Vatican report calls for reparations for sex abuse victims and tougher sanctions for abusers
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Nicole Winfield, Associated Press
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican’s child protection board said Thursday the Catholic Church has a moral obligation to help victims of clergy sexual abuse heal. Financial reparations for the abused and tougher sanctions for the abusers and their enablers are essential remedies, it said.
The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors focused on the issue of reparations in its second annual report — an often sensitive topic for the church, given the financial, reputational and legal implications involved.
The report was significant — an official Vatican publication prepared with the input of 40 abuse survivors from around the world. It gave a voice to their complaints of how badly the church had handled their cases and highlighted measures they need to heal.
It contained the shocking revelation that the Vatican office responsible for one-third of the world’s Catholic dioceses had received only a “small number of cases,” and only two reports of bishops who covered up child sex crimes. Such data suggests that clergy abuse is happening unchecked and unreported in vast parts of the developing world, more than three decades after the scandal first exploded publicly in the West.
Pope Leo signals commitment to commission
The report covers 2024, a period before Pope Leo XIV was elected. History’s first American pope has acknowledged that the abuse scandal remains a “crisis” for the church.
Leo has signaled a commitment to the commission, which Pope Francis created in 2014 to advise the church on best practices to prevent abuse.
The report said monetary settlements were necessary to provide victims with needed therapy and other assistance to help them recover from the trauma of their abuse.
But it said the church owed a far greater debt to victims, the broader church community and God. The hierarchy must listen to victims and provide them with spiritual and pastoral assistance. Church leaders must apologize for the harm done, tell victims what they are doing to punish those who harmed them and what measures they are taking to prevent future abuse, the report said.
“The church bears a moral and spiritual obligation to heal the deep wounds inflicted from sexual violence perpetrated, enabled, mishandled, or covered up by anyone holding a position of authority in the church,” it said.
The report itself was prepared with victims in a focus group setting who listed priorities for their healing. They identified the need for accountability for church leaders, information about their cases, true reform of church structures to adequately punish abusers and their enablers.
A legal process that brings back the trauma
Significantly, the 2024 report said the church’s way of handling abuse cases, and its “decades-long pattern of mishandling reports, including abandoning, ignoring, shaming, blaming, and stigmatizing” victims, was itself retraumatizing for them.
It was a reference to the church’s dysfunctional in-house canonical code, where it can take years to process a case and the most severe punishment meted out to a serial rapist priest amounts to being fired.
The process is cloaked in secrecy, such that victims have no rights to information about their case other than learning its outcome.
The report called for sanctions that were “tangible and commensurate with the severity of the crime.” While laicization is a possible outcome for priests who rape children, the church frequently gives out lesser sanctions, such as a period of retreat away from active ministry.
Even when a bishop is removed for bungling cases, the public is only told that he has retired. The report called for the church to “clearly communicate reasons for resignation or removal.”
An audit of countries and Vatican office
Anne Barrett Doyle of the online resource BishopAccountability.org said the report should serve as a wake-up call to Leo, who she noted had seemed to minimize the enormity of the scandal in an interview in which he stressed the need to ensure the rights of priests.
“The global church has hundreds of millions of children under its care, and it is still failing to prioritize their safety,” she said in a statement.
The report provided an audit of child protection policies and practices in over a dozen countries, as well as within two religious orders, a lay movement and the Vatican office responsible for the church in the developing world.
It gave high marks to the church leadership in Malta, South Korea and Slovakia, where most if not all dioceses responded to the commission’s questionnaire about prevention policies and practices.
But even in Italy, the Vatican’s backyard, only 81 of 226 dioceses responded to the questionnaire. In places like Mali, the challenges seem even greater: the bishops conference website “does not seem to be functioning and accessible.”
The report contained the stunning fact that the Dicastery for Evangelization’s missionary office, which is responsible for 1,124 dioceses in Asia, Africa, Oceania and parts of Latin America — or a third of the church’s dioceses — had received only a “small number of cases,” and only two reports of bishops who covered up.
That is a staggeringly low number given the size of the territory involved. It suggests the Vatican still has a long way to go in parts of the world where abuse, especially same-sex abuse, remains a taboo topic in the wider society and where the church is confronting broader issues of war, conflict and poverty.
Commission member Benyam Dawit Mezmur, an Ethiopian jurist, said he cringes when he hears the church claim there are no abuse cases in Africa, when the truth is that cases are not being reported. A lack of resources in these poor churches and societal and cultural impediments are mostly to blame.
“I know for a fact that there are cases,” he said. “But we need to look deeper and see why are they not being reported. Are the structures in place? Are there issues about reprisals? Are there issues that we need to address about power relations?”
He said key to encouraging a culture of reporting was empowering minors and their families to report abuse and educating them about child protection and prevention.
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Former New Orleans priest held without bond after allegations of sex abuse
NEW ORLEANS —
New documents have revealed graphic allegations against a former New Orleans priest who was extradited to face child sex abuse charges.
WARNING: Details in this story are graphic and may be upsetting to some. Viewer discretion is advised.
According to the U.S. Marshals, Mark Ford, 64, was arrested in September and charged with four counts of first-degree rape, two counts of second-degree kidnapping, two counts of sexual battery, and two counts of indecent behavior with juveniles.
He was extradited to New Orleans following his arrest in Indiana last month. Friday (October 17th, 2025), he made a court appearance in New Orleans where he was ordered to be held without bond.
The state asked that Ford be held without bond because he does not live here and still has access to children and a vulnerable population. Ford's attorney argued he is not a danger or flight risk and this is only an accusation by one family. He said his client could be held with home incarceration.
New documents reveal that a man with special needs reported in November 2024 to his mother that he was abused by Ford when he was 10 years old.
The mother reported the allegations to police, and he was interviewed by authorities.
According to court documents, the victim claims that Ford was a priest at his childhood church, St. Joseph's Catholic Church.
According to the victim's mother, her son has physical disabilities that permanently recognize him as a juvenile despite reaching the age of an adult.
The victim reported to police that he was abused by Ford on four different occasions in his family home. Court documents show Ford would often signal the "Shhh" motion to the victim during the abuse.
The victim told police that on multiple occasions Ford would expose himself to him, including on Christmas Day in their family home.
The victim also said on some occasions he was forced to watch pornography with Ford.
The victim's mother told police her son became a member of Ford's church group for children with disabilities called "God's Special Children."
Ford would come to the family home often for guitar lessons and to play computer games.
The victim told police he tried to get Ford to stop multiple times during the abuse, but Ford forced him to continue, according to court documents.
Following the interview, police issued a warrant for Ford's arrest. Ford was arrested in Indiana by the USMS Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force. He was booked into the Porter County Jail and was later extradited to New Orleans to face charges.
WDSU reached out to the Archdiocese of New Orleans for a statement regarding the allegations against Ford. According to a spokesperson with the archdiocese, there had been no complaints about Ford prior to his arrest announced in the media.
We received the following statement:
"The only information we have on the allegations against Mr. Ford are from media reports, which indicate this remains an open law enforcement investigation. We have no update from the Vincentians who would have the responsibility for the church investigation and final disposition of allegations against a religious order priest."
WDSU received this statement from the Congregation of the Mission | The Vincentians Western Province:
"We can confirm that Mark Ford was a Vincentian priest and served in the Congregation of the Mission Southern Province during a portion of the time that the offenses are alleged to have occurred. He left the order in 2006. The Southern Province later merged with two others to form the current Western Province."
"The offenses of which Mr. Ford is accused have no place in society, and we continue to pray for all victims of abuse."
WDSU also received this statement from the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office:
“The allegations against Mr. Ford are deeply serious and disturbing. He is accused of using his position to commit violent and reprehensible acts against a child with a disability. These allegations represent an unacceptable breach of trust and a level of vulnerability that should never be taken advantage of.
"Our hearts and our focus are with the survivor and their family. Their strength in coming forward is extraordinary, and this Office stands firmly beside them with empathy and unwavering support.
"Due to the nature of the alleged conduct, our Office argued that Mr. Ford should be held without bail and requested an opportunity to present the compelling reasons why he should remain in custody as the case moves toward trial. The Court granted that request, and a hearing is scheduled for tomorrow, at which time we will lay out the evidence and facts supporting our position that this defendant should not be released.
"From the moment we became aware of this matter, we have worked diligently with our law enforcement partners to prepare a strong, evidence-based prosecution. While Mr. Ford, like all accused individuals, is presumed innocent until proven guilty, the people of New Orleans can trust that we will pursue justice without hesitation and seek full accountability for every offense the evidence supports.”
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