Sex abuse by Catholic priests in Australia

In the news today (but except for Crux, the Catholic press is ignoring this) : Australia's Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, established in 2013, today released some info on the scale of the sex abuse of children by Catholic priests/brothers in Australia ...

- 7% of Catholic Priests in Australia Accused of Sexually Abusing Children ...

Seven percent of priests in Australia's Catholic Church were accused of sexually abusing children over the past several decades, a lawyer said Monday as officials investigating institutional abuse across Australia revealed for the first time the extent of the crisis.

The statistics were released during the opening address of a hearing of Australia's Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. The royal commission — which is Australia's highest form of inquiry — has been investigating since 2013 how the Catholic Church and other institutions responded to the sexual abuse of children over decades ...

- 4,444 victims: extent of abuse in Catholic church in Australia revealed ...

- 37% of all private sessions royal commission held with survivors related to the Catholic church
- The average age of alleged victims was 10.5 for girls and just over 11.5 for boys
- In one order 40% of religious brothers are believed to have abused children

I've been reading about this for years, about Cardinal Pell, who reigned in Australia until Pope Francis whisked him away to Rome to be one of his top guys. Pell was supposed to give testimony at the commission, but he refused to leave Rome (you know, extradition-proof digs). For those who are interested in the history of Pell and the sex abuse crisis in Australia, here are some of my earlier posts ...

- Editorial on Cardinal Pell, March 07, 2016

- 60 Minutes: Cardinal Pell and sex abuse, May 31, 2015

- The continuing badness of Cardinal Pell, May 21, 2015

- Eureka Street and David Marr on George Pell, April 03, 2014

- Pell, sex abuse, church money, March 26, 2014

- Cardinal Pell and the Ellis sex abuse case, March 18, 2014

- Cardinal Pell, February 26, 2014

- Patrick Parkinson and Geoffrey Robinson, October 07, 2013

The Pope should fire Cardinal Pell and send him back to Australia to face the music. And the Pope should do something that will actually make a difference to the sex abuse crisis, like ending mandatory celibacy. But I predict Pope Francis will do nothing at all and will ignore the news and hope no one brings it up.