Bishops Propose Abuse Policy
Update: A Catholic Church panel recommends priests who abuse children in the future or multiple children in the past be defrocked. A meeting of bishops will vote on the recommendations next week.

RealAudio: Bishop Joseph Galante of Dallas, a member of the panel, discusses the recommendations. (6/04/02)

The Celibacy Debate
Spencer Michels reports on how the debate over celibacy has been affected by the sexual abuse scandals involving Catholic priests. (5/28/02)

Cardinal Law Testifies
Boston Cardinal Bernard Law sat for a third day of depositions, angrily rejecting charges he was negligent when he failed to keep former priest John Geoghan away from children, according to plaintiffs in the case.

Pam Belluck, who has been covering the case for The New York Times, and Patrick Schiltz, a professor at the the University of St. Thomas who has represented the Catholic Church in abuse cases, analyze recent developments. (5/13/02)

Cardinal George Return to Chicago
A report on one cardinal's return to his archdiocese following the emergency meeting at the Vatican. (4/29/02)

Laity Respond to the Vatican Meeting, Communiqué
American cardinals returned to the U.S. to find their Catholic dioceses debating the results of the emergency meeting at the Vatican. Four religious thinkers and lay people discuss the meeting and its recommendations. (4/25/02)

Cardinals Propose Standards to Crack Down on Sexual Abuse
Cardinals Roger Mahony, archbishop of Los Angeles, and Francis George, archbishop of Chicago, discuss the Vatican meetings and the new policy. (4/24/02)

RealAudio: American cardinals speak to reporters about their just-concluded meeting and the official communique. (4/24/02)

Meeting at the Vatican
Two Catholic theologians discuss the first day of the meeting of U.S. cardinals at the Vatican. (4/23/02)
RealAudio: A report on the day's events from National Catholic Reporter John Allen. (4/23/02)
Update: Pope John Paul II says there is no place for the 'sin and crime of pedophilia' in the church. (4/23/02)

A Papal Call: Vatican Call to U.S. Cardinals
All 13 American Cardinals are invited to the Vatican. Is this a turning point for the Church? (4/16/02)
Update: Pope John Paul II summons American cardinals to the Vatican. (4/15/02)

Uncovering the Story in Boston
The Boston Globe uncovered the sexual abuse scandal in the city's Catholic Church, unveiling a national problem. (3/26/02)

The Early Reports of Abuse
Four members of the church discuss what the sex abuse scandal will mean. (3/25/02)
Spencer Michels reports on the growing abuse scandals and cover-ups within the Catholic Church. (3/13/02)

Catholic Board Rebukes Bishops For Failing to Stop Abuse
A Catholic review board on Friday released a report on molestation problems in the U.S. Catholic Church, finding more than 10,000 cases of assault on minors from 1950 to 2002. Margaret Warner discusses the findings with the review board's research committee chairman, Robert Bennett. (2/27/04)

RealAudio: Background report on two highly anticipated studies documenting molestation problems in the U.S. Catholic Church. (2/27/04)

Update: After the release of the reports, Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, pledged that the church's mistakes will not be repeated. (2/27/04)

At Annual Meeting, Bishops Address New Scandals
A day after Phoenix Bishop Thomas O'Brien, who was arrested and charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident, resigned, American bishops gathered for their annual conference.

Ray Suarez gets perspective on the meeting and the recent spate of scandals from Barbara Blaine, president and founder of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests; Rev. Tom Reese, editor of America, a national weekly Catholic magazine; and Scott Appleby, director of the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism at the University of Notre Dame. (6/19/03)

Cardinal Bernard Law Resigns as Boston Archbishop
Update: Cardinal Bernard F. Law resigns as Boston archbishop following months of public outrage over the widening church sex abuse crisis. (12/13/02)

Ray Suarez leads a debate over the resignation of Cardinal Law with Steve Krueger, interim executive director of Voice of the Faithful; Father Christopher Coyne, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Boston; and Stephen Pope, chairman of the theology department at Boston College.

Text: Cardinal Law's statement to the public, released shortly after Pope John Paul II accepted his resignation. (12/13/02)

Boston Church Documents Outline Patterns of Abuse
Update: Documents made public Tuesday reveal that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston allowed priests accused of sexual abuse to remain in the ministry.

The discovery comes as Cardinal Bernard Law is reportedly considering the recommendation of his top financial advisers to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as a way to deal with claims from more than 400 alleged victims of clergy abuse. (12/4/02)

U.S. Bishops Adopt Revisions to Sex Abuse Policy
Update: U.S. bishops adopted revisions to their sex abuse policy Wednesday, voting overwhelmingly to approve rules saying priests who commit "even one act of sexual abuse of a minor" should be removed from public ministry. (11/13/02)

Bishop Wilton Gregory, the president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops, discusses the revised policy and the effect it could have on church abuse cases.

Vatican Rejects U.S. Bishops' Sexual Abuse Policy
Update: The Vatican rejects a new sexual abuse policy developed by U.S. bishops, saying elements of its zero-tolerance doctrine conflict with universal church laws. (10/18/02)

RealAudio: John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter discusses the Vatican's decision. (10/18/02)

Catholic Laity Responds to New Abuse Policy
RealAudio: Spencer Michels talks with members of the Catholic Church in California about the new policy towards abusive priests. (6/19/02)
As the crisis in the church grew, the same group of Catholics from Oakland, Calif. discussed the scandal. (4/18/02)

U.S. Bishops Vote to Bar Abusive Priests from Parishioners
Update: U.S. Catholic bishops vote to bar pedophile priests from acting as clerics, but stop short of defrocking them. The decision came after heated debate during a gathering in Dallas of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. (6/14/02)

Margaret Warner talks with Bishop Harry Flynn, chairman of the U.S. Catholic Bishops' ad hoc committee on sexual abuse about the decisions made in Dallas. (6/14/02)

Bishop Meeting Opens in Dallas
Update: In his opening address to a meeting of U.S. Catholic leaders, Bishop Wilton Gregory said the current sex abuse crisis is perhaps the gravest the American church has ever faced. (6/13/02)

Following a report on the opening of the meetings, Margaret Warner talks with Tom Roberts, editor of the National Catholic Reporter, an independent weekly newspaper that covers the Catholic Church. (6/13/02)