A Vatican committee sent a letter on Tuesday warning that the credibility of the Catholic Church is in jeopardy over the global sexual abuse scandal. The letter went to the presidents of bishops’ conferences around the world who will gather in February for a Vatican summit on sexual abuse prevention. The organizing committee urged attendees to meet personally with victims beforehand “to learn firsthand the suffering they have endured.”

As the Chinese government demolishes crosses, closes unregistered churches, and controls religion more tightly than at any time since the Cultural Revolution, the Vatican has reached a provisional deal with Communist officials that could lead to the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and the Catholic Church.

The former Vatican ambassador to the United States who accused Pope Francis of ignoring a sexual abuse problem in the U.S. church renewed his protests with another letter Thursday. Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò released an 11-page letter last month charging Francis and two popes before him of covering up for ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington, D.C., who was accused of sexually harassing seminarians. Francis removed McCarrick as a cardinal in July after a U.S.

As fallout continues to spread from the sex abuse scandal within the Roman Catholic Church, the diocese in Brooklyn, N.Y., has agreed to one of the church’s largest-ever settlements to four victims. The diocese will pay out more than $27 million to four men sexually abused as children by a religion teacher in Brooklyn, The New York Times reported.

Pope Francis accepted the resignation of West Virginia Bishop Michael Bransfield amid accusations the bishop sexually harassed adults, Vatican officials said Thursday morning. Francis also authorized the diocese’s new temporary administrator, Baltimore Bishop William Lori, to conduct an investigation into the accusations. Lori set up a hotline for potential victims to call and said he would conduct a thorough investigation. Bransfield has denied the accusations.

Imagine this scenario. You’re an officer in an evangelical church. The congregation has been thriving and the spirit is good.

Pope Francis has called on the presidents of every global bishops conference to attend a February summit to deliberate on how to prevent clergy sex abuse and ensure children are protected, the Vatican announced Wednesday.