By Maria Wiering
(OSV News) – “Let me say very simply: I want more babies in the United States of America,” Vice President JD Vance told a cheering crowd at the 52nd National March for Life Jan. 24.

“I want more happy children in our country, and I want beautiful young men and women who are eager to welcome them into the world and eager to raise them,” he said. “And it is the task of our government to make it easier for young moms and dads to afford to have kids, to bring them into the world, and to welcome them as the blessings that we know they are, here at the March for Life.”

In his first public appearance following Inauguration Day, Vance was the final speaker at the annual march’s two-hour rally preceding attendees’ walk from the Washington Monument grounds to the U.S. Supreme Court Building. Other speakers included Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. It is the first time both leaders of Congress’s chambers attended a March for Life.

While most speakers – policymakers and pro-life advocates – spoke specifically about making abortion “illegal and unthinkable” in post-Dobbs America, Vance championed a pro-family vision that not only rejected abortion, but also supported raising children.
Noting his own three young children, Vance, who is Catholic, said, “The task of our movement is to protect innocent life. It’s to defend the unborn; and it’s also to be pro-family and pro-life in the fullest sense of that word possible.”

As in years past, the march drew tens of thousands, many of them young adults. Some traveled more than a day on buses, missing high school and college classes to join others along the National Mall in the mid-Atlantic cold.

The 2025 march also commemorated a leadership change for the event’s organization, with longtime president Jeanne Mancini handing off her role to March for Life’s incoming president, Jennie Bradley Lichter. While Mancini emceed the 2025 march, both women spoke, with Bradley Lichter also introducing Vance.

The march was founded to protest Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in all 50 states. That decision was overturned in 2022 with the court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, thus returning abortion policy to lawmakers. At the rally, March for Life leaders addressed the march’s role in the changed abortion landscape, with abortion laws now varying widely by state. The march, they insisted, must continue.

“Today we affirm that the pro-life generation will not rest until every single abortion facility in our nation closes its door for good. We will march until every child is protected by federal law, until abortion is unthinkable, and until every pregnant woman receives excellent prenatal care,” said Hannah Lape, president of Wheaton College Voice for Life. Her group carried the 2025 march’s iconic banner.

The march came four days after President Donald Trump was sworn in for his second term, following a campaign that disappointed many pro-life advocates in certain respects. Trump was hailed for pro-life actions during his first term. Since then, he reversed support for a federal abortion ban, stating he believes U.S. states should determine their own abortion laws. He also posted on social media positively about “reproductive rights,” and indicated he would not restrict access to mifepristone. The drug, while it is prescribed in some miscarriage care protocols, is widely used for nearly two-thirds of abortions in the U.S.

A majority of Americans support some legal limits on abortion, while keeping the practice largely intact, according to a Knights of Columbus-Marist poll released Jan. 23. The annual survey found that 83% of Americans supported pregnancy resource centers and 67% of Americans support some legal limits for abortion. But 60% support limiting abortions to the first three months of pregnancy – a limit that would leave most abortions legal as nine out of 10 abortions occur in the first trimester.

“All of you here – all of you – have the power to change minds,” Lila Rose, a Catholic and longtime pro-life advocate, told the crowd during the march rally. “You are the voice for those who have no voice. Remember, science is on our side. The truth is on our side. We must simply have the courage to speak the truth with love.”

The March for Life was preceded by two large-scale events: Life Fest 2025 at EagleBank Arena in Fairfax, Virginia, held the evening before and the morning of the march; and the National Prayer Vigil for Life at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington.

Marcela Rojas, who lives in the Archdiocese of New York, said that she attended the march with a group of 75 people, many of them mothers who brought their small children.

“Within our being, in our womb, there is a life,” she said of pregnant mothers. “It is a life that we cannot choose for. It is already another life that does not belong to us, and we are not the ones to decide whether it lives or not.”

(Maria Wiering is senior writer for OSV News. Contributing to this story was OSV News correspondent Marietha Góngora V. in Washington.)

By Gina Christian and Kate Scanlon
(OSV News) – U.S. Catholic bishops – joined by Pope Francis – are calling for prayer after a deadly aviation crash in the nation’s capital claimed dozens of lives.

“Catholics throughout the Archdiocese of Washington today join men and women of good will here and around the world in praying for those who perished in last night’s heartbreaking accident,” Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory, the retired archbishop and current apostolic administrator of the archdiocese, said in a Jan. 30 statement.

The Jan. 29 midair collision between a regional jet operated by American Airlines and a U.S. military helicopter took place over the Potomac River at approximately 9 p.m.

American Eagle Flight 5342 – which originated in Wichita, Kansas – had been preparing to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and carried 60 passengers and four crew members on board. The helicopter involved in the collision, a UH-60 Black Hawk assigned to Fort Belvoir, Virginia, contained three troops on a routine training flight.

The initial rescue operation was soon declared a recovery effort, with first responders and dive crews battling the Potomac’s icy waters to retrieve the bodies. The incident remains under investigation by multiple agencies led by the National Transportation Safety Board and including the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Army.

“We praise God for the generous assistance of our courageous first responders,” Cardinal Gregory said in his statement. “May this disaster serve as an impetus to strengthen our unity and collaboration.”

In a Jan. 30 post on the X social media platform, Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia, asked people to be “united in prayer for all those tragically impacted by the accident.”

“May we be united in prayer for all those tragically impacted by the accident near Reagan airport,” Bishop Burbidge, whose diocese borders the Potomac, said in his post.

Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, in a statement issued Jan. 30 “on behalf of the clergy and faithful” of the archdiocese, prayed for those “who tragically perished” in the crash and expressed “prayerful solidarity” with the families of all the victims.

“May Almighty God grant them peace and serenity and consolation to those left behind,” he said. “Reagan National Airport is a very familiar place to me. This tragedy strikes very close to home.”
Shortly after the crash, Bishop Carl A. Kemme of Wichita, Kansas, posted on Facebook that he was “praying for all involved” in the disaster.

“It is sobering to think that I and two other priests were on this very flight one week ago on our way to DC for the … March for life,” Bishop Kemme said in his post. “May God bring divine assistance to everyone involved.”

On Jan. 30, Bishop Kemme released a statement on the disaster, saying, “My heart, and the hearts of the faithful of the Diocese of Wichita, go out to the families and loved ones of all those lost in this devastating accident. 

“We pray for the souls of those who perished, including the brave members of our military, the passengers, and the crew,” said Bishop Kemme. “We also pray for comfort and strength for those who mourn, and for the first responders and recovery teams as they continue their difficult work. I encourage all to pray for those affected by this tragedy. May the souls of the departed rest in peace.”

In a Jan. 30 telegram to President Donald Trump, Pope Francis expressed his “spiritual closeness” to victims and their families and commended the souls of the departed to God’s loving mercy.

“I likewise pray for those involved in the recovery efforts, and invoke upon all in the nation the divine blessings of consolation and strength,” he said.

While the victims’ names have not yet been revealed, U.S. Figure Skating, the sport’s governing body, told media that several passengers on the commercial aircraft were young figure skaters returning from a training camp in Wichita. Russian state media reported that several of the skaters were Russian nationals.

(Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X @GinaJesseReina. Kate Scanlon is a national reporter for OSV News based in Washington. Follow her on X @kgscanlon.)

The Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity (Trinitarians) have been present in the challenging reality of migration at every moment of our history. From our beginnings more than one hundred years ago, the Holy Spirit has moved us to be willing to leave everything and go to the most unprotected portion of the harvest.

Today, throughout the world, the suffering of displaced persons-immigrants and refugees-is a cry of brothers and sisters waiting to be heard, seen and found. In all our missions and the countries where we strive to live prophetically, our call to mission, the cry awaits a response.

We, Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity, proclaim today, “You are not alone. We journey with you!”

Well have the bishops of the United States declared: “Together, we must be the voice of the multitudes who yearn to breathe freedom and demand that our government provide just and humane treatment for our dear brothers and sisters. It is our hope, our prayer, that we can all work together in developing a reform of the current immigration system.”

We, the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity, want to be much more than a voice. Wherever we are, we wish to invite all our partners in mission and every person of good will to join us in a concrete effort of solidarity, presence and hope.

As men of faith with lives dedicated to the Gospel of Jesus, we commit ourselves to:

• Be one with our sisters and brothers in their moments of terror and need.
• To honor their sense of devastation and anguish.
• Support one another and those we serve.
  
  With this commitment, we pledge:
• To walk purposefully, hand in hand, with the immigrant and refugee.
• To actively participate in all efforts for justice.
• To be architects of protective spaces for people at risk.
• Share resources and collaborate with others working for justice.
• Bear witness to the fact that there are no disposable people.
• To seek the wisdom of our elders and the audacity of youth.
• Work to create safe spaces where people can flourish in freedom.
  Missions are people: people of all races, cultures and ways of life. People are not “illegal” or “undocumented” but beloved sons and daughters of the Heavenly Father, redeemed by the blood of Jesus on the Cross, the ultimate symbol and sign of God’s infinite love for every person without exception.
  
  We, Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity, with all people of goodwill, commit ourselves, by the grace of God, to live this Gospel message of Jesus in loving service to our sisters and brothers, whatever the cost! Only in this way can we truly fulfill the vocation we have received.

By Kate Scanlon
WASHINGTON (OSV News) – The Trump administration said Jan. 21 it would rescind a long-standing policy preventing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from making arrests at what are seen as sensitive locations, including houses of worship, schools and hospitals.

Prior to his second inauguration, Trump’s transition team indicated his administration would scrap the long-standing ICE policy – which prohibits immigration enforcement arrests at such locations, as well as other sensitive events like weddings and funerals without approval from supervisors. Catholic immigration advocates expressed alarm at the announcement.

Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman directed on Jan. 20 that those guidelines be rescinded, as well as issuing another directive restricting parameters for humanitarian parole, a DHS spokesperson said.

“This action empowers the brave men and women in CBP and ICE to enforce our immigration laws and catch criminal aliens – including murders and rapists – who have illegally come into our country,” a DHS spokesperson said. “Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest. The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense.”

Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, said in a Jan. 21 statement the policy change is one of “many drastic actions from the federal government related to immigration that deeply affect our local community and raise urgent moral and human concerns.”

“The end of the Department of Homeland Security’s sensitive locations policy strikes fear into the heart of our community, cynically layering a blanket of anxiety on families when they are worshiping God, seeking healthcare and dropping off and picking up children at school,” Bishop Seitz said. “We have also seen the rapid and indiscriminate closure of the border to asylum seekers and the return of the ill-conceived Remain in Mexico policy, violating due process and restricting the few legal options available to the most vulnerable who knock on our door seeking compassion and aid.”

Bishop Seitz added that he wanted to assure El Paso’s immigrant community that “whatever your faith and wherever you come from, we make your anxieties and fears at this moment our own.”

“We stand with you in this moment of family and personal crisis and pledge to you our solidarity, trusting that the Lord, Jesus Christ, will bring about good even from this moment of pain, and that this time of trial will be just a prelude to real reform, a reconciled society and justice for all those who are forced to migrate,” he said.

The Diocese of El Paso, Bishop Seitz added, “will continue to educate our faithful on their rights, provide legal services and work with our community leaders to mitigate the damage of indiscriminate immigration enforcement. Through our Border Refugee Assistance Fund, in partnership with the Hope Border Institute, we are preparing to channel additional humanitarian aid to migrants stranded in our sister city of Ciudad Juarez.”

Dylan Corbett, executive director of Hope Border Institute, told OSV News, “The reversal of the sensitive locations policy is gravely troubling and will have an immediate impact on families in our parishes as well as on our Catholic educational institutions and service organizations.”

“It is an attack on members of our community at pivotal moments in their life – dropping off and picking up children, seeking out health care and worshipping God,” he said. “There are serious religious liberty implications and it strikes at the core of the trust that is indispensable to a safe community. It is also a sad and troubling step in the direction of indiscriminate deportations.”

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who has also taken hardline immigration positions, is Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security, but she has not yet been confirmed by the Senate.

(Kate Scanlon is a national reporter for OSV News covering Washington. Follow her on X @kgscanlon.)

By Kate Scanlon
WASHINGTON (OSV News) – Executive orders signed by President Donald Trump on issues including migration, the environment and the death penalty are “deeply troubling,” Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a Jan. 22 statement, while praising another on gender policy.

Among the first acts of his second term beginning Jan. 20, Trump signed a slew of executive orders. Some implement his hardline policies on immigration, including seeking to change the interpretation of birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment, an order that prompted a legal challenge.
Others include withdrawing from the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate and another sought to expand the use of the federal death penalty. Trump also signed an order directing the U.S. government to only recognize two sexes, male and female.

Archbishop Broglio, who heads the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, said many of the topics that the first batch of executive orders concern “are matters on which the Church has much to offer.”

“Some provisions contained in the Executive Orders, such as those focused on the treatment of immigrants and refugees, foreign aid, expansion of the death penalty, and the environment, are deeply troubling and will have negative consequences, many of which will harm the most vulnerable among us,” he said. “Other provisions in the Executive Orders can be seen in a more positive light, such as recognizing the truth about each human person as male or female.”

Archbishop Broglio stressed that neither the Catholic Church nor the USCCB is “aligned with any political party.”

“No matter who occupies the White House or holds the majority on Capitol Hill, the Church’s teachings remain unchanged,” he said. “It is our hope that the leadership of our Country will reconsider those actions which disregard not only the human dignity of a few, but of us all.”
Executive orders are legally binding directives from the president and are published in the Federal Register. At the same time, the term “executive actions” is broader and may include informal proposals for policy the president would like to see enacted. While it is typical for new presidents to issue some executive orders on their first day in office to signal certain priorities, Trump signed a larger number of orders than usual.

Citing the current Jubilee Year of Hope declared by Pope Francis, Archbishop Broglio said, “As Christians, our hope is always in Jesus Christ, who guides us through storm and calm weather.

“He is the source of all truth,” Archbishop Broglio said. “Our prayer is one of hope that, as a Nation blessed with many gifts, our actions demonstrate a genuine care for our most vulnerable sisters and brothers, including the unborn, the poor, the elderly and infirm, and migrants and refugees. The just Judge expects nothing less.”

Also among its first actions, the Trump administration said Jan. 21 it would rescind a long-standing policy preventing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from making arrests at what are seen as sensitive locations, including houses of worship, schools and hospitals.

Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, said in a Jan. 21 statement the policy change is one of “many drastic actions from the federal government related to immigration that deeply affect our local community and raise urgent moral and human concerns.”

Bishop Seitz, who heads the USCCB’s migration committee, told reporters at the bishops’ general assembly in November that the bishops would watch how Trump’s migration policy actually unfolds and “raise our voice loudly” if those policies violate basic human rights protections.

(Kate Scanlon is a national reporter for OSV News covering Washington. Follow her on X @kgscanlon.)

By Gina Christian and Kate Scanlon
WASHINGTON (OSV News) – Catholic bishops and immigration advocates are expressing numerous concerns over a flurry of executive orders issued by newly inaugurated President Donald Trump – including one that ordered the State Department’s cancellation of all refugee travel to the U.S. by Jan. 27.

Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, chair of the U.S. Catholic bishops’ migration committee, said in a Jan. 22 statement Trump’s order was “unmerited” saying refugee resettlement is “one of the most secure legal pathways to the United States.”

He said that “national self-interest does not justify policies with consequences that are contrary to the moral law.”

Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, said in a statement that Trump’s executive orders on the migrants and refugees were among those the bishops found “deeply troubling.”

Kevin Appleby, senior fellow for policy and communications at the Center for Migration Studies of New York, said the U.S. “has successfully resettled refugees in the U.S. over the decades without a security breach.”

Appleby said that “to shut the door on refugee families who have already been processed, vetted, and prepared to travel is the height of cruelty.”

“The program has successfully resettled refugees in the U.S. over the decades without a security breach,” said Appleby. “There is no justified reason to halt it, other than to serve an anti-immigrant agenda.”

By Maria Wiering
LOS ANGELES (OSV News) – Four days after Corpus Christi Church was incinerated in the Palisades Fire, Capt. Bryan Nassour of the Los Angeles Fire Department picked his way over a 6-foot layer of rubble in the ashen bones of the sanctuary and recovered the tabernacle Jan. 11.
“I did it because the whole community has been decimated – it looks like a nuclear bomb has gone off and nothing is standing,” Nassour told Angelus, the news outlet of the Los Angeles Archdiocese. Nassour’s family belongs to St. Francis de Sales Church in Sherman Oaks, and his brother belongs to Corpus Christi.

“My brother lost his home. I have close friends who lost everything but the shirts on their backs, and they belong to that church too. So, if I could save just one thing, let it be this, so they have something to believe in,” he said.

That Saturday morning Nassour, whose station in Pacific Palisades is across the street from Corpus Christi, had been up all night battling other fires. As he sipped coffee at his desk and gazed at the ruined church, he decided to check for valuables. He wanted to protect them from looters and perhaps return something meaningful to the parish.

Scorched bricks, tiles and hunks of debris filled the nave so high that he had to crawl under the top of door frames that no longer had doors. The roof had collapsed, a burned steel frame teetered above the twisted remains of a chandelier. The pews had been consumed. Only the granite altar remained, with the solid brass tabernacle atop it and a cross above. The Blessed Sacrament was intact.

Nassour was astounded to find that the tabernacle weighed more than 300 lbs. His crew helped him get it into the station house.

“It was one of the most uplifting things,” he said. “Not everyone is religious, but they saw that and they’re like, ‘This is awesome.’ We’re doing something – at least one thing – that we can salvage for the community.”

He made many calls before he was able to reach Msgr. Liam Kidney of Corpus Christi to tell him that the tabernacle was safe and undamaged.

“He was in utter disbelief,” Nassour said.

Nassour offered to search for other sacred objects and the priest told him where to find the chalices and patens. Firefighters from Station 69 helped dig for the crushed cabinet. The chalices and patens had been severely damaged. But the firefighters recovered other sacred objects, including three unbroken containers of holy oil.

Brass withstands high heat, but Nassour suspects more was involved in the tabernacle’s survival.
“Talk to any firefighter. In any religious building what usually survives is the cross and certain specific items that are highly religious, unless they’ve been specifically set on fire,” he said.

Gabe Sanchez, a retired FBI special agent who does contract investigations for the Los Angeles Archdiocese, was sent to retrieve the tabernacle. Firefighters helped him wrestle it into his car. He drove it to St. Monica Church, where Msgr. Kidney celebrated Mass for survivors the next day.

At that Mass, the tabernacle stood on a table by the altar. Msgr. Kidney recounted Nassour calling him to ask, “I have found this big gold box. What would you like me to do with it?”

The Corpus Christi parishioners burst into applause.

Nassour was unable to attend because he was fighting fires.

(Ann Rodgers writes for Angelus, the news outlet of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.)

By Gina Christian

(OSV News) – A new report confirms OSV News’ previous finding that U.S. Catholic dioceses and eparchies have paid more than $5 billion to settle abuse claims filed over the past two decades — but credible allegations have declined significantly over the same period, with the majority of cases preceding a landmark set of anti-abuse protocols established by the U.S. bishops in 2002.

Catholic dioceses, eparchies and parishes in the U.S. have “changed how they do things” in terms of addressing and preventing abuse, said Jonathan L. Wiggins, sociologist and director of parish surveys at the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University.

On Jan. 15, CARA – which conducts social scientific studies on the Catholic Church — released a 20-year summary of annual data for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ yearly report on the implementation of the “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.”

The document – adopted by the USCCB in 2002, and commonly called the Dallas Charter — lays out a comprehensive set of procedures for addressing allegations of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy. The charter also includes guidelines for reconciliation, healing, accountability and prevention of abuse.

CARA’s two-decade review of the numbers indicates that the charter is working, and that the Catholic Church in the U.S. is making real progress in eradicating the scourge of clerical abuse, said Wiggins.

Since 2004, CARA has collected and prepared data for the USCCB on the charter’s implementation, using both web-based and mail-in surveys.

The CARA surveys complement the annual audit of dioceses and eparchies conducted by a USCCB-commissioned third-party firm, which since 2011 has been StoneBridge Business Partners, a Rochester, New York-based consulting firm that provides forensic and compliance services to a range of organizations. (Religious communities of men do not participate in the Dallas Charter audit process, but many instead seek separate accreditation for commonly accepted abuse prevention and protocols.)

Response rates for CARA’s voluntary annual surveys have averaged 99% for dioceses and eparchies and 72% for religious communities of men, according to the CARA summary report. Wiggins noted to OSV News that the Conference of Major Superiors of Men has “worked very hard to encourage their members to participate” in the annual CARA surveys, but stressed that the conference was a “voluntary collective” that could not compel such participation.

Catholic dioceses and parishes in the U.S. have “completely reformed how they recruit people, how they report,” Wiggins said. “They’ve made a public invitation to bring allegations (forward). They do background checks on everyone, not just at the diocesan level but in parishes. They train people about sex abuse.”

According to the report, dioceses, eparchies and religious communities spent a total of almost $728 million over the past 20 years in safe environment salaries, training programs and background checks. Those costs increased 80% over the span of the report period.

Wiggins described the shift in approach as “quite amazing” – and a “story that doesn’t get out” unless the data is viewed longitudinally, and in a national context, rather than simply through media coverage of a given diocesan abuse settlement.

“Sometimes the headlines make it sound like everyone’s having a whole lot of allegations all the time,” he said.

For the period 2004-2023, a total of 16,276 allegations of minors by priests, deacons and religious were deemed credible by dioceses, eparchies and religious communities in the U.S. — 82% by dioceses and eparchies, and 18% by religious orders.

An allegation, defined as “one victim alleging an act or acts of abuse by one alleged perpetrator,” can represent “a single assault or for a series of assaults on a single victim over many years,” the report said.

But, CARA stressed, “to be clear, these credible allegations of abusive behaviors did not occur over the 20 years of the survey, but rather over the more than 80 years asked about on the annual surveys.”

During the 20-year survey period, said the report, “a majority of dioceses, eparchies, and religious communities of men did not have a credible allegation, with an average of three in five (60%) having no allegations in a particular survey year.”

The summary report said that “more than nine in ten of all credible allegations occurred or began in 1989 or earlier (92%), 5% occurred or began in the 1990s, and 3% occurred or began since the year 2000.”

Most of the alleged perpetrators – 86% – “were identified as ‘deceased, already removed from ministry, already laicized, or missing,'” said the report.

That figure is “not surprising,” said CARA in its Jan. 15 media release, “as about seven-tenths (72%) of the alleged abuses occurred in 1979 or earlier, 20 to 50 years before the first CARA survey was conducted in 2004.”

The other 14% were “permanently removed from ministry or retired from ministry during the year” of that particular survey, said the report.

The report also found that 95% of the alleged abusers were priests, with 80% diocesan and 15% religious, while 4% were religious brothers and 1% were diocesan or religious deacons.

The majority of abuse victims (80%) were male, and over half (56%) were ages 10-14 at the start of the abuse, with 24% ages 15-17 and 20% age 9 or less.

The report did not speculate on possible factors behind the demographics of alleged abusers and their victims, and Wiggins told OSV News such considerations were beyond the scope of study.

However, according to research cited by RAINN (Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network), which operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline (800-656-HOPE), a majority of child abuse perpetrators (88%) are male.

Wiggins also highlighted the methodological adaptations he and his fellow researchers have had to make over the years as the clerical abuse scandals have unfolded.

One such adaptation was the 2016 addition of a new survey classification for claims: “unable to be proven.”

While “credible” and “unsubstantiated” allegations are deemed as such based on evidence gathered through an investigation, CARA began listing the “unable to be proven” category to capture those claims for which “limited information was known and a thorough preliminary investigation was unable to occur.” The reasons for the lack of information include: deceased parties in a given allegation, as well as restrictions due to court actions and state investigations.

In all three categories – credible, unsubstantiated and unable to be proven — claims may or may not have been paid out in a settlement, the report noted.

With the addition of the “unable to be proven” category in 2016, “the proportion of allegations deemed credible by dioceses, eparchies, and religious communities of men has decreased from 82% to 54%,” said the report.

At the same time, Wiggins cautioned that there is generally a considerable span of time between the commission of abuse and its actual disclosure – a gap that could impact future data.

Regarding the 3% of credible allegations since 2000, Wiggins said that incidents of abuse “happening right now may not come to light for another decade or so. We can’t say, ‘Oh, only 3% are happening now.’ We can only say, ‘Only 3% are being reported now.'”

While continued vigilance against abuse will remain crucial, Wiggins expressed optimism about the progress made so far.

“It’s not easy for an organization like the Catholic Church to make a big change, (but) they’ve really changed how they do things, fundamentally,” he said. “And of course they couldn’t turn on a dime, but they really have made the changes.”

Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X @GinaJesseReina.