Rebel Redemptorist priest, Tony Flannery, has called for the papal nuncio to be removed from his post.

Another priest in the diocese of Cloyne has been defrocked by the Vatican because of child sex abuse allegations.

A leading advocate for reform in the Catholic Church has said trying to bring about about meaningful change is “like beating one’s head against a stone wall”.

Pope Francis has urged Vatican disciplinarians to act “with determination” against sexual abuse committed by members of the Catholic clergy, in his first public pronouncement on the issue.

There is “no question” of Fr Tony Flannery facing excommunication, senior Vatican sources have told The Irish Catholic newspaper.

A representative of Catholic lay group We Are Church Ireland (WACI) is due to hand in a letter of protest today to the Vatican’s watchdog on doctrinal orthodoxy demanding it lift its censure of five Irish priests.

One of Ireland’s best-known priests has revealed the anguish the Church’s requirement of mandatory clerical celibacy has caused him.

Former president Mary McAleese has decried the Church’s treatment of five silenced priests, accusing Rome of operating through fear and imposing strictures on the clerics which “consume the truth”.

A priest in a town southeast of Paris has been accused of sexual assault and child pornography charges after a 22-year-old former choirboy accused him of abuse, and a police search found pictures of a young parishioner in his home, a prosecutor said.

A conservative religious order that enjoyed the favour of Pope John Paul II has apologised to victims of sexual abuse by its founder.

The Pope was today holding talks with a married archbishop who has been threatened with excommunication.