Scandal, Pedophile Priest | featured news

The Vatican said on Tuesday it would prove it cannot be held legally responsible for the actions of a priest at the center of a sexual abuse scandal in the United States.

Pope Benedict said the sexual abuse scandal shaking Roman Catholicism showed the Church needed to do penance for its sins, in a rare public reference by the pope to pedophilia in the priesthood.

A police investigation continued Thursday into a Catholic abuse scandal in Brazil, which erupted last week when a network aired a video that it said showed a priest having sex with a 19-year-old altar boy.

The Vatican denounces what it calls aggressive attempts to drag Pope Benedict XVI into the spreading scandals of pedophile priests in his German homeland.