Musings From Abroad

300 priests named in 1000 cases of sexual abuse in Catholic Church

Published

5 years ago

August 15, 2018

A new grand jury report says that internal documents from six Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania show that more than 300 “predator priests” have been credibly accused of sexually abusing more than 1,000 child victims.

“We believe that the real number of children whose records were lost or who were afraid ever to come forward is in the thousands,” the grand jury report says.

“Priests were raping little boys and girls, and the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing; they hid it all. For decades. Monsignors, auxiliary bishops, bishops, archbishops, cardinals have mostly been protected; many, including some named in this report, have been promoted.”

The lengthy report, released Tuesday afternoon, investigates clergy sexual abuse daying back to 1947 in six dioceses: Allentown, Erie, Greensburg, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Scranton.

Pennsylvania’s two other dioceses, Philadelphia and Altoona-Johnstown, have been the subjects of earlier grand jury reports, which found similarly damaging information about clergy and bishops in those dioceses.

“There have been other reports about child sex abuse within the Catholic Church. But never on this scale,” the grand jurors wrote in Tuesday’s report.

“For many of us, those earlier stories happened someplace else, someplace away. Now we know the truth: it happened everywhere.”
The grand jurors said that “almost every instance of abuse we found is too old to be prosecuted.” But charges have been filed against two priests, one in Erie diocese and another in Greensburg diocese, who have been accused of abusing minors.

“We learned of these abusers directly from their dioceses — which we hope is a sign that the church is finally changing its ways,” the grand jurors said. “And there may be more indictments in the future; investigation continues.”

At a news conference announcing the report’s release, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro called it the “largest, most comprehensive report into child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church ever produced in the United States.”

Click to comment

Musings From Abroad

WHO announces second malaria vaccine

Published

15 hours ago

October 3, 2023

Ifeoluwa Dada

The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu has called for the use of a second malaria vaccine to curb the life-threatening disease spread to humans by some mosquitoes.

Tedros made the recommendation during a briefing in Geneva on Monday, recalling that “almost exactly two years ago, WHO recommended the broad use of the world’s first malaria vaccine called R21/Matrix-M.”

Malaria remains one of Africa’s deadliest diseases, killing nearly half a million children under the age of five every year. In July, WHO and some of its partner agencies revealed that around 18 million doses of the first malaria vaccine would be delivered to 12 African countries. The road is now cleared by WHO for the second use of the vaccines.

“Today, it gives me great pleasure to announce that WHO is recommending a second vaccine called R21/Matrix-M to prevent malaria in children at risk of the disease,” Tedros said. R21/Matrix-M, created by the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, will be accessible by the middle of 2024, with doses costing between $2 and $4.

“WHO is now reviewing the vaccine for prequalification, which is WHO stamp of approval, and will enable GAVI (a global vaccine alliance) and UNICEF to buy the vaccine from manufacturers,” Tedros said.

Adar Poonawalla, CEO of the Serum Institute of India, said it had already produced more than 20 million doses in anticipation of WHO’s recommendation.

“We will ramp it up as per what the demand requirements are,” he said in an interview. “We hope that by the end of 2024, there will be zero mismatches of demand and supply, with our supply coming into the system.”

By 2026, 40–60 million doses of the malaria vaccine will be required annually, and by 2030, 80–100 million doses will be required, according to estimates from the WHO, UNICEF, and Gavi.

Musings From Abroad

Germany to support ECOWAS with $86 million

Published

3 days ago

October 1, 2023

Ifeoluwa Dada

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will receive 81 million euros ($85.9 million) in support from Germany’s Development Ministry for peacekeeping and economic growth.

“The crises in West Africa require regional solutions. In addition to actively mediating in crises, ECOWAS also actively works to prevent crises, according to Development Minister, Svenja Schulze, who met with an ECOWAS delegation on Friday in Berlin.

Germany enjoys a positive reputation in many African countries thanks to its long-standing alliance with nations like Niger and Nigeria, although it has fallen out with the Malian government, which is notorious for its counter-posture to the West. Hundreds of German soldiers are also on missions across the West African sub-region, which has now become a breeding ground for terrorists.

But the case is different when it comes to economic relations. In 2021, German companies invested around $1.6 billion (€1.68 billion) in Africa, which was “encouraging but still far from enough.” In terms of Germany’s total direct foreign investment around the globe, only around 1% ends up in Africa.

China has led the chart for investment into the continent in recent years. While Chinese investment shows the fastest growth, and expanding, the significance of German enterprises for African economies is shrinking.