Chile

It is noteworthy that a lay organization can fill a hotel ballroom in Washington with a mix of people, including members of the hierarchy, for frank dialogue about the church and the abuse crisis.

Mexico's bishops said March 6 the Vatican had suspended a clerical sex abuse fact-finding and assistance mission to Mexico due to the spreading coronavirus in Italy and now the Vatican.

The Vatican is sending its top two sex crimes investigators to Mexico on a fact-finding and assistance mission as the Catholic hierarchy in the world's second-largest Catholic country begins to reckon with decades of clergy sex abuse and cover-up.

In a talk at Villanova University, Jesuit Fr. Hans Zollner said that clericalism is the root cause of the damage done to the church; he called out past systemic failure in stopping abuse.

Appreciation: The passing of Holy Cross Fr. Robert Pelton on Nov. 4 feels like the end of an era. He played a significant role in transforming the church into an outward-facing impulse for social justice.

Chile's bishops called for national dialogue and an end to the violence that has wracked the country for the past month.

Chileans must work together to address the causes of violent protests, which were followed by a police crackdown and have left at least 11 people dead in Santiago, the country's bishops said.

The apostolic nunciature in Chile announced that the Vatican has opened an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse against retired Archbishop Bernardino Pinera Carvallo of La Serena, who is the uncle of Chilean President Sebastian Pinera.