Sexual Abuse, Child Sex Abuse | featured news

Kevin Clash, the man who voiced the popular puppet Elmo on "Sesame Street," is facing accusations of underage sex abuse by a fifth man. On Tuesday, a new federal lawsuit was filed against the puppeteer in New York.

The pope on Friday approved a miracle attributed to Pope John Paul II's intercession and set May 1 as the date for his beatification, an event that will be a major morale boost for a church reeling from a wave of violence against Christians and fallout from the clerical sexual abuse scandal.

The U.S. Supreme Court refused on Monday to consider whether the Vatican has legal immunity over the sexual abuse of minors by priests in the United States, allowing a lawsuit filed in 2002 to go forward.

The church expressed “shock” after clerics were detained as part of an inquiry into allegations of sexual abuse.

Pope Benedict said on Tuesday the crisis of sexual abuse of children by priests should make the Church acknowledge the "terrifying" truth that its greatest threat comes from "sin within the Church".

An Oregon jury finds the Boy Scouts of America negligent in a case of repeated sexual abuse by an assistant Scoutmaster in the 1980s and awards the plaintiff $1.4 million.

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