Priest denies assault claim, and quits

One of Norway’s most well-known Catholic priests has emerged as the alleged offender behind a sexual assault claimed by another Catholic priest. Pater Kjell Arild Pollestad denies the claim and contends he’s been the victim of enemies within the church. Now he’s leaving the priesthood. Pollestad wrote a lengthy and detailed rebuttal in newspaper Aftenposten Tuesday [...]

Catholic church aware of six assaults

The Catholic church in Norway announced Friday that it’s now aware of six sexual assaults by priests, including the one revealed this week that resulted in last year’s quiet dismissal of the church’s bishop in Trondheim. Church officials won’t open its personnel archives, though, to investigators. Oslo Bishop Bernt Eidsvig, who heads the Catholic church [...]

Disgraced bishop still holding mass

The former Catholic bishop in Trondheim, who left Norway last year after admitting to sexually molesting an altar boy in the 1980s, has been conducting mass again in his native Germany. The head of the Catholic Church in Norway plans to protest. Norwegian media has been full of stories about the latest sex scandal within [...]

Catholics’ scandal spreads to Norway

The Norwegian Catholics’ former bishop in Trondheim left his post last summer after admitting that he’d sexually molested an altar boy around 20 years earlier, reports newspaper Adresseavisen. Church officials chose not to publicly acknowledge the molestation, claiming the bishop was “relieved of his duties” because of “cooperation problems” within his congregation. The disgraced bishop [...]

Bishop sorry for ‘missed opportunity’

Norway’s Catholic Bishop Bernt Eidsvig stopped short of criticizing Pope Benedict XVI, but said on national television during the Easter holidays that he thinks the Vatican “missed an opportunity” to ease tensions over recent charges of sexual assault and pedophilia. He has come out strongly for a need to deal firmly and openly with such [...]