Overview

The volume ""From Cases to Scandals: Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church"" contributes to the sociology of religion by examining how individual cases of clerical sexual abuse escalate (or not) into scandals that challenge religious authority and reshape institutional life. It explores how the strategies of public mobilisation and media responses encourage collective reflection and action to ensure accountability and societal change. Through case studies from Argentina, Canada, Croatia, Czechia, France, Italy, Germany, Poland, Spain, The Netherlands, and USA, this volume explores Church responses, believers’ reactions, and the shifting dynamics of trust and legitimacy. It highlights how these developments affect religious affiliation, moral credibility, and the public role of the Church, offering new perspectives on the evolving relationship between religion, society, and scandal in contemporary contexts.

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9789004746688

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Author Information

Céline Béraud is Professor of Sociology at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS, Paris) and a member of CéSor (Centre d’études en sciences sociales des religions). She has published Une religion parmi d’autres. Le catholicisme en prison et à l’hôpital (PUF 2025), Le catholicisme français à l’épreuve des scandales sexuels (Seuil 2021), and La bataille du genre. Du mariage pour tous à la PMA (Fayard 2021). Giuseppe Giordan, PhD, is Professor of Sociology at the Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Education and Applied Psychology at the University of Padova. He coordinates the International Joint PhD in Religion, Culture and Public Life. He has recently co-authored A Sociology of Religious Freedom (with O. Breskaya and J. T. Richardson, Oxford University Press 2024) and co-edited the volume Religious Freedom: Social-Scientific Approaches (with O. Breskaya and R. Finke, Brill 2021).

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