ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) — Pope Francis says any bishop who moves a suspected pedophile priest from parish to parish should resign.

Francis spoke about the church’s handling of sex abuse cases while flying home Wednesday from Mexico, where victims of that country’s most notorious pedophile, the Rev. Marcial Maciel, are still coping with the trauma of his abuse.

“It’s a monstrosity,” Francis said of clerical abuse. “Because a priest is consecrated to bring a child to God. And if he consumes him in a diabolical sacrifice, it destroys him.”

The role of bishops in the abuse scandal made headlines again recently after a French priest told a Vatican course for new bishops that they don’t have to report suspected abuse to police. His comments drew a swift correction from Francis’ top adviser, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, who said bishops have an “ethical and moral” obligation to report suspected pedophiles to civil authorities.

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“A bishop who changes parish (for a priest) when he detects pederasty is reckless and the best thing he can do is present his resignation,” Francis said. “Clear?”

Francis also reaffirmed the Vatican’s oversight of Maciel’s Legion of Christ, saying it is continuing to help the scandal-plagued religious order reform and praising his predecessor for bringing the truth of Maciel’s misdeeds to light.

Maciel founded the Legion in Mexico in the 1940s, and it became one of the wealthiest and fastest-growing orders in the world. It is, however, emblematic of the Mexican church that Francis so acutely criticized during his trip, with close ties to Mexico’s rich and powerful who by and large send their children to Legion-run schools.

The Vatican in 2010 took the order over after the Legion admitted, after decades of denial, that Maciel had sexually molested his seminarians and fathered at least three children.

Francis told reporters that the Vatican still plays a prominent role in running the order, even after it elected a new leadership 2014 and revised its founding constitutions. Francis recalled that while the superior general was elected from among rank-and-file Legion priests, he himself appointed the vicar, who also serves as a counselor on the governing board, as well as a second counselor.

He termed the status “semi-intervention.”

“In this way, we are continuing to help them review their past,” he said.

The Legion saga represents one of the gravest scandals of the 20th-century Catholic Church, emblematic of the way Church leaders protected their own at the expense of victims of clerical sex abuse. The scandal tarnished the legacy of St. John Paul II, since Vatican officials under his watch ignored credible allegations of Maciel’s misdeeds and instead held him up as a model of religious orthodoxy who brought in vocations and donations.

Francis recalled that then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who was in charge of the Vatican office that handled sex abuse cases, had tried for years to sanction Maciel but was blocked. Francis didn’t say by whom, but it is well known that John Paul’s No. 2, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, prevented any action from being taken. Ratzinger later became Pope Benedict XVI, Francis’ predecessor.

“Here, I’d like to pay homage to the man who fought at times when he didn’t have the strength to impose himself until he could impose himself. Ratzinger. Cardinal Ratzinger. An applause for him,” Francis said.

He said Ratzinger had gathered all the documentation about Maciel’s crimes, conducted a full investigation into him, but couldn’t execute any sentence until 2006 after John Paul had died.

“I want to remember this, because sometimes we forget this hidden work that was the basis of uncovering” the situation, he said.

Full article here: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/c982d681674e4b59b060911d77dad4d9/popes-bishops-who-reassign-suspect-pedophiles-should-resign

By the time he was in high school, Mark Haynes felt called to devote his life to the Catholic priesthood.

But from a much earlier age, his lawyer said Wednesday, Haynes realized something else that set him apart – an unshakable feeling that by some accident of genetics, he had been born a woman stuck in the body of a man.

Haynes’ therapist would later conclude that the dissonance between his vocation and the condition he came to view as an affliction led him to an addiction to child pornography and a series of online predatory sexual encounters with children that have landed the 56-year-old suspended priest in prison.

Federal prosecutors balked at that explanation Wednesday as Haynes, most recently of SS. Simon and Jude Parish in Westtown, was sentenced to 20 years’ incarceration, in a case as notable for the charges he will never face as those to which he pleaded guilty last year.

By the time he was in high school, Mark Haynes felt called to devote his life to the Catholic priesthood.

But from a much earlier age, his lawyer said Wednesday, Haynes realized something else that set him apart – an unshakable feeling that by some accident of genetics, he had been born a woman stuck in the body of a man.

Haynes’ therapist would later conclude that the dissonance between his vocation and the condition he came to view as an affliction led him to an addiction to child pornography and a series of online predatory sexual encounters with children that have landed the 56-year-old suspended priest in prison.

Federal prosecutors balked at that explanation Wednesday as Haynes, most recently of SS. Simon and Jude Parish in Westtown, was sentenced to 20 years’ incarceration, in a case as notable for the charges he will never face as those to which he pleaded guilty last year.

“Transgender does not equate to sexually abusing children. It doesn’t make him a pedophile,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Rotella said. “He was victimizing children from almost the start of his career.”
Two former parishioners came forward after Haynes’ 2014 arrest on child-pornography charges to accuse him of sexual abuse dating back more than three decades.

Their claims fell beyond the statute of limitations. But under federal sentencing guidelines the allegations could be considered by U.S. District Judge R. Barclay Surrick in fashioning a punishment for the priest despite Haynes’ insistence that he never sexually abused anyone.

In all, prosecutors alleged that Haynes had some form of sexual contact – ranging from online conversations to molestation – with at least 30 children between 1985 and 2014. As part of Haynes’ plea deal to child-pornography charges involving two teens, the government agreed to halt any further investigation.

“The crimes that were committed here were outrageous,” Surrick said Wednesday. “The individuals that were hurt by these crimes will spend the rest of their lives trying to get beyond it.”

Church officials maintain that no abuse allegations had been lodged against Haynes before his 2014 child-pornography arrest.

But prosecutors said Wednesday that even before then, he had shown signs of emotional distress. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia paid for him to receive counseling starting in 1999, including two stints in inpatient treatment.

It was during the more recent of those stays at a church-affiliated mental-health facility outside Toronto a year before his arrest that Haynes first revealed his struggle with gender identity, his lawyer Alan J. Tauber said.

“It is something that created enormous anxieties and dissonance in his life,” he said. “He internalized the message that he was fundamentally flawed.”

Still, Rotella noted that while Haynes’ patient files indicated he had been admitted for “cross-dressing and gender-identity issues,” archdiocesan files noted he was being treated for anger management.

For his part, Haynes – a beefy, soft-spoken man whose breath appeared to fail him as he rose to address the judge – turned to the Bible as he expressed remorse to his victims, his fellow priests, and his parishioners.

“My offenses, truly I know them,” he said, quoting Psalm 51. “My sin is always before me.”

But Wednesday was the first time the full scope of those sins was put on display for his victims and their relatives, some of whom sat in the courtroom gallery as prosecutors quickly flashed through dozens of pornographic images and videos found in Haynes’ possession.

“Oh, my God, oh, my God,” came the whispered refrain from one woman – the mother of a Washington state girl who was 12 when Haynes, posing online as a 15-year-old named Katie Caponetti, solicited her to send sexually explicit photos of herself.

Chester County detectives arrested him in October 2014 after tracing his online activity to his computer at the rectory at SS. Simon and Jude.

He immediately confessed to routinely posing as a teenage girl online to swap hundreds of pornographic images of children and attempt to persuade minors to send him graphic photos of themselves.

Ordained in 1985, Haynes had served at eight parishes in the Pennsylvania suburbs, also including Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Doylestown; St. John of the Cross in Roslyn; Our Lady of Good Counsel in Southampton; St. Pius X in Broomall; Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Morton; and Annunciation in Havertown.

In addition to his prison term, he was ordered Wednesday to serve 10 years’ federal probation after his release and pay a $15,000 fine. He has also agreed to leave the ministry, Tauber said.

“Mark Haynes was incredibly devoted and hardworking, and loved being a priest,” he said. “He has confessed his crimes, accepted responsibility, and sought forgiveness from the victims and their families.”

Full article: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20160218_Predator_priest_sentenced_to_20_years_in_prison.html#uGwSkXmx4A360KS3.99

Child sexual abuse survivors will be able to make civil claims regardless of the date of an alleged incident under legislation being introduced into New South Wales Parliament today.

Key points:

The legislation removes the time limit on civil claims for child sexual abuse
The change is part of NSW Government’s response to the child sex abuse royal commission
Survivor support groups continue to call for a national redress scheme
The Government flagged last year that it was considering removing the time limit on suing for damages as part of its response to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

“There should be no use-by date for justice for survivors of child abuse,” Attorney-General Gabrielle Upton said.

“This change will remove a significant barrier in the way of that justice.”

Under existing laws, victims of child sexual abuse in NSW typically have had between three and 12 years to pursue compensation in a civil court before the statute of limitations can be used to block their claims.

National redress scheme still needed, survivors groups say

Groups representing survivors of institutional abuse have welcomed the move but said it was long overdue.

Care Leavers of Australia Network (CLAN) spokeswoman Leonie Sheedy said the Government needed to ensure there was adequate support for people who wanted to make claims.

“It costs a lot of money to deal with lawyers and we are not like the middle classes, we have lived very marginalised lives, we’ve got limited education,” she said.

She said all governments needed to work together to quickly set up a full national redress scheme, as it was difficult for survivors to pursue civil claims.

“A lot of survivors haven’t got the emotional energy to take a civil case to the courts, they don’t have the financial means and they don’t have the emotional energy to do that … they want justice through a national redress scheme,” she said.

Ms Upton said discussions were continuing with the Commonwealth and other State and Territories about a redress scheme that could accept applications from survivors by no later than July 2017, as recommended by the royal commission.

She said the State Government believed a single national redress scheme for survivors was the best way to ensure consistent, accessible justice for survivors regardless of where the abuse occurred.

Ms Upton said the State Government would also take further steps this year to address the royal commission’s other recommendations on redress and civil litigation.

“We know there is more to do, and the NSW Government will release a consultation paper in the coming months in relation to the royal commission’s other civil litigation recommendations,” Ms Upton said.

Full article: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-16/legislative-changes-remove-time-limit-for-child-abuse-victims/7172562