The Catholic Church and Sexual Abuse, Then and Now

By

Wietse de Boer

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The seal of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei.

Opus Dei

The seal of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei.

Brendan Smyth.

Father Brendan Smyth

Brendan Smyth, a Catholic priest who sexually abused at least 143 children in Ireland and the United States over forty years until tried and convicted in the 1990s.

A protest in front of the White House.

Priests Are Predators

A protest in front of the White House ahead of Pope Benedict XVI’s 2008 visit to the United States.

The cover of the 1878 Belgian satirical magazine.

La Bombe

The cover of the 1878 Belgian satirical magazine depicting Catholic disapproval of secular schools.

A map depicting the distribution of Roman Catholics around the globe.

Roman Catholics Worldwide

A map depicting the distribution of Roman Catholics around the globe.

Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam.

Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam

Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam, a 16^th-century Dutch scholar and theologian.

A fresco in the Church of the Incoronata in Naples, Italy.

Confession and Penance with Devils

A fresco in the Church of the Incoronata in Naples, Italy painted between 1352 and 1354, entitled "Confession and Penance with Devil."

An open air confessional from the Netherlands.

Open Air Confessional

An open air confessional from the Netherlands in 1740.

A confessional in India.

Indian Confessional

A confessional in India.

A confessional booth at Saint Peter’s Basilica.

Vatican Confessional

A confessional booth at Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.

Temporary confessional booths set up in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Brazilian Confessional

Temporary confessional booths set up in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil during Pope Francis’s visit in 2013.

Pedro Guerrero was the Archbishop of Granada.

Pedro Guerrero

The Archbishop of Granada, Pedro Guerrero, around 1616.

Pope Paul IV.

Pope Paul IV

Pope Paul IV, Bishop of Rome from 1555 to 1559.

An 1887 painting depicting the 14th-century trial of Bernard Délicieux.

The Agitator of Languedoc

An 1887 painting depicting the 14^th-century trial of Bernard Délicieux, a Spiritual Franciscan friar opposed to the Inquisition.

The Palace of the Holy Office.

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

The Palace of the Holy Office where the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is housed in Vatican City.

A 1750 painting by Pietro Longhi.

The Confession

The Confession, a 1750 painting by Venetian painter Pietro Longhi.

An 1838 painting by Giuseppe Molteni.

The Confession

An 1838 painting by Giuseppe Molteni of a woman kneeling at a confessional.

An 1883 painting by Teodor Axentowicz.

At the Well in Venice

An 1883 painting by Teodor Axentowicz of a monk making advances on a street girl in Venice.

A 1683 Francisco Rizi painting.

Auto de Fe

A 1683 Francisco Rizi painting of an Auto de Fe in Plaza Mayor, Madrid in 1680.

A 16th-century Matthias Burglechner painting.

Council of Trent

A 16^th-century Matthias Burglechner painting of the session of the Council of Trent.

An 1891 political cartoon.

Hands Off Priest

An 1891 political cartoon of a Roman Catholic priest yelling at a woman, "Erin," representing Ireland.

A map showing the expansion of Opus Dei.

Opus Dei Expansion

A map showing the expansion of Opus Dei.

Pope John Paul II in 2004.

John Paul II

Pope John Paul II in 2004.

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò with President Barack Obama.

Viganò and Obama

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò with President Barack Obama in 2013.

Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

Archbishop McCarrick

Cardinal Theodore McCarrick at the 2008 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Anti-Catholic cartoon depicting the church and pope as a malevolent octopus.

The Papal Octopus

The octopus has long been used in anti-Catholic cartoons to depict the Roman Catholic Church, such as in this 1913 depiction of the church and pope as a malevolent octopus. Was Archbishop Viganò aware of anti-Catholic images like this when he described the church being corrupted by octopus tentacles?

Cardinal Marc Ouellet.

Cardinal Marc Ouellet

Cardinal Marc Ouellet in 2013.

Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick with Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and President George W. Bush.

Theodore E. McCarrick

Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick with Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and President George W. Bush after a mass held for the opening session of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. in 2005.

The poster for the 2015 film Spotlight.

Spotlight

The poster for the 2015 film Spotlight.

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

The logo for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Proceedings of the Second Vatican Council in 1963.

Vatican II

Proceedings of the Second Vatican Council in 1963.

Portraits of Martin Luther and Katharina von Bora.

Martin Luther and Katharina von Bora

Portraits of Martin Luther and his wife, a former nun, Katharina von Bora.

A depiction of the Council of Trent.

Council of Trent

A depiction of the Council of Trent (1545-1563).

Confessional in the parish church of Abbadia Lariana.

Lombardy Confessional

Confessional in the parish church of Abbadia Lariana in Lombardy, Italy.

A depiction of the Sacrament of Penance.

The Sacrament of Penance

A depiction of the Sacrament of Penance from around 1800.

An 1854 depiction of a woman confessing to a priest.

A Young Lady Confessing to a Priest

An 1854 depiction of a woman confessing to a priest.

A canon law treatise on solicitation by Rodrigo à Cunha.

Tractatus de Confessariis Solicitantibus

A canon law treatise on solicitation by Rodrigo à Cunha, 1620.

Pope Pius IX with the clergy members of his Papal Cour.

Pope Pius IX and Court

Pope Pius IX with the clergy members of his Papal Court around 1878.

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Cite this Site

Wietse de Boer , "The Catholic Church and Sexual Abuse, Then and Now" , Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective

March, 2019

https://origins.osu.edu/article/catholic-church-sexual-abuse-pope-confession-priests-nuns.