International
Church charges ceased or resigned in the papacy of Francis for cases of pedophilia
The fight against pedophasty within the Church was one of Francis’ objectives during the twelve years that his papacy lasted, in which there were cemiss and dismissals of members of the ecclesiastical hierarchy involved in these cases.
Among the most prominent are the following:
01.10.2013.- Francis accepts the resignation of Bishop William Lee of Waterford and Lismore (Ireland), after he admitted his ‘inappropriate’ performance in a case of alleged sexual abuse in 1993 committed by a priest of his diocese.
23.09.2014.- Josef Wesolowski, Vatican nuncio in the Dominican Republic between 2008 and 2013, was expelled from the priesthood and his responsibility at the head of the Nunciature after being subjected to a canonical process instructed by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, for his alleged ‘serious acts of child abuse in the Dominican Republic’.
On September 23, 2014, by the will of Pope Francis, the former unnuncio was placed under house arrest inside the Vatican State. Weselowski died on August 28, 2015 in Rome, where he was waiting for the trial to be held.
09/25/2014.- Francisco replaces Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano, bishop of Ciudad del Este (Paraguay), for the defense he made of the Argentine priest Carlos Urrutigoity, suspended for pedophilia in the United States in 2002.
21.04.2015.- Pope Francis accepts the resignation of the bishop of Kansas City-Saint Joseph (USA), Robert W. Finn, three years after being convicted of hiding a possible case of pederasty by a priest from his diocese.
15.06.2015.- The Archbishop of Minneapolis (USA), John Nienstedt, and the assistant bishop Lee Piché resign when a report from the Minnesota Prosecutor’s Office is released that accuses the archdiocese of ignoring and treating inappropriately complaints of cases of pedophilia. The pope accepts his resignation.
29.07.2016.- The bishop of the Irish diocese of Galway and Kilmacduagh, Martin Drennan, resigns, pointed out in a 2009 report on the cover-up of cases of pederasty in the Church of Ireland. The pope accepts the resignation.
29.06.2017.- Francis grants ‘a period of leave’ to Cardinal George Pell, considered number 3 of the Vatican, responsible for the finances of the Catholic Church and maximum representative of the Australian Church, when he was charged by the police of the Australian state of Victoria for alleged crimes of pedophilia.
Pell was the first high-ranking Roman curia who in December 2018 was found guilty of sexually abusing two minors in the 1990s and sentenced to six years in prison. After spending thirteen months in prison, the sentence was reversed in 2020 and the religious was acquitted in the last appeal. He died in 2023.
18.05.2018.- All the bishops of Chile -34- present their resignation to the pope after several days of meetings with the Pontiff in the Vatican to discuss the serious errors and omissions in the management of cases of sexual abuse, especially those related to that of the bishop of Osorno, Juan Barros, accused of covering up the priest Fernando Karadima, sentenced in 2011 by the Canonical Justice to a life of imprisonment and penance for committing sexual abuse.
11.06.2018.- Pope Francis accepts the resignations of three bishops of Chile: Juan Barros, bishop of Osorno; Gonzalo Duarte García de Cortázar, from Valparaíso, and Cristiano Caro Cordero, from Puerto Montt, for lack of transparency of the Church in the management of cases of sexual abuse of minors.
28.07.2018.- Theodore McCarrick, cardinal and archbishop emeritus of Washington, is removed from his duties on June 20, 2018 after a commission of inquiry determined well-founded and credible accusations of sexual abuse committed by the purpardon when he was a priest in the archdiocese of New York.
30.07.2018.- Francis accepts the resignation of Philip Wilson, archbishop of Adelaide (Australia) after being sentenced to twelve months in prison for covering up a pedophile priest (James Fletcher) during the 1970s. Wilson was acquitted on December 6, 2018 after his appeal against the sentence of twelve months in prison was accepted, then transformed into twelve months of house arrest, of which he must serve six months.
13.09.2018.- Francis accepts the resignation of Bishop Michael J. Bransfield of the diocese of Wheeling-Charleston (USA), who in 2012 was accused with other clerics from Philadelphia of having sexually abused ten children in the late 70s and early 80s.
21.09.2018.- Pope Francis accepts the resignation of two new bishops of Chile: Carlos Pellegrín Barrera, from San Bartolomé de Chillán, and Cristián Contreras, from San Felipe, also for the scandals of sexual abuse of minors that shaken the Church of the country.
12.10.2018.- The pope accepts the resignation of the archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, who presented in September when he was accused of covering up cases of child abuse in the report of the Pennsylvania Prosecutor’s Office (USA).
07.03.2019.- Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, Archbishop of Lyon and primate of France since 2002, is sentenced to six months in prison for covering up acts of pederasty in that French diocese.
Barbarin, also sentenced to pay a symbolic compensation of one euro to the eight victims of the priest Bernard Preynat, whom the purpured man kept in charge of a parish in his diocese, presented his resignation to Pope Francis on March 18, 2019, which was rejected by invoking the pontiff ‘the presumption of innocence’. That day, the French prelate temporarily resigned from his position as Archbishop of Lyon.
23.03.2019.- Pope Francis accepts the resignation of the archbishop of Santiago de Chile, Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati, charged in his country for covering up cases of sexual abuse.
04.04.2019.- The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith definitively expels Anthony Sablan Apuron from the position of archbishop of Agaña, on the island of Guam, for sexual abuse of minors.
10/17/2020.- Pope Francis accepts the resignation of the bishop of the diocese of Kalisz (central Poland), Edward Janiak, accused of having covered up cases of pedophilia in the country.
06.11.2020.- The apostolic nunciature of Poland communicates to the retired cardinal, Henryk Gulbinowicz, the prohibition of participating in public celebrations and the use of the bishop’s badge when he is accused of alleged sexual abuse.
29.03.2021.- In Poland, the Archbishop of Gdansk, Slawoj Leszek and the Bishop of Kalisz, Edward Janiak, are prohibited from residing in their respective headquarters and participating in religious celebrations for not reporting sexual abuse of minors.
The pope grants Stefan HeBe, Archbishop of Cologne (West Germany), the situation of ‘rest’ for alleged evidence of non-compliance with his duty to communicate and clarify alleged sexual abuse on eleven occasions between 1975 and 2018.
06.28.2021.- Polish Bishop Zbigniew Kiernikowski is replaced by the Vatican after an investigation into negligence in relation to sexual abuse in the diocese of Siedle (east).
29.08.2021.- The pope accepts the resignation of Australian Bishop Christopher Alan Saunders, at the head of the diocese of Broome, in which he had been since 1996, when he was investigated for alleged sexual abuse.
07.11.2022.- Jean-Pierre Ricard, cardinal, archbishop emeritus of Bordeaux since 2019, announces his withdrawal from his religious duties by recognizing a ‘reprehensible’ attitude with a 14-year-old girl in the late 1980s.
01.06.2023.- Pope Francis accepts the resignation presented by Bishop Jalandhar Mulakkal, in Punjab (India), who had already been momentarily suspended from his position also at his own request in 2021, due to the complaint filed in 2018 by a nun following alleged and repeated violations that occurred in Kerala between 2014 and 2016.
The prelate, who was arrested and remained in police custody for weeks before obtaining bail for it, was acquitted of those accusations by an Indian court in 2022 in a scandal that shook India’s Christian opinion.
09.03.2024.- Francisco accepts the resignation of Andrzej Franciszek Dziuba, bishop of the diocese of Lowicz, in Poland, accused of negligence in the management of sexual abuse against minors after several complaints filed with the Holy See.
02.04.2024.- Pope Francis accepts the resignation of José Antonio Eguren Anselmi, Archbishop of Piura, Peru, after accusations of having covered up sexual abuse by Luis Fernando Figari, founder of Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana, the religious congregation intervened in 2018 by the Vatican, after the Peruvian Prosecutor’s Office asked for preventive detention for several members and former members of the organization, including Figari.
11.09.2024.- The pope accepts the resignation of Heinz-Günter Bongartz, auxiliary bishop of Hildesheim in Germany, six months before the age limit to remain in office, due to the accusations of families who are victims of abuse of hiding these alleged facts.
International
Mexico and Guatemala Agree on Five-Point Binational Plan for 2027
Mexico and Guatemala agreed Tuesday on a 2027 Binational Plan built around five areas of cooperation, along with a schedule of meetings and initiatives aimed at making progress by the end of 2026 on security, border infrastructure, human mobility, development and technical and social cooperation.
The agreement was announced by the foreign ministers of both countries following a meeting in Mexico City.
Mexican Foreign Minister Roberto Velasco said the plan will establish the “direction and priorities” of bilateral relations for next year. His Guatemalan counterpart, Carlos Ramiro Martínez, said the meeting allowed both governments to make decisions, schedule activities and revitalize bilateral cooperation mechanisms.
Security and border infrastructure
In the area of security, the two governments have nearly completed negotiations on a new memorandum of understanding for the Mexico-Guatemala High-Level Security Group (Ganseg), which was reactivated in 2025.
The countries expect to sign the agreement in the coming months to strengthen coordination and their ability to respond to shared security threats.
Regarding their nearly 1,000-kilometer shared border, Mexico and Guatemala agreed to advance infrastructure improvements at border crossings and continue work on a joint cargo clearance program between Ciudad Hidalgo and Tecún Umán, two border areas separated by the Suchiate River.
The measures are intended to facilitate bilateral trade while making cross-border exchanges safer and more efficient.
The two governments will also continue defining a route toward a railway connection between their countries through Line K of Mexico’s Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (CIIT), with the aim of strengthening economic and community ties.
Migration and development
On human mobility, Mexico and Guatemala will maintain coordination to ensure safe, orderly and dignified returns, while strengthening protection for people in transit.
The bilateral agenda also includes a second phase of the Sembrando Vida program in Guatemala, which is expected to benefit 10,000 people across 15 departments.
Both countries will also advance initiatives under Juntos para el Bienestar, as well as six technical, scientific and energy cooperation projects approved by the Joint Commission.
The agreements seek to strengthen bilateral ties and establish concrete priorities for cooperation between Mexico and Guatemala during 2027.
International
France to Expel Two Iranian Diplomats Over Alleged Attack on French Officials
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot announced Tuesday, August 18, 2026, that France will expel two Iranian diplomats in response to what Paris described as an attack on two French representatives in Iran last month.
“Two French diplomats were scandalously and deliberately assaulted on July 19. I had announced that this intolerable act would have consequences. It has now happened. Two Iranian diplomats in France will be expelled in the coming days,” Barrot said in a message posted on X.
The two Iranian diplomats have been declared persona non grata and will be required to leave France within the coming days, according to the French foreign minister.
About a month ago, Barrot said that two members of the French diplomatic staff had been detained by Iranian security forces for several hours. One of them was also subjected to harassment, he said.
The French government described the incident as an “extremely serious act of intimidation” that violated diplomatic immunity.
The two French embassy staff members were working on programs supporting Iranian civil society, particularly initiatives involving artists and researchers.
Iran has denied France’s allegations regarding the incident. The diplomatic dispute comes amid already strained relations between Paris and Tehran.
International
Heat wave puts more than 70 million Americans under alerts as temperatures near 46°C
More than 70 million people remained under heat alerts Monday as an intense heat wave continued across the southern United States, particularly Florida and states along the Mexican border, where temperatures and heat indexes could reach as high as 46 degrees Celsius, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).
Several cities recorded or tied temperature records over the weekend and into Monday, including Miami and Fort Lauderdale in Florida; Laredo, Borger and Austin’s airport in Texas; Atlanta, Georgia; Raleigh and Charlotte, North Carolina; and Memphis, Tennessee.
The NWS warned that the heat wave will continue affecting the southern and southeastern United States, with maximum temperatures expected to remain near 38°C to 40°C for several days. The heat index, which combines temperature and humidity to estimate how hot conditions feel, could reach 46°C.
The extreme heat is also spreading into the Southwest, where temperatures began rising again between Monday and Tuesday. Forecast highs in the region range from about 38°C to 43°C.
Heat alerts remain in effect across Nevada, Arizona and California, including areas in southern Arizona and California near the Mexican border, as authorities warn of the risks posed by prolonged extreme temperatures.
The NWS urged residents to limit outdoor activity, stay hydrated, ensure access to air conditioning or cooling centers, and check on vulnerable friends, neighbors and family members.
The United States is experiencing a summer marked by above-average temperatures and repeated heat waves. One of the most intense episodes occurred during the July 4 weekend, when extreme heat was blamed for roughly 30 deaths.
July was the hottest month ever recorded in the United States since measurements began, with the average temperature across the contiguous country approaching 25°C, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The combination of extreme heat and drought conditions has also fueled wildfires. Nearly 3 million hectares have burned across the country so far in 2026, making it the largest area affected by wildfires in a decade.
Mexico and Guatemala Agree on Five-Point Binational Plan for 2027
France to Expel Two Iranian Diplomats Over Alleged Attack on French Officials
Heat wave puts more than 70 million Americans under alerts as temperatures near 46°C
Trump warns Iran over nuclear ambitions as U.S.-Iran ceasefire deadline passes
Brazil’s Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro kick off election campaigns amid focus on crime
Actress Hayden Panettiere Dies at 36, Representative Confirms
Luigi Mangione Pleads Guilty to Killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson
ICE Plan to Equip Agents With Electric Shock Gloves Raises Abuse Concerns
France to Expel Two Iranian Diplomats Over Alleged Attack on French Officials
Actress Hayden Panettiere Dies at 36, Representative Confirms
Trump warns Iran over nuclear ambitions as U.S.-Iran ceasefire deadline passes
Heat wave puts more than 70 million Americans under alerts as temperatures near 46°C
Brazil’s Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro kick off election campaigns amid focus on crime
Mexico and Guatemala Agree on Five-Point Binational Plan for 2027
Luigi Mangione Pleads Guilty to Killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson
ICE Plan to Equip Agents With Electric Shock Gloves Raises Abuse Concerns
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International14 hours agoFrance to Expel Two Iranian Diplomats Over Alleged Attack on French Officials
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International3 days agoActress Hayden Panettiere Dies at 36, Representative Confirms
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International2 days agoTrump warns Iran over nuclear ambitions as U.S.-Iran ceasefire deadline passes
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International2 days agoHeat wave puts more than 70 million Americans under alerts as temperatures near 46°C
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International14 hours agoMexico and Guatemala Agree on Five-Point Binational Plan for 2027
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