Pope Francis listens to speeches during his weekly general audience in the Pope Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021. Alessandra Tarantino/AP hide caption
clergy abuse
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, center, signs legislation overhauling the state's child sex abuse laws. Matt Rourke/AP hide caption
Eric Schmitt speaks to reporters after being appointed as Missouri's attorney general by Gov. Mike Parson Nov. 18, 2018, at the state Capitol in Jefferson City, Mo. David A. Lieb/AP hide caption
Pope Francis, pictured earlier this week, unveiled a new mandatory-reporting edict on Friday. It requires any Vatican official who learns of an allegation of abuse within the city-state or by Vatican officials to report it to Vatican prosecutors. Andrew Medichini/AP hide caption
"The Vatican is a world of men; some truly are men of God," says Sister Catherine Aubin, a French Dominican nun who teaches at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas in Rome. "Others have been ruined by power. The key to these secrets and silence is ... abuse of power. They climb up a career staircase toward evil." Sylvia Poggioli/NPR hide caption
A menorah is installed outside the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh on the first night of Hanukkah.The synagogue was the site of a mass shooting in October. It was one of a number of tragedies and revelations that made 2018 a difficult year for the city of Pittsburgh. Gene J. Puskar/AP hide caption
Nuns and supporters demand the arrest of Bishop Franco Mulakkal, outside the High Court in Kochi in the southern Indian state of Kerala in September. -/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
A Nun In India Accuses A Bishop Of Rape, And Divides The Country's Christians
Pope Francis waves prior to reciting the Angelus noon prayer from the window of his studio overlooking St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican. Andrew Medichini/AP hide caption
Acting New York state Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood (left) speaks in Albany, N.Y. on May 15. New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal speaks during a news conference on Aug. 1 in Newark, N.J. Hans Pennink and Julio Cortez/AP hide caption
Pope Francis holds his weekly general audience at the Vatican on Wednesday. Pressure is mounting on the pontiff as more and more church sexual abuse scandals unfold around the world. Andrew Medichini/AP hide caption
Ronald Gainer, the Roman Catholic bishop of the diocese of Harrisburg, Pa., discusses child sexual abuse by clergy during a press conference on Wednesday in Harrisburg, Pa. A partially redacted, roughly 900-page grand jury report about abuse by priests in Pennsylvania has been ordered to be made public within weeks. Mark Scolforo/AP hide caption
Archbishop Bernard Hebda, pictured last year, announced on Thursday the Saint Paul and Minneapolis Archdiocese reached a $210 million settlement with victims of clergy sexual abuse. Jim Mone/AP hide caption
Former priest and convicted child rapist Paul Shanley was released from the Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater, Mass., on Friday. Shanley, now 86, was a figure in the Boston Catholic Church priest sex abuse scandal. Commonwealth of Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry Board/AP hide caption