Cardinal George Pell, jailed for more than a year for sex abuse crimes he ultimately was cleared of, said the experience enabled him to understand suffering as a redemptive process that allows one to identify closely with Christ.

“Let us use this moment to rededicate ourselves to the intentional, difficult and uncomfortable work of naming and eradicating systemic racism,” the Atlanta archbishop said in a statement Nov. 24.

“We are grateful that the governor has prevented an irreparable mistake.”

Criminals “are not dangerous people. They are only people who are not sufficiently loved.”

The Catholic Church must do a better job instructing priests on what to do if a victim recounts his or her abuse in the confessional and in the unlikely case that an abuser confesses, said Hans Zollner, S.J.

We must ask ourselves whether executing people on death row is truly a matter of public safety or merely a state-sanctioned tool for exacting the public’s demand for revenge.