With a growing lack of confidence in the Catholic Church from its followers, serious reforms are being considered by a brave few.

Ilvo Diamanti, an Italian sociologist, said the drop in support for the Church and the papacy partly stemmed from the Vatican’s slow, divided and confused response to the paedophile crisis at a time of fast moving global media. It was also linked to the decline of the priesthood in Italian society, with the Church increasingly seen as out of touch with modern social attitudes and mores.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article7128623.ece

Almost 200 new allegations of child abuse by priests and members of religious orders were reported to the Catholic Church’s child protection watchdog in the past year.

The allegations relate to a mix of physical, sexual and emotional abuse by priests and members of religious orders and missionary societies across the country’s 26 dioceses. While all were historical – coming from adults who were recounting childhood suffering in some cases as far back as 60 years ago – none of them had been reported before despite the massive publicity around the subject in recent years. Ian Elliot, chief executive of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church, (NBSCCC) which published its second annual report yesterday, said it was possible the publication in the past year of the Murphy and Ryan reports on abuse by religious may have prompted people to come forward who had previously stayed silent.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/200-new-allegations-of-abuse-by-religious-filed-120104.html