VATICAN (CNS): A radical reform programme from the 11th century addressing the widespread problem of abusive clergy and negligent superiors holds some essential insights and lessons for the Church today, C. Colt Anderson, a Church historian has said in an in-depth article titled, When Magisterium Becomes Imperium: Peter Damian on the Accountability of Bishops for Scandal.
 

The defenders of the rights of the people, those who stand for justice, tolerance, equality, human dignity and freedom of speech are the conscience of a nation. In the Philippines, more social activists are being killed than ever before. Pastor Lovelito Quiñones of the King’s Glory Ministry, was shot and killed by police near his home in Mansalay Town, Mindoro Occidental, on 3 December 2017.
 

One morning a couple of years ago, while I was at home editing an article, somebody rang my doorbell.
 
It was not a good sign, because people in Rome usually make house calls by first buzzing the intercom at the entrance of the apartment building. Those who are already inside and show up directly at someone’s door are often trying to sell something.
 

We live in a new age of freedom of expression, when the long history of suppression and covering up of the truth is crumbling and social and mainstream media have championed the voice of victims and survivors of child sexual abuse. The controlling power and influence of some leaders in traditional institutions like the Catholic Church to instill fear, bury the realities, deny crimes of child abuse and silence the complainants are being challenged, and their credibility has weakened.
 

History is full of tyrants and dictators. Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, Mao Zedong are among the worst in past history, but today,dictatorship is increasingly on the rise. 
 
True democracy is in retreat as elected officials turn to dictatorship as a way to stay in power and rule with an iron fist and declare they will save their nation from evil and make the nation great. Putin, Erdoğan, Omar Al-Bashir, Kim Jong II are just a few of many that come to mind.