Bishop Howard Hubbard admitted that he consistently transferred abusive priests without informing local police, families of abuse victims, or Catholics in parishes where the men were reassigned.
Last week in Chicago, bishops from throughout the United States and a few from other parts of the world engaged in dialogue with theologians, scholars and journalists about the state of the church.
The portrait of Pope Francis that emerges from conversations with his friends is that of a man as resolutely down-to-earth and dependably Argentinian as his immigrant neighborhood.
While the United States and Europe have quickly elevated Vladimir Putin to the role of primary wrongdoer, many leading Catholic theorists in Latin America are not willing to promote a simple vilification of the Russian side.