An Argentine judge recognizes gender abuse suffered for years by 20 nuns in a breakthrough ruling

By ALMUDENA CALATRAVA
Associated Press

BUNEOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — An Argentine judge has ruled that 20 cloistered nuns had suffered abuse for more than two decades at the hands of high-ranking clergy in a conservative northern province. The ruling — closely watched in part because it took place in the homeland of Pope Francis — cast a spotlight on the long-standing of abuse of nuns by priests and bishops in the Catholic Church, often overshadowed by other church scandals. Increasingly, such abuses in religious life are being aired and denounced as a result of nuns feeling emboldened by the #MeToo movement, which has a corollary in the church, #NunsToo.