Some sex scandals that rocked the Catholic Church

In 2008, 15-year-old girl "Crystal" (not her real name) accused Father Gabriel Madangeng Jr. of raping her from August to December 2006.

 

The girl filed five counts of rape and seven counts of acts of lasciviousness against the priest.

 

Madangeng, a Leyte-based priest, also faced a similar accusation in 2010. A girl, 17 years old, claimed that he raped her a number of times starting in November 2009. The sexual abuse allegedly continued until February 2010.

 

The priest denied the accusation and has since been re-assigned to another parish.

 

Amid mounting public pressure in 2002, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines - through then president Archbishop Orlando Quevedo - issued a historic apology to all the victims of hundreds of priests accused of sexual abuse since the 1980s.

 

"To the various crises in society, we must now, with great sorrow and shame, add problems in the Church... Sexual misconduct on the part of shepherds of the flock betrays the holy priesthood that Christ has shared," Quevedo said at the time. In 2003, reports quoted Father James Reuter as saying "almost three dozen priests" have been suspended due to allegations of sexual harassment.

 

While most of the religious leaders being implicated in rape cases are often re-assigned to different dioceses, some resigned.

 

Bishop Crisostomo Yalung of Antipolo gave up his religious practice after confessing to having had an affair with a woman and fathered her children. 

 

Sex scandals have likewise rocked the Catholic Church in a number of countries such as Kenya and Tanzania in Africa; France, Germany, Great Britain, Sweden, Poland, Malta, and even Italy, among others in Europe.

 

In North and South America, rape cases against priests and bishops have likewise been reported in the US, Mexico, Canada, Brazil, Chile, Peru, and Argentina. Australia and Newz Zealand.

 

The rape accusations against priests came from female and male victims. Some notable examples are Father Francesco Scerri from Malta. A supposed "mistake in the charges" led to his acquittal of rape and instead, a conviction of sexual abuse.

 

A report commissioned by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2004 revealed that a total of 10,667 people accused priests of child sexual abuse from 1950 to 2002.

 

A Boston Globe report showed that from 1990 to 2002, at least 11 Catholic bishops outside the US have resigned from their posts amid accusations of sexual misconduct. - GMA News