for a special celebration of the Eucharist to thank God for the life and ministry of the much loved Primate.

Retired Bishop Francis Lysinge served as the Spiritual leader in the Major Seminary in Bambui and as Bishop of Mamfe before commissioning the first ever Cameroon Catholic Community in Mulheim, Germany.

The preacher at the service will be Rev. Father Maurice Agbaw-Ebai together with several other German and African priests who are serving in the Nordrhein Westphalia province. A release from the Mulheim Pastoral Council said the focus of the mass will be on the threefold Order of Ministry of Deacon, Priest and Bishop: A Deacon voices discipleship. A Priest voices presence. A Bishop voices engagement.

The Parish Priest Rev. Father Constant Leke was quoted as saying that he believes that all of the explorations and expressions of the three ordained ministries are already present and powerful in the laity and that the releasing of these gifts and inspirations as lay leadership, is a work on which the Cameroon Catholic Community, so dear to the heart of Bishop Lysinge, has only begun.

This special Mass is slated for Sunday July 22 at 13 hrs CET in Muelheim Germany

By Tambendiparrah

Chilean authorities on Friday seized documents and computers in raids targeting the Catholic Church in the cities of Temuco and Villarrica amid a pedophilia scandal that has gripped the country, judicial sources said.

Local media reported that the investigation began on June 19 following allegations of sexual abuse against five clergy members.

The operations took place after the bishops of the cities refused to hand over information requested by prosecutors.

The raids came after prominent Chilean Catholic priest Oscar Munoz, who was vice-chancellor and then chancellor in the archdiocese of Santiago, was detained Thursday over allegations that he sexually abused and raped seven children between 2002 and 2018.

Munoz, 56, faces a 15-year prison sentence for the alleged abuse, which took place from 2002 in the capital city of Santiago and the southern city of Rancagua.

He was placed in preventative detention on Friday.

The Chilean church has been hit by pedophilia scandals implicating dozens of priests.

Pope Francis has accepted the resignations of five bishops, four of whom were accused of turning a blind eye to abuse or covering it up.

(Source: AFP)

Pope Francis on Friday called for a greater ‘solidarity and mercy’ to be shown towards migrants. The pope was speaking at a special mass at the Vatican called to commemorate the fifth anniversary of his trip to the Italian island of Lampedusa, one of the main entry points into Europe for migrants.

Pope Francis called for countries to treat migrants in a humane manner adding that a just policy is one at the service of the person, of every person involved; a policy that provides for solutions that can ensure security, respect for the rights and dignity of all.

‘‘Before the challenges of contemporary movements of migration, the only reasonable response is one of solidarity and mercy. A response less concerned with calculations, than with the need for an equitable distribution of responsibilities, an honest and sincere assessment of the alternatives and a prudent management. A just policy is one at the service of the person, of every person involved; a policy that provides for solutions that can ensure security, respect for the rights and dignity of all; a policy concerned for the good of one’s own country, while taking into account that of others in an ever more interconnected world’‘, the Pope said.

At the end of the mass Pope Francis shook hands with some 200 migrants that attended the service.

Reuters

A former Vatican diplomat has been handed a five-year prison term for the possession of child pornography.

Carlo Alberto Capella received the sentence from a Vatican court on Saturday.

In addition to serving prison time in the small jail inside the Vatican police force headquarters, Capella is required to pay a fine of $5,800.

Capella’s trial lasted two days, and he admitted at the first hearing on Friday that he had developed a “morbid” desire while working at the Vatican Embassy in Washington DC in 2016.

The priest confessed that when he was in the United States as a diplomat, he had collected dozens of pornographic photos and videos on his mobile phone.

The US State Department notified the Vatican in August 2017 of a possible violation of laws relating to child pornography by a member of the diplomatic corps of the Holy See accredited to Washington and asked that Capella’s diplomatic immunity be lifted so the priest — who is an Italian — could face charges there.

However, the Vatican refused to do so and recalled Capella from the US that year.

Also, Canadian police had issued an arrest warrant for Capella on suspicion of possessing and distributing child pornography on the internet while visiting a church in the country.

This is the latest scandal to hit the Catholic Church, which has a notorious track record of child sexual abuse carried out by priests and subsequent cover-ups by church authorities.

Catholic Church sexual abuse victims include some as young as three years old, with the majority being between the ages of 11 and 14.

Pope Francis, who was appointed in 2013 with a mandate to overhaul the Vatican, has promised strong action in response to sexual abuse cases and cover-ups.

Pope Francis’ official itinerary for his visit here in August has been revealed.

Among visits on his agenda will be with President Higgins at the Aras, the Capuchin Day Centre and Knock.

He will be in Ireland for just over 36 hours.

His full agenda is:

Saturday 25 August 2018

08:15

Departure by plane from Rome/Fiumicino for Dublin

10:30

Arrival at Dublin International Airport

OFFICIAL WELCOME

10:45

Transfer to Áras an Uachtaráin

© Getty Áras an Uachtaráin, the official residence and principal workplace of the President of Ireland in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, Ireland

11:15

Arrival at the Presidential Residence

WELCOME CEREMONY in front of the main entrance of the Residence

11:30

COURTESY VISIT TO THE PRESIDENT in the Presidential Residence

12:00

Transfer to Dublin Castle

© Getty Dublin Monument, Ireland

12:10

Arrival at Dublin Castle

MEETING WITH AUTHORITIES, CIVIL SOCIETY AND DIPLOMATIC CORPS in Dublin Castle

Speech of the Holy Father

15:30

Arrival at St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral

VISIT to the CATHEDRAL

16:15

Transfer to the Day Centre of the Capuchin Fathers

16:30

PRIVATE VISIT to the DAY CENTRE FOR HOMELESS FAMILIES of the CAPUCHIN FATHERS

19:30

© Getty Dublin , Ireland – 10 June 2018; A general view of Croke Park 

Arrival at Croke Park Stadium

19:45

FEAST OF FAMILIES in Croke Park Stadium

Speech of the Holy Father

Sunday 26 August 2018

08:40

Departure by plane for Knock

09:20

Arrival at the Airport in Knock

Immediate transfer to the Shrine

© Getty Ireland, County Mayo, Knock Shrine, Apparition Chapel, Altar with white marble statues on the wall where the apparition of the Blessed Virgin took place on August 21st 1879. (Photo by: Eye Ubiquitous/UIG via Getty Images)

09:45

Arrival at Knock Shrine

VISIT to the CHAPEL of Knock Shrine

ANGELUS on the square in front of the Shrine

Angelus of the Holy Father

10:45

Transfer to the airport in Knock

11:10

Arrival at the airport in Knock

11:15

Departure by plane for Dublin

11:50

Arrival at Dublin International Airport

Lunch with the Papal Delegation

14:30

Arrival at Phoenix Park

15:00

HOLY MASS in Phoenix Park

© Getty A tree at sunrise in the grounds of Phoenix Park in Dublin.

Homily of the Holy Father

MEETING WITH THE BISHOPS in the Convent of the Dominican Sisters

Speech of the Holy Father

18:30

Arrival at Dublin International Airport

FAREWELL CEREMONY

18:45

Departure by plane for Roma/Ciampino

23:00

Arrival at the Airport of Roma/Ciampino

It will be the first visit of a Pope to Ireland since Pope John Paul II visited here in 1979.

Source:MSN.Com