Vatican defends Cardinal George Pell in child sex abuse scandal
June 02, 2015
THE Vatican has defended its finance chief, Australian Cardinal George Pell, after he was accused by one of Pope Francis’ commissioners for child protection of being almost sociopathic.
Spokesman Federico Lombardi says Peter Saunders, who called for Pell to be dismissed over allegations he covered up abuse and denigrated victims, was expressing his personal views and not speaking on behalf of the commission.
Lombardi told journalists Pell, formerly the top Catholic cleric in Australia, has replied to all questions posed by the authorities and his defence must be considered reliable and worthy of attention and respect.
Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse yesterday requested Pell give evidence when the inquiry next meets at a date to be determined.
Pell says he will be present at the hearing.
Mr Saunders, an abuse survivor, made headlines earlier this week when he called on the Pope to sack Cardinal Pell as the Vatican’s financial chief over allegations he helped cover up paedophile activity in Australia.
Now Mr Saunders has revealed the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors may not be able to do its job properly due to a lack of resources.
“George Pell is in the Pope’s cabinet, the inner sanctum, and is in charge of Vatican finances,” he said....
Cardinal Pell, who denies the cover-up allegations, said he was consulting his legal advisers after Mr Saunders said the Australian’s lack of care for victims was “almost sociopathic”.
Mr Saunders responded by stating the threat of legal action wasn’t surprising and he wouldn’t shut up for anyone.
http://www.news.com.au/national/vatican-defends-cardinal-george-pell-in-child-sex-abuse-scandal/story-fncynjr2-1227378918090
Showing posts with label child sex abuse scandal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label child sex abuse scandal. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Friday, April 4, 2014
Bills would change child abuse reporting requirements in Pa., defining who reports and how
Bills would change child abuse reporting requirements in Pa., defining who reports and how
By Charles Thompson April 04, 2014
....But lawyers and non-lawyers appear to have reached a compromise on what may be the biggest upgrade yet to Pennsylvania’s child protection laws coming out of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.
Final votes are expected at the Capitol next week on bills that redesign mandatory reporting requirements in cases of suspected child abuse.
Lawmakers have already modernized the definition of abuse, and approved measures that strengthen law enforcement and child welfare response.
But, as some child protection advocates note, the best system in the world doesn’t get activated without a report.
“Without a report (of suspected child abuse)… the cavalry doesn’t come running to ask that child if they’re OK,” explained Rep. Todd Stephens, a Montgomery County Republican who played a key role in late-stage negotiations on the bills.
The new requirements delineate 14 categories of mandated reporters, including all school employees, all staff at child care and medical facilities, librarians and even – in a Pennsylvania first – volunteers who work regularly in youth sports or other activities like church groups, Boy Scouts or dance companies....
http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2014/04/bills_beefing_up_child_abuse_r.html
By Charles Thompson April 04, 2014
....But lawyers and non-lawyers appear to have reached a compromise on what may be the biggest upgrade yet to Pennsylvania’s child protection laws coming out of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.
Final votes are expected at the Capitol next week on bills that redesign mandatory reporting requirements in cases of suspected child abuse.
Lawmakers have already modernized the definition of abuse, and approved measures that strengthen law enforcement and child welfare response.
But, as some child protection advocates note, the best system in the world doesn’t get activated without a report.
“Without a report (of suspected child abuse)… the cavalry doesn’t come running to ask that child if they’re OK,” explained Rep. Todd Stephens, a Montgomery County Republican who played a key role in late-stage negotiations on the bills.
The new requirements delineate 14 categories of mandated reporters, including all school employees, all staff at child care and medical facilities, librarians and even – in a Pennsylvania first – volunteers who work regularly in youth sports or other activities like church groups, Boy Scouts or dance companies....
http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2014/04/bills_beefing_up_child_abuse_r.html
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Penn State accreditation in jeopardy over sex abuse scandal
Penn State accreditation in jeopardy over sex abuse scandal
By Michael Pearson, CNN Wed August 15, 2012
(CNN) -- The organization that grants academic accreditation to Penn State has warned the school that it is in danger of losing that crucial status in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal, the university announced this week.
The move by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education is the latest blow for the beleaguered university, which has seen its reputation clobbered and its football program hobbled after investigators found school leaders did too little to stop the abuse.
Were the commission to pull Penn State's accreditation -- which it has not done -- the school would face the loss of eligibility for federal student aid programs, guaranteed student loans, federal research grants and could lose eligibility for state aid, commission spokesman Richard Pockrass said in July....
The commission voted August 6 to place the school on warning status. Two days later, it notified Penn State officials that the school's accreditation was "in jeopardy" based on information contained in former FBI Director Louis Freeh's report on Penn State's handling of the sex-abuse allegations against Sandusky and a National Collegiate Athletic Association action against the school.
Freeh found that Penn State's leadership showed "total and consistent disregard" for youths sexually abused by Sandusky, the former assistant football coach convicted by a jury in June on 45 counts involving child sex abuse. He is scheduled to be sentenced in September. http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/14/us/penn-state-accreditation/index.html
By Michael Pearson, CNN Wed August 15, 2012
(CNN) -- The organization that grants academic accreditation to Penn State has warned the school that it is in danger of losing that crucial status in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal, the university announced this week.
The move by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education is the latest blow for the beleaguered university, which has seen its reputation clobbered and its football program hobbled after investigators found school leaders did too little to stop the abuse.
Were the commission to pull Penn State's accreditation -- which it has not done -- the school would face the loss of eligibility for federal student aid programs, guaranteed student loans, federal research grants and could lose eligibility for state aid, commission spokesman Richard Pockrass said in July....
The commission voted August 6 to place the school on warning status. Two days later, it notified Penn State officials that the school's accreditation was "in jeopardy" based on information contained in former FBI Director Louis Freeh's report on Penn State's handling of the sex-abuse allegations against Sandusky and a National Collegiate Athletic Association action against the school.
Freeh found that Penn State's leadership showed "total and consistent disregard" for youths sexually abused by Sandusky, the former assistant football coach convicted by a jury in June on 45 counts involving child sex abuse. He is scheduled to be sentenced in September. http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/14/us/penn-state-accreditation/index.html
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Paterno Won Sweeter Deal Even as Scandal Played Out, Penn State takes first steps to recover after Sandusky scandal
Paterno Won Sweeter Deal Even as Scandal Played Out
By JO BECKER
July 14, 2012
In January 2011, Joe Paterno learned prosecutors were investigating his longtime assistant coach Jerry Sandusky for sexually assaulting young boys. Soon, Mr. Paterno had testified before a grand jury, and the rough outlines of what would become a giant scandal had been published in a local newspaper.
That same month, Mr. Paterno, the football coach at Penn State, began negotiating with his superiors to amend his contract, with the timing something of a surprise because the contract was not set to expire until the end of 2012, according to university documents and people with knowledge of the discussions. By August, Mr. Paterno and the university’s president, both of whom were by then embroiled in the Sandusky investigation, had reached an agreement.
Mr. Paterno was to be paid $3 million at the end of the 2011 season if he agreed it would be his last. Interest-free loans totaling $350,000 that the university had made to Mr. Paterno over the years would be forgiven as part of the retirement package. He would also have the use of the university’s private plane and a luxury box at Beaver Stadium for him and his family to use over the next 25 years.
The university’s full board of trustees was kept in the dark about the arrangement until November, when Mr. Sandusky was arrested and the contract arrangements, along with so much else at Penn State, were upended. Mr. Paterno was fired, two of the university’s top officials were indicted in connection with the scandal, and the trustees, who held Mr. Paterno’s financial fate in their hands, came under verbal assault from the coach’s angry supporters.
Board members who raised questions about whether the university ought to go forward with the payments were quickly shut down, according to two people with direct knowledge of the negotiations.
In the end, the board of trustees — bombarded with hate mail and threatened with a defamation lawsuit by Mr. Paterno’s family — gave the family virtually everything it wanted, with a package worth roughly $5.5 million.... http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/14/sports/ncaafootball/joe-paterno-got-richer-contract-amid-jerry-sandusky-inquiry.html
Penn State takes first steps to recover after Sandusky scandal
Penn State trustees, taking ‘full responsibility’ for the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal, announced initial steps to recover the university's tarnished reputation. Some say much more will have to be done, especially changing a campus culture in which sports coaches are idolized.
By Brad Knickerbocker, Staff writer / July 14, 2012
It’s likely to take years for Penn State to fully recover from the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal that has blotted the reputation of the university and its most senior officials, including legendary head football coach Joe Paterno.
But in its first meeting since the blistering investigation by former FBI director Louis Freeh, the university’s board of trustees has taken initial steps in that direction.
The board – which itself was criticized in the Freeh report for failing to create an environment in which much of the abuse might have been prevented – has begun by accepting what board chair Karen Peetz calls “full responsibility” for its failures.
Notably, the federal Clery Act of 1990 requiring the compilation and reporting of crime statistics, including sexual offenses, had never become policy at Penn State. Under the Clery Act – named for a young woman sexually assaulted and murdered in a Lehigh University dorm room in 1986 – Penn State officials were obliged to report Sandusky’s known activities to law-enforcement officials.
"Our hearts are heavy and we are deeply ashamed," said trustee Ken Frazier. "We failed to ask the tough questions. We failed to push the issue." http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2012/0714/Penn-State-takes-first-steps-to-recover-after-Sandusky-scandal
By JO BECKER
July 14, 2012
In January 2011, Joe Paterno learned prosecutors were investigating his longtime assistant coach Jerry Sandusky for sexually assaulting young boys. Soon, Mr. Paterno had testified before a grand jury, and the rough outlines of what would become a giant scandal had been published in a local newspaper.
That same month, Mr. Paterno, the football coach at Penn State, began negotiating with his superiors to amend his contract, with the timing something of a surprise because the contract was not set to expire until the end of 2012, according to university documents and people with knowledge of the discussions. By August, Mr. Paterno and the university’s president, both of whom were by then embroiled in the Sandusky investigation, had reached an agreement.
Mr. Paterno was to be paid $3 million at the end of the 2011 season if he agreed it would be his last. Interest-free loans totaling $350,000 that the university had made to Mr. Paterno over the years would be forgiven as part of the retirement package. He would also have the use of the university’s private plane and a luxury box at Beaver Stadium for him and his family to use over the next 25 years.
The university’s full board of trustees was kept in the dark about the arrangement until November, when Mr. Sandusky was arrested and the contract arrangements, along with so much else at Penn State, were upended. Mr. Paterno was fired, two of the university’s top officials were indicted in connection with the scandal, and the trustees, who held Mr. Paterno’s financial fate in their hands, came under verbal assault from the coach’s angry supporters.
Board members who raised questions about whether the university ought to go forward with the payments were quickly shut down, according to two people with direct knowledge of the negotiations.
In the end, the board of trustees — bombarded with hate mail and threatened with a defamation lawsuit by Mr. Paterno’s family — gave the family virtually everything it wanted, with a package worth roughly $5.5 million.... http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/14/sports/ncaafootball/joe-paterno-got-richer-contract-amid-jerry-sandusky-inquiry.html
Penn State takes first steps to recover after Sandusky scandal
Penn State trustees, taking ‘full responsibility’ for the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal, announced initial steps to recover the university's tarnished reputation. Some say much more will have to be done, especially changing a campus culture in which sports coaches are idolized.
By Brad Knickerbocker, Staff writer / July 14, 2012
It’s likely to take years for Penn State to fully recover from the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal that has blotted the reputation of the university and its most senior officials, including legendary head football coach Joe Paterno.
But in its first meeting since the blistering investigation by former FBI director Louis Freeh, the university’s board of trustees has taken initial steps in that direction.
The board – which itself was criticized in the Freeh report for failing to create an environment in which much of the abuse might have been prevented – has begun by accepting what board chair Karen Peetz calls “full responsibility” for its failures.
Notably, the federal Clery Act of 1990 requiring the compilation and reporting of crime statistics, including sexual offenses, had never become policy at Penn State. Under the Clery Act – named for a young woman sexually assaulted and murdered in a Lehigh University dorm room in 1986 – Penn State officials were obliged to report Sandusky’s known activities to law-enforcement officials.
"Our hearts are heavy and we are deeply ashamed," said trustee Ken Frazier. "We failed to ask the tough questions. We failed to push the issue." http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2012/0714/Penn-State-takes-first-steps-to-recover-after-Sandusky-scandal
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