James Burke TV - Twist of Faith 2004 - BBC News TV - Conspiracy: Murder at the Vatican TV - Spotlight 2015 - Andrew Marr TV - The Keepers 2017 - Frontline TV - The Truth About Franco: Spain’s Forgotten Dictator TV - Father Ted TV - The Trials of Heather Mills TV -
The Church: It had a fully functioning network of communications from Bishop to Bishop throughout Europe ... The Church then was like our communications system now. James Burke, Connections s1e4: Faith In Numbers, BBC 1978
Within a century there were nearly six hundred Cistercian monasteries. ibid.
The place where I was first molested is the rectory at St Joseph. Twist of Faith, Tony Comes, 2004
I realised what was happening and just kept my eyes closed. ibid.
We didn’t know he lived down the street when we moved here. ibid.
It was too screwed up to question. ibid.
‘The scandal has ripped through the Catholic church in Boston, St Louis and now Toledo with allegations that priests sexually abused young parishioners. And today, Toledo’s bishop issued a letter to parishioners … ‘you should come forward’.’ ibid. NBC news at six
The Bishop assured Tony that there were no other sex abuse allegations against Dennis Gray. ibid. caption
‘Six men claim Dennis Gray, a former Toledo priest, molested them during the 1980s. All of the men were students at Central Catholic High School where Gray taught religion.’ ibid. news
In June 2003 the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) held its first annual conference in St Louis. ibid. caption
One of the world’s most senior Roman Catholic cardinals – George Pell – has been charged with multiple sexual offences … He is considered to rank third in the hierarchy of the global church. BBC news 29th June 2017
We examine the claims of shocking scandals and brutal murders surrounding the Roman Catholic church. Was the church guilty of murdering its own Pope – John Paul I? Was the Vatican in league with the Americans to help war criminals guilty of genocide escape justice? And was the Vatican involved with the murder of the man known as God’s banker? Conspiracy s1e8: Murder at the Vatican, Channel 5 2015
Mehmet Ali Agca: He was the only man prosecuted for this crime but many questioned his motives from the very beginning. But if Ali Agca was a hired gun, he wasn’t saying who paid him. ibid.
In the early 1980s one name was synonymous with corporate corruption on a global scale: Roberto Calvi. As one of Italy’s top bankers it’s claimed he was profiting from vast sums of money laundered by the Mafia and the Vatican. A plot that some say led to his death in London and a murder enquiry which is still open today. Calvi was nicknamed God’s banker. ibid.
Before he could make any changes, 33 days into his new role, he was found dead. Officially, it was said to be a heart attack. But there are many who claim he was murdered by his fellow priests and the Vatican got away with it. ibid.
We are a four-person investigative team … We keep our work confidential. Spotlight 2015 starring Mark Ruffalo & Michael Keaton & Rachel McAdams & Liev Schreiber & John Slattery & Brian d’Arcy James & Stanley Tucci & Gene Amoroso & James Sheridan & Billy Crudup & Richard Jenkins et al, director Tom McCarthy
Apparently, this priest molested kids at six different parishes over the last thirty years and the attorney for the victims … says Cardinal Law found out about it fifteen years ago and did nothing. ibid. Baron meets the staff
Twenty grand for molesting a child? ibid. Sacha
This guy was shuffled around from parish to parish … There’s a pattern. ibid. Rezendes
How do you say no to God, right? You see, it’s important to understand this is not only physical abuse, it’s spiritual abuse too. ibid.
This is not just Boston, it’s the whole country … I know thirteen [priests] here in Boston. ibid. victim
My estimate suggests 6% act out sexually with minors. 6% of all priests. ibid. researcher
87 priests in Boston. ibid. Rezendes
We’ve got two stories here: we’ve got a story about degenerate clergy and we’ve got a story about a bunch of lawyers turning child abuse into a cottage industry. ibid. Robinson
Show me this was systemic, that it came from the top down. ibid. Baron
Church allowed abuse by priest for years. ibid. newspaper headline
Over the course of 2002, the Spotlight team published close to 600 stories about the scandal. 249 priests and brothers were publicly accused of sexual abuse within the Boston Archdiocese. The number of survivors in Boston is estimated to be well over 1,000. In December 2002 Cardinal Law resigned from the Boston Archdiocese. He was reassigned to the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiori in Rome, one of the highest ranking Roman catholic churches in the world. ibid. captions
Pope Leo X was in a dash for cash. He was rebuilding St Peter’s Basilica, the biggest church in the world. But to some, the Pope’s sale of Indulgences to pay for this looked cynical and greedy. On October 31st 1517 a German monk is said to have strode up to Castle Church in Wittenberg, Saxony, and nailed 95 arguments against the Church’s behaviour to the oak door. His name was Martin Luther. Andrew Marr’s History of the World V: Age of Plunder, BBC 2012
Who Killed Sister Cathy? One of Maryland’s coldest murder cases heats up. The Keepers s1e1: The Murder, newspaper article Tom Nugent, Netflix 2017
Sister Catherine Cesnik SSND 1942-1969. ibid. gravestone
Our concern was that she fell into something evil, something bad, and got caught up with it. We are told that the story is not the nun’s killing, the story is the cover-up of the nun’s story. ibid. Abbie Schaub investigates with Gemma Hoskins
Joyce Malecki was a young woman who was abducted three or four days after Sister Cathy was abducted. ibid.
I believe that Cathy Cesnik was murdered by someone she knew … Cathy Cesnik was killed because she was going to talk about what went on at the school. The Keepers s1e2: The School, Jean Wehner aka Jane Doe
You used to see a lot of girls coming in and out of his [Father Joseph Maskell] office which was kind of strange. ibid.
He [Maskell] had a coldness about him. ibid. former alter boy
Pull yourself together and get back to class. ibid. Maskell to young female victim
Maskell would stand by the door while other people were doing things to me. ibid.
I was called to the room. It was after school. And he was frantic … He said, I know where she is … Do you want me to take you to her? … We get in the car … Total shock. What do you mean she’s missing? … I knew it was her … There were maggots in her face … And he came down real close and he said, You see what happens when you say bad things about people? ibid.
This really happened: he took me to the body … The abuse became worse. The Keepers s1e3: The Revelation, victim
If the archdiocese had all these complaints about his behaviour, ethically they should have sent Maskell’s history of his new abuse episodes with him. ibid. Schaub
The archdiocese was not at all helpful. ibid. journalist, re Jane Doe’s disclosure
Deep Throat [rozzer] told us we have to be careful for our safety. ibid. Schaub
The police, the archdiocese, they did nothing. The Keepers s1e4: The Burial, victim
It was determined that we would file suit against Father Maskell, the school sisters of Notre Dame … the archdiocese, and the gynaecologist. ibid. another victim
Journalist Tom Nugent arranges a meeting with the unidentified former Baltimore City Police detective known as Deep Throat. He agrees to attend on the condition that he remains anonymous. ibid. caption
I interviewed over a hundred girls myself [1994]. ibid. Deep Throat
It’s very very hard for an abuse victim to go through those kind of questions … Here I am sitting in a room with a wall of lawyers. ibid. abuse victim faces lawyers
He disappeared; he was taken out of his church. ibid. defence lawyer
‘Heather Mills: she did become Public Enemy No. 1.’ The Trials of Heather Mills, woman, Channel 5 2023
‘The fact that she called all these journalists round. That was when she made a pact with the devil.’ ibid.
‘What had she done wrong? What was her crime?’ ibid.
‘She becomes this hysterical figure. The whole thing spirals.’ ibid. caption
2007: Heather Mills is in the eye of a media storm … After months of bad press, Heather decided to speak out. ibid.