More and more non-denominational people in Switzerland

With the long-term development of urbanisation, the proportion of people with no religious affiliation is also growing in Switzerland.  

This was reported by the portal kath.ch (Thursday), citing the latest edition of the "Statistics of Swiss Cities". 

According to the Federal Statistical Office, the proportion of people with no religious affiliation has risen sharply since 2000. In the cities, around a third now state that they do not belong to any religion.

"The downward trend affects all religious affiliations and is strongest among the Protestant-Reformed", it continued. 

The figures reflect the period from 2000 to 2022, with the decline in some Swiss cities amounting to over 70 per cent in each case, for example in the Zurich airport region.

"100 years ago, a third of the Swiss population lived in urban areas; today it is three quarters," according to one of the findings. 

The decline in religious affiliation is explained by this development. 

Cities are globalised places that drive social change, they say. 

This is reflected, for example, in a bilingual and multilingual population or increasing secularisation.

Members of abuse commission in German diocese resign, citing lack of transparency

Two of the three independent abuse commissioners of the Catholic Diocese of Augsburg are resigning on April 30, according to the Augsburger Allgemeine.

Psychologists Angelika Hauser and Rupert Membarth told the German newspaper that they no longer see a basis for further cooperation in the interests of those affected by abuse.

Hauser and Membarth were made abuse commissioners in September 2022.

“Unfortunately, to this day I have not been able to recognize that the process of coming to terms with sexual abuse in the Diocese of Augsburg, which Bishop Bertram once described as his ‘matter of the heart,’ is being pursued with the necessary seriousness and genuine desire to educate,” Hauser said in a letter to the diocese.

A letter from Membarth says he “cannot see any committed effort on the part of the diocese leadership to proactively deal with past and present cases of sexual violence.”

Hauser made the same claim.

“I have not yet been able to see that the investigation into sexual abuse in the diocese of Augsburg … is being carried out with the necessary seriousness and a real desire to educate,” Hauser said, according to the Augsburger Allgemeine.

Last August, Hauser publicly criticized the “lip service paid by diocesan leaders without any actionable consequences.”

In one case, she said she discovered an attempt at a cover-up within the Church, where the accused priest wanted to settle the case with a financial deal with the victim. The diocese says it didn’t try to cover-up the issue.

Membarth said he cannot see any committed effort on the part of the diocese leadership to proactively deal with past and present cases of sexual violence.

In November, Membarth criticized the abuse study started for the diocese by researchers from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, which he called “inadequate.”

He said it was – as intended – very important to examine the psychological consequences of sexual violence. At the same time, however, “transparency must be established about past misconduct by perpetrators and those responsible in the Diocese of Augsburg.”

Membarth demanded that names be mentioned, including those of bishops.

When asked on Tuesday by the German newspaper, the Diocese of Augsburg said it was a “surprising step” by the abuse commissioners.

“The Diocese of Augsburg regrets the resignation of Ms. Hauser and Mr. Membarth and thanks them for the extraordinarily demanding work they have done so far,” the diocese statement said.

“However, we firmly reject the allegation that the diocese of Augsburg lacks a genuine, proactive desire to educate,” saying the issue has been “taken very seriously and meticulously handled” by those responsible.

The third abuse commissioner, the lawyer Andreas Hatzung, told the Augsburger Allgemeine that he regrets the resignations of Hauser and Membarth.

“But I can essentially understand their criticism. I still see myself as being able to carry out my task as an independent contact person,” he told the German newspaper.

According to Augsburger Allgemeine‘s Daniel Wirsching, the fact that two of the Augsburg diocese’s three independent abuse commissioners are quitting “casts a bad light on its willingness to come to terms with it – and on Bishop Bertram Meier.”

“The fact that the clarification and processing of cases of abuse within the ranks of the Catholic Church is still not going as it should, could and, above all, should – that is bitter, especially for those affected,” said in the German newspaper.

In 2017, Marie Collins – a prominent survivor of clerical sex abuse from Ireland – resigned from a special Vatican commission that was created by Pope Francis, citing continued problems in creating rules for the safety of children and vulnerable adults.

Brother of ‘Vatican Girl’ says Vatican tried to block parliamentary inquest

Pietro Orlandi, the brother of the “Vatican Girl” whose unsolved disappearance in 1983 has captivated Italy for over 40 years, has taken a jab at the Vatican, suggesting it tried to block a parliamentary inquest into the case and shift blame onto the family.

Speaking to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, Orlandi hailed the formation of a parliamentary commission of inquest last year as “a great step forward” in his sister’s case, adding, “I am happy that the institutions did not give into pressure from the Vatican, which absolutely did not want it to be approved.”

The daughter of a minor official of the Vatican’s Prefecture of the Papal Household, whose family lived in an apartment on Vatican grounds, 15-year-old Emanuela Orlandi vanished after a music lesson on June 22, 1983.

For decades, her case has been perhaps the most notorious unresolved mystery story regarding the Vatican, as well as a perennial source of speculation and conspiracy theories, being linked over the years with the 1981 assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II, Cold War intrigue, the Italian mafia and Vatican bank scandals, and, more recently, to the clerical sexual abuse crisis, though to date none of those theories has been confirmed.

In October 2022 the case experienced renewed notoriety when a four-part miniseries on Netflix titled “Vatican Girl” was shown, renewing public pressure in Italy for efforts to find the truth.

In January 2023, the Vatican’s Promoter of Justice, veteran Italian attorney Alessandro Diddi, announced that he was opening a new investigation of the case, and shortly thereafter, the chief prosecutor for the city of Rome, Francesco Lo Voi, said his office would likewise launch its own probe.

In the meantime, Orlandi’s older brother, Pietro, who has devoted his life to the quest for the truth about his sister’s disappearance, also called for a parliamentary panel to look into the case, in part on the grounds that it would be less inclined to be deferential to the Vatican.

After several delays related to controversial remarks by Pietro Orlandi linking St. John Paul II to rumors of a pedophile ring operating inside the Vatican at the time of his sister’s disappearance, Italian parliament finally approved the new commission, the third to be established for the Orlandi case, last December.

In his remarks to Corriere della Sera, Orlandi accused the Vatican of being behind the delay in getting the parliamentary commission passed, saying it took so long to schedule the vote of approval because “I think the Vatican didn’t want the commission.”

He said the Vatican’s Promoter of Justice, Italian lawyer Alessandro Diddi, had made comments to this effect during the first hearing on whether a new commission was needed, saying, that to open a third inquiry would be a “pernicious interference with the excellent work we are already doing.”

“This episode made me think a lot. My sister was a Vatican citizen and therefore the Vatican should have been happy with a commission from the Italian State within its parliament. However, this help was not welcomed, probably because they were looking for a convenient truth,” Orlandi said.

He also implied that the Vatican is afraid of media attention, given that the hearings of a parliamentary commission can be public, whereas inquires made through the Rome Prosecutor’s Office are not.

Asked about reports that surfaced last year implying that an uncle in the family could have played a role in Emanuela’s disappearance, which aired on Italian news program Tg La7 in July 2023, Orlandi also implied the Vatican was behind it.

“It was the latest of the Vatican’s attempts to shift attention to the family, so that the commission would not go through,” he said, calling the news “senseless” and saying that an investigation by Rome prosecutors at the time of Emanuela’s disappearance excluded the uncle from consideration as a suspect.

Last year’s reports detailed a 1983 exchange between the late Italian Cardinal Agostino Casaroli and an unnamed Colombian priest who’d served as a confessor and spiritual advisor to the Orlandi family in which Casaroli asked for confirmation that an older sister of Emanuel, Natalina Orlandi, had been subject to unwanted sexual advances by an uncle who is now deceased.

The Colombian cleric reportedly responded confirming that the uncle had made unwanted advances to Natalina, however, during a press conference organized after the report aired, Natalina said it had happened years before Emaneula’s disappearance and that once she declined her uncle’s advances, nothing further happened.

She also said her uncle had been out of Rome on a family vacation when Emanuela vanished, a fact she insisted was known to investigators at the time.

In his interview, Orlandi said that incident was talked about “as if it were new, but the issue had already been addressed and closed for years.”

The parliamentary commission, he said, “must not start because there is a family that is suffering, but because this is much more than a simple disappearance. There are too many misdirections and involvements to clarify.”

Orlandi was also asked about an episode in the “Vatican Girl” series, produced by journalist Andrea Purgatori, who at one point said he had been contacted by a former employee of the Holy See Press Office about an alleged call from the kidnappers.

In his response, Orlandi said he has received no further leads on this and can no longer ask Purgatori, as the journalist passed away last summer, but he has launched an appeal for information on social media in hopes that the alleged caller will respond.

“I hope she can contact me. This woman called Purgatori and said she had received a call from the alleged kidnappers in the days of her disappearance. She was then told, by her higher-ups, to forget about the call,” he said, saying, “It would be interesting to speak with her.”

Archdiocese of Birmingham gets two new Auxiliary Bishops

Pope Francis has appointed two new auxiliary bishops to serve the Archdiocese of Birmingham.

Monsignor Timothy Menezes, Dean of St Chad’s Cathedral, and Canon Richard Walker, Vicar General, will serve the Archdiocese of Birmingham as auxiliary bishops, notes the archdiocese’s website.

The role of an auxiliary bishop is to assist the diocesan bishop in the functions of the office and the diocese, but the exact nature of the auxiliary bishop’s duties can vary and depend on the diocese, its demographics and the responsibilities a bishop assigns him. Dioceses or archdioceses with large populations are more likely to have auxiliary bishops.

The bishops-elect will join Bishop David Evans as auxiliary bishops serving the Archdiocese of Birmingham.

Mgr Menezes has been the Dean of St Chad’s Cathedral since 2019. He is also the Vice-Dean of Birmingham Cathedral and South Deanery. He was the Vicar General for several years and also the Archbishop’s Secretary. Mgr Menezes was installed as an Ecumenical Canon at Lichfield Cathedral in July 2022.

Canon Walker has served as the Vicar General and Trustee of the Archdiocese since September 2020. In previous years he served as the Director of Ongoing Formation for the Archdiocese and Vice Rector at St Mary’s College, Oscott.

Archbishop Bernard Longley said: “I am very grateful to the Holy Father, Pope Francis, for appointing Mgr Timothy Menezes and Canon Richard Walker as auxiliary bishops to serve the Archdiocese of Birmingham.

“With their long experience of pastoral ministry, their contributions to priestly formation and their dedicated service as Vicars General I know that they will assist me and Bishop David Evans in caring for our clergy and in carrying out our diocesan vision and mission in the years ahead.

“I ask the prayers of Our Lady and St Chad, St John Henry Newman and Blessed Dominic Barberi for our two bishops-elect as they prepare for their episcopal ordination in the coming weeks.”

In response to his appointment, Bishop-elect Mgr Menezes, who will also be Titular Bishop of Tugga (Thuggensis), said: “A vocation to the priesthood is one of my earliest memories and my faith has been nourished by my family. For us, Parish life and Sunday Mass were always so important.

“It has been a privilege to have served as a priest for 29 years. I am grateful to those who have shaped my life through every pastoral experience and I ask those who have been part of the journey of life to pray for me now.

“I have always tried to encourage the young to know the importance of their place in the Church and to value their joyful witness of hope.

“In this new role as a Shepherd, I will continue to serve the Lord, encouraging the People of God, the Religious and my fellow Clergy to know God’s love for them and together to build the Kingdom of God beginning with the needs of those whom we might have left behind: those who are homeless, the asylum seeker and those for whom the Church owes a special duty of care.”

Bishop-elect Canon Walker, who will also be Titular Bishop of Mortlach (Murthlacensis), said: “It was a surprise to be appointed an auxiliary bishop of Birmingham, but with humility and hope I have accepted. It is a privilege to be asked to serve the people of God in this manner and I look forward to continuing to work with Archbishop Bernard and the priests, deacons and people of the Archdiocese to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ.

“Please keep me in your prayers that, with God’s grace, I may be a faithful shepherd and servant of the Gospel.”

Information regarding the Episcopal Ordination of Bishop-elect Timothy Menezes and Bishop-elect Richard Walker will be made available in due course by the Archdiocese of Birmingham.

Dublin homeless centre volunteer friar rushed to hospital after assault while handing out breakfast

A HOMELESS centre volunteer was rushed to hospital after being injured in an assault while handing out breakfast.

A man in his 30s was arrested after the incident at the Capuchin Day Centre on Dublin's Bow Street.

Father Ademir Marques, who is in his 50s, was rushed to the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital following the incident.

His injuries were "superficial" and he has returned to his duties since Friday, the Capuchins confirmed.

Gardai are continuing to investigate the incident, which took place in Dublin 7 at around 10.40am on Thursday morning.

Gardaí said: "Gardaí are investigating an assault that occurred at a premises on Bow Street, Dublin 7 at approximately 10.40am this morning, Thursday April 25 2024.

"A male in his 50s was conveyed to the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injury.

"A male in his 30s was arrested at the scene under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 and detained at a Garda station in the DMR North Central region.

"He has since been charged in relation to this incident and appeared before the CCJ District Court (Court No. 2) on 25th April 2024. Investigations are ongoing."

Father Marques suffered an injury to his head, with the Capuchins telling RTE News in a statement: "We can confirm that an incident did occur this morning that was effectively managed by our team on site. Emergency services were contacted for follow-up support."

Chief Executive of the Capuchin Day Centre Brian Friel said: "Thankfully, the prompt intervention of our team meant that Fr Ademir sustained only a superficial injury and will be back to his ministry again tomorrow as usual."

Lawyers, accountants have received over $36M in New Orleans archdiocesan bankruptcy case

A group of clergy sex abuse survivors in the Archdiocese of New Orleans bankruptcy case is asking U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Meredith Grabill to limit the legal fees that the church’s law firm, Jones Walker, is billing to the case.

Citing skyrocketing legal and professional fees on both sides, the abuse survivors claim in a new court filing that Jones Walker is dragging out the long-running case by padding its time sheets, making money off the church while abuse survivors wait for a settlement.

“Jones Walker has bloated its time, engaged in redundant work, and enjoyed maximum payment by ensuring that 54 of its lawyers (30 partners and 24 associates) billed the Archdiocese during this bankruptcy,” a lawyer for the survivors says in court documents filed April 19. “Every dollar paid to Jones Walker is one less dollar paid to the abuse survivors.”

According to court records, more than $36.3 million has gone to lawyers and other experts, like accountants and actuaries, since the case was filed. Of that amount, Jones Walker has received nearly $15.5 million, while lawyers representing the committee of abuse survivors has received nearly $13.5 million. The rest has gone to other lawyers and professionals.

The accusations come as the long-running case approaches its fourth anniversary. The nation’s second-oldest diocese filed for bankruptcy court protection on May 1, 2020, amid mounting claims of child sex abuse by local clergy, some stretching back decades. In the years since, some 550 credible claims have been filed against 300 clergy members.

The local case is the second-costliest and third-oldest of the nearly 40 still-unsettled bankruptcy cases filed by U.S. dioceses and other religious organizations since the early 2000s, according to the court document. Though both sides in the local case are negotiating towards a settlement that could cost the church at least $100 million, no plan has yet been proposed — much less confirmed — by the court.

“This is one of the oldest and costliest bankruptcies of a religious organization in the country with or without a plan being confirmed,” the court document says.

Jones Walker declined to comment, citing pending litigation.

In a prepared statement, the archdiocese said: “The Archdiocese of New Orleans remains committed to a conclusion of these proceedings in order that the victims in this matter can receive some semblance of healing. We are heartened by recent progress in our negotiations, and remain prayerful that all parties remain focused on similar outcomes.”

Costlier and slower

Though survivors have complained about excessive attorney fees in the past, the recent court filing seeks to hammer the point by comparing the local case with those filed by other dioceses and church organizations around the country in recent years.

At $36.3 million, fees and expenses in the New Orleans case are three times costlier to date than in similar bankruptcy cases, court documents show. Fees and expenses in Santa Fe’s case, settled in 2019, cost less than $5 million. In St. Paul/Minneapolis, settled in 2018, fees and expenses were $20.5 million; and in Milwaukee, settled in 2015, they were $23 million.

“The only religious bankruptcy which has not had a plan confirmed and is more expensive than this bankruptcy is the Diocese of Rockville Center (New York),” the lawyers argue.

After four years and more than $106 million in legal and professional fees, the Rockville Center case was recently dismissed by the court without a successful reorganization plan.

Court documents also highlight the slow pace of the local case in comparison to others, which have concluded within 2.6 years on average. The local case is the third-oldest — behind the Diocese of Rochester and the Diocese of Buffalo — that does not have a confirmed settlement.

“However, both of these older bankruptcies have cost significantly less,” court documents say. The Rochester case has cost nearly $13.3 million in legal fees so far; the Buffalo case, nearly $14.8 million.

‘Vague, redundant’

Notably absent from the recent court filing is the fact that the high-priced law firms representing the committee of abuse survivors — Los Angeles-based Pachulski Stang and the local office of Locke Lord — have cost the Archdiocese of New Orleans almost as much to date as Jones Walker — $13.5 million compared to $15.5 million. Last year, Grabill approved a fee increase for both firms, upping their hourly rates to $800 for Pachulski Stang and $600 for Locke Lord. Jones Walker is billing the archdiocese at a discounted rate of between $300 and $500 an hour. 

But the recent court document, filed on behalf of survivors by a separate group of plaintiff attorneys who are not part of the official committee and are not being paid by the archdiocese, claim Jones Walker is racking up billable hours for doing work that appears to be “vague, redundant, unnecessary and/or excessive.” It also accuses the firm of assigning more expensive partners to the case than is necessary.

The attorney who filed the motion, Soren Gisleson, did not return a call seeking comment. The filing came in response to Jones Walker’s request earlier this month for nearly $890,000 in fees and expenses covering the period from Nov. 1 to Feb. 29.

Four German bishops opt out of ‘Synodal Council’

The bishops of four German dioceses have announced that they will not participate in planning for a “Synodal Council” that will include lay people in pastoral decisions.

In their statement Cardinal Rainer Woelki of Cologne and Bishops Gregor Hanke of Eichstätt, Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg, and Stefan Oster of Passau said that Synodal Council proposed by the episcopal conference is “not compatible with the sacramental constitution of the Church,” as the Vatican has repeatedly warned. 

They went on to say that because they do not accept the initiative, it is not accurate to say that it has the support of the episcopal conference.

The four bishops said that they will wait for the Synod on Synodality to provide more guidance on how to create a synodal structure that is more in keeping with the mission of the universal Church.

Bishops back Native American Child Protection Act

The chairmen of the US bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development and Subcommittee of Native American Affairs have lent their support to the Native American Child Protection Act (House, Senate versions), sponsored by Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and Sen. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM).

“Here, we lift up the particular needs, and resilience, of Indigenous families,” Archbishop Borys Gudziak and Bishop Chad Zielinski wrote in a letter to members of Congress. “This bill reauthorizes grant programs directed at prevention and treatment of child abuse and neglect, as well as family violence, among Indigenous communities.”

“We particularly commend the provisions extending the reach of the grants to urban areas and encouraging the use of culturally appropriate services,” they added.

Catholic movement in Italy dedicated to people ‘far from the Church’

Across Italy there are houses of prayer run by the Ricostruttori (Reconstructors) community, a Catholic movement dedicated to people who are far from the Church but attracted to spirituality, particularly Eastern meditation and Buddhist practices. 

The Reconstructors was founded in 1978 by Jesuit Father Gian Vittorio Cappelletto.

“During the postconciliar period, the Church was faced with the need for new forms of evangelization and apostolate, to reach out to people who were drifting away,” Don Roberto Rondanina, priest and superior of the Ricostruttori, explained to CNA. “It was a time when Eastern meditation, Hinduism, Buddhism, the New Age ... were beginning to spread in Europe.” 

“Father Cappelletto, who lived in Turin, sought to understand the meaning of this ‘flight to the East’ and felt the need to find new forms of spirituality that were more experiential, closer to mysticism, open to mystery, allowing to touch one’s own interiority,” Rondanina said. 

To achieve this, Cappelletto drew some inspiration from Indian masters, recovering from their teachings forms of profound prayer with a Christian matrix, such as the famous “Jesus prayer” (“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner”).

“His encounter with the East was an opportunity to rediscover this vein, which had previously been confined to monasticism, particularly in the Orthodox Church, but which was not widely practiced here at the time,” Rondanina said.

The East that leads to Christ

Cappelletto then designed a meditation course for the public with some characteristics similar to Eastern forms of meditation.

“It wasn’t a lectio divina type of meditation; there was posture, breathing, silence, and it had a big impact in the ’80s and ’90s because it was something new,” the superior said. 

According to Rondanina, who is the first successor to the founder, who died in 2009, Cappelletto’s “strong intuition” was to adopt technical disciplines from the East containing certain aspects of physical and psycho-physical attention and orient them “towards Christ and the Church.”

“Furthermore,” he told CNA, “Father Cappelletto has deepened an anthropological vision that is lacking in the East: the human person seen as a unique person who must be valued. Eastern schools tend to move towards an experience of the impersonal divine, where the divine in myself and in others is more essential than anything that defines the person. In the Western Christian matrix, on the other hand, each person makes his or her own choices, builds his or her own life and retains his or her uniqueness, expressed also in the dogma of the Resurrection.”

The Reconstructors today

The movement launched by Cappelletto spread by word of mouth throughout Italy, from Piedmont to Sicily. Today, it is recognized as a public association of the faithful, encompassing people from various backgrounds and vocations. 

The community is made up of about 30 priests, a few laymen, and about 40 laywomen. In all, there are just under 70 consecrated people. The priests are incardinated in their dioceses, while the laypeople work outside — as bank officials, doctors, religious teachers, or employees of charitable organizations.

More than 200 associates have also joined the movement. They are not consecrated but participate in the charism of the community in some way. “But it is much bigger than that,” Rondanina said. “Many people frequent our houses; it’s difficult to quantify.”

The landscape has changed a lot since the early days. 

“Before, there were hardly any non-baptized people. People knew the Church. Today, we find people who are far away but who haven’t moved away, simply because they’ve never been close.”

As in the past, the Reconstructors centers offer a methodical evangelization program, beginning with meditation, raising awareness of the sacred dimension, and then providing Catholic teaching.  

The reconstruction of man

The name of the community — “Ricostruttori” — has a few different meanings. 

“Our community is linked to the manual labor of reconstruction, as many of our out-of-town centers for retreats have been reconstructions,” Rondanina explained. “We began by restructuring an old building (cascinali) that had been used as housing for women working in the rice fields in the 1950s.”

This work of reconstruction also symbolizes the inner rebuilding of the person. For Rondanina, who teaches philosophy, personal reconstruction is an ongoing journey. Likewise, “to keep a youthful movement, and not close ourselves off in dogmatic forms, we must always be searching.”

Spiritual growth, the priest added, “happens when you move from the phase where you think you’ve found the magic wand to solve all your problems, the initial phase of youth where everything seems rosy, to a phase of crisis, where you take a step forward. The kingdom of God advances like this, with the ability to see our limits, to rebuild ourselves time after time, to understand where we went wrong, to remove the dross to get to the essential things.”

Florida priest continued in active ministry for three years after sex abuse lawsuit filed

A Florida priest who was recently arrested on sex abuse charges was permitted to continue in active ministry for nearly three years after a civil sex abuse lawsuit was filed against him and the diocese in which he serves.

Father Leo Riley, age 68, continued to serve as a priest for years after a 2020 sexual abuse lawsuit was filed against him and the Diocese of Venice in Florida. 

The matter came to the forefront this week after Riley was arrested on several sex abuse charges dating back to his time serving as a priest in Iowa decades ago. 

The Charlotte County, Florida Sheriff’s Office said in a press release that deputies arrested Riley in Port Charlotte on April 24 “on multiple counts of capital sexual battery stemming from his past work as a priest in Iowa.” He was ordained in Iowa in 1982 and served there until 2005.

The civil lawsuit in Florida was filed in July 2020 with the 12th Judicial Circuit Court. It named Riley, the Diocese of Venice, and St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Port Charlotte as defendants, along with Alan Klispie, a music teacher at the parish school. The suit alleges that both Klispie and Riley committed various forms of abuse against the plaintiff for years.

Venice Bishop Frank Dewane told members of the San Antonio Parish in Port Charlotte on Saturday — where Riley was previously pastor — that there is “a pending civil lawsuit of 2020 against Father Riley here in Florida which upon its receipt was reported to the State Attorney of Charlotte County.” 

“At the time the civil lawsuit was received, the factual allegations therein were inaccurate and contradictory,” Dewane wrote. 

“The plaintiff has since changed his allegations and the litigation is still pending,” the bishop wrote in the letter.

The diocese said the letter was also being distributed “at all parishes where Father Riley has been previously assigned in the Diocese of Venice.” 

The bishop in the letter urged “anyone who believes that he or she has been the victim of sexual misconduct by someone serving in ministry for the Diocese of Venice” to contact law enforcement as well as the diocese itself. 

Asked if Riley was placed on leave following the 2020 suit, diocesan spokeswoman Karen Schwarz told CNA on Saturday: “Regarding the civil lawsuit of 2020, it is my understanding that Father Riley was not placed on administrative leave at that time, due to the facts of the allegations being inaccurate and contradictory.”

The diocese’s website shows Riley still in active ministry, working as pastor at San Antonio Catholic Church, at least as late as 2022, two years after the suit was filed. The parish is home to St. Charles Borromeo school, a pre-K through 8th grade Catholic school.

Damian Mallard, a Florida attorney who is representing the plaintiff in the 2020 lawsuit, told CNA on Friday that the diocese was aware of the suit when it was filed. “We served them with the lawsuit back then,” he said. 

Asked if there had been any communication from the diocese at the time of the filing, Mallard said: “Diocesan lawyers responded to my lawsuit. But there was nothing concerning taking Riley out of his job.” 

Mallard confirmed that the suit is still pending. “Riley won’t sit for a deposition because his lawyers demand that I tell them every victim that I’ve found,” he said, “and I said no.” 

Several courts have ruled in Mallard’s favor on the matter of detailing the identities of the alleged victims, he told CNA. 

The lawsuit is seeking “damages for my client for what he’s been through,” Mallard told CNA. 

“His life has been destroyed,” the lawyer said. The amount of the damages is “up to a jury to decide,” he added.

Priest arrested this week on sex abuse charges

Bishop Dewane wrote the letter this week partly in response to Riley’s arrest by Florida law enforcement earlier in the week. 

In their press release, the Charlotte County sheriff’s office said Florida law enforcement officers had worked with the Dubuque, Iowa Police Department in making the arrest. The Dubuque police “had developed probable cause for five counts of capital sexual battery within their jurisdiction,” the sheriff’s office said. 

Riley, who previously served in the Archdiocese of Dubuque, has been on administrative leave in the Venice diocese since May of 2023 when several abuse allegations from his time in the Iowa archdiocese were made against him. 

Riley’s arrest this week comes after at least a decade of abuse allegations made against the priest.

In a letter released on Friday, Dubuque Archbishop Thomas Zinkula said the “first notice of any allegation of abuse by Father Riley was made in December of 2014.” 

“The claim related to the time-period of 1985, when Father Riley would have been in Dubuque,” the archbishop wrote. “Particulars of the allegation were received in February of 2015.”

The archbishop noted that Riley was incardinated into the Diocese of Venice by this time, having been granted that request in 2005 to be near his parents. 

The Dubuque archdiocese “notified the Diocese of Venice, Florida, and Father Riley was placed on administrative leave pending the results of the investigation,” the archbishop said.

“The investigation concluded that the best information available at the time did not support a reasonable belief that the allegation was true,” Zinkula wrote. Law enforcement, meanwhile, “chose not to conduct an investigation into the allegation because the applicable statute of limitations at that time had expired.”

Two new allegations were subsequently made against Riley in May of last year, both of them once again stemming from alleged misconduct in Dubuque in the mid-1980s. Upon receiving the allegations, the archdiocese “began an internal investigation into the new allegations, which remains open pending the outcome of the criminal charges.”

It is unclear whether these two allegations against Riley formed the basis of this week’s arrest. The Dubuque police department was unable to provide a copy of the warrant on Friday as it was still listed as active in that jurisdiction. 

On Thursday, meanwhile, the Venice diocese said in a statement that when the latest allegations were made public last year, DeWane “immediately placed Father Riley on administrative leave, pending the investigation that was to be conducted by the Archdiocese of Dubuque.”

Diocesan spokeswoman Karen Schwarz confirmed to CNA on Friday that Riley “was put on administrative leave in May of 2023 and has not been involved in ministry since then.”

Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Prummell said in announcing Riley’s arrest that “if the accusations are true, then we have had a sexual predator living among us in Charlotte County that was trusted by far too many people simply because of his position.” 

“It is likely that there are more victims, and I encourage them to come forward so that we can make sure this type of heinous thing does not happen to anyone else here,” the sheriff said.

Jesuit sex abuse scandal in Bolivia could be used politically to repress Church

One year after the Spanish newspaper El País published the report “Diary of a Pedophile Priest,” which recounted the sexual abuse of minors committed in Bolivia by the deceased Jesuit priest Alfonso Pedrajas, journalists from ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, went to the South American country to look into the political implications of the case, how the scandal has affected the Church’s image in Bolivia, and the response of the civil justice system.

Pedrajas, better known as “Padre Pica,” arrived in South America in the early 1960s as part of his formation process with the Jesuits. For 10 years he lived in Peru and Ecuador, where he allegedly committed his first abuses while still a seminarian, and in 1971 he settled permanently in Bolivia.

There the Society of Jesus appointed him assistant principal of the John XXIII Institute, a boarding school whose mission was to form the most prepared students in the country, with a special predilection for those immersed in poverty.

Three years later, Padre Pica would become the school’s principal, where he reportedly sexually abused more than 80 minors over a period of almost 30 years.

Since the scandal broke, both the Jesuits in Bolivia and the Bolivian Bishops’ Conference have worked to cooperate with the justice system and elicit complaints from victims. Several initiatives were also launched to guarantee that victims would be heard and support provided to them.

In this context, lawsuits began to be filed implicating several Jesuit priests for abuses committed decades ago, and even a class-action complaint was filed by a group of former students of the John XXIII Institute against the current provincial of the Society of Jesus in the country, Father Bernardo Mercado, who is currently under investigation by the justice system.

A Senate truth commission to respond to the abuses

Regarding the Bolivian Senate’s move to pursue the abuse cases by creating a Special Truth Commission, the Bolivian Bishops’ Conference charged that the Senate’s work “has been very biased” due to attempts to politically instrumentalize it and because of pressure from the majority ruling party.

One of the senators on the commission, Nelly Gallo Soruco, a member of the opposition-leaning Citizen’s Community party, spoke with ACI Prensa about the work they have carried out in recent months and the steps to follow in the future.

The main objective of the Special Truth Commission is to conduct an investigation and then submit a report that will be made available to the president of the Senate. Gallo strongly emphasized that the commission has no power to impose criminal penalties or administer justice.

“The special commission,” Gallo explained, “was formed as a result of the concern that arose after the publication in Spain of the El País report.” The commission began operating in June 2023, she said.

The Citizen’s Community party member began to be part of the commission due to the fears that her party had about the “possible manipulation for political purposes” of abuse cases in the Church. In total there are six senators on the commission, three of whom belong to the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) party, historically related to former Bolivian president Evo Morales. 

“There was a susceptibility that the majority could [manipulate] the objective that the commission has. By the time I joined, several interviews had already been conducted with those involved, among them the former students of the John XXIII school and the ombudsman,” Gallo said.

The senator noted that while she was present the commission also interviewed Pedro Lima, a controversial and well-known media figure in Bolivia, a MAS sympathizer, and a former Jesuit.

Lima has repeatedly charged that he was expelled from the Jesuits when he decided to report cases of abuse. For Gallo, Lima is a person who has “a very strong feeling against the Church.” ACI Prensa contacted Lima to get his take on the case and the senator’s statements, but he declined to comment.

Abuse issue in Bolivia is ‘very common’

Gallo also stressed the importance of realizing that the issue of abuse is “sensitive and must be treated carefully”; “unfortunately it’s very common” in Bolivian society, she said, and “the authorities aren’t paying much attention to it.”

Furthermore, she added that many of the laws protecting minors “are not fully complied with or are not functional.”

“We need this commission to fulfill that role, that of enforcing legislative regulations and not manipulating them in a political-partisan way. It should proceed with the respect that the victims and the religious institution deserve, within which these very painful situations of abusing children arose,” Gallo said.

The legislator pointed out: “We have seen that the Church and the Society of Jesus have been very open and have had no intention of hiding anything; that has been a great help in being able to remove any thoughts of complicity.”

Gallo categorically stated that “the Church is not guilty of the individual actions of its members.”

The importance of religious freedom in Bolivia

“We are firm defenders of freedoms and human rights, especially religious freedom. We need churches to be a center of trust for the free exercise of faith,” the senator said.

The truth is that religious freedom in the South American country is increasingly threatened and many commentators are beginning to express their concern.

The “Pedrajas Case” and the various complaints that followed could be the perfect excuse for the government to openly and definitively attack the Bolivian Catholic Church. 

“We are concerned that these deplorable cases may be used to politically persecute the Church,” Gallo reiterated.

The abuse crisis in Bolivia continues to cast a shadow on the Catholic Church in the country, especially regarding the victims, who seemed to have sought answers and justice in vain. As the investigations progress, and despite the efforts of the Church, everything seems to indicate that the road ahead will be very long.

In a panorama where faith is faltering, Bolivia faces a painful crossroads in which the search for solutions seems to be trapped in a vicious circle of mistrust, legal loopholes, economic interests, and political pressures.

In Venice pope tells artists to imagine cities where no one is a stranger

“The world needs artists,” said Pope Francis this morning on the island of Giudecca, the first stop in his historic visit to the city of Venice.

The pontiff met with artists in the Chiesa della Maddalena (Church of the Magdalene), the chapel of the Venice-Giudecca Women's Prison, which hosts the Holy See Pavilion at the 2024 Biennale titled Con i miei occhi (With my eyes), where he also met with 80 inmates.

“Art has the status of a place of refuge, a city that disobeys the regime of violence and discrimination to create forms of human belonging,” Francis said. “Artistic practices work together to “rid the world of senseless antinomies” that impose themselves through racism, xenophobia, inequality, and aporophobia.

“I must admit to you that I do not feel like a stranger next to you: I feel at home," the Argentine pope said, addressing the artists.  To counter antinomies, behind which "there is always the rejection of the other", he urged them to “Imagine cities that don't yet exist on the map, cities where no human being is considered an outsider."

Starting from this, the Holy Father began reflecting upon the main theme of the pavilion, namely the need of all individuals to "be looked at and to dare to look at ourselves.”

Jesus is the Master of this gaze. "He looks at everyone with the intensity of the kind of love that does not judge," he explained. “Art educates us to this kind of gaze.” For Pope Francis, this way of looking is “contemplative”.

“Artists are in the world, but are called to go beyond," he noted, warning the creators of art against the risk of confusing the latter with the market. The danger is that the market will “vampirise creativity, steal innocence, and, finally, coldly instruct what to do," despite its recognised role of promoting and canonising.

Francis spoke about the symbolic significance of the place that houses the pavilion “With my eyes”, the Venice Women’s Prison, one of Italy’s four detention facilities for women.

He arrived this morning around 8 am in a helicopter after taking off from the Vatican heliport at 6:32 am. He was welcomed by, among others, the Patriarch of Venice, Mgr Francesco Moraglia.

“There is joy and suffering that come together in a unique form in women, that we have to listen to, because they have something important to teach us," he said, citing some famous women artists like Frida Khalo, Corita Kent, and Louise Bourgeois.

This can provide hope that contemporary art will help, by broadening the gaze, to "adequately enhance the contribution of women, as co-protagonists of the human adventure.”

Finally, the pontiff called on artists to keep in their hearts a question that "pushes towards the future", i.e. “What did you go out to the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? Then what did you go out to see?” (Mt 11:7-8).

Earlier, Pope Francis spoke to 80 inmates in the Giudecca Prison. “You have a special place in my heart,” he said, hoping that the meeting would allow them to “give each other time, prayer, closeness and fraternal affection” rather than be experienced as an “official visit”.

“Prison is a harsh reality, but it can also become a place of moral and material rebirth,” he explained. On other occasions, the pontiff spoke about the problem of overcrowding and violence in prisons.

According to Francis, time spent in a prison can prove precious, especially because it can be “the start of something new through the rediscovery of unsuspected beauties in ourselves and in others”. This is visible in the artistic exhibit hosted in the prison.

Staying here "can become like a site for reconstruction, to look at and evaluate one's own life with courage."

The Bishop of Rome also issued an appeal that "the prison system offer prisoners tools and room for human, spiritual, cultural, and professional growth”, so that works in favour of prisoners may contribute not to "isolating one’s dignity", but to give one “new possibilities”.

After the meetings on the island of Giudecca, the Holy Father went to the Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute (Saint Mary of Health) to meet 1,600 young people from northeastern Italy.

This was followed by a drive across a pontoon bridge over the Grand Canal to St Mark's Square, where he led Holy Mass at 11 am, followed by the recitation of the Regina Coeli in front of the Basilica.