According to a recent report in France, the country’s Catholic priests have sexually abused some 216,000 children since 1950. Most of the victims are boys.
The head of the investigation said the number of priests who are included in rape is between 2,900 and 3,200. The head of the investigation said that “the church has cruelly ignored the issue of affected children.”
The Vatican said in a statement that Pope Francis was “deeply saddened” by the findings of the inquiry.
One victim said it is time for the church to reconsider its actions.
“Trust is broken, morals are broken and children were betrayed,” said Franois Davo, founder of the victims’ organization La Parole.
The investigation inquiry found that the number of affected children could be as high as 330,000 if sexual abuse by church members other than the clergy, such as Catholic schoolteachers, was included.
For Franois Davo, the results of this investigation are a turning point in French history. “You have recognized the victims at the institutional level, which the bishops and the pope are not yet ready to do.”
A statement from the Vatican said the pope had come to know the report after meeting with French clergy a few days earlier.
“First of all, they feel very sorry for the victims and their plight,” the statement said.
The report comes at a time when many allegations and cases of sexual harassment against Catholic Church officials have surfaced around the world.
The latest report comes as a result of an impartial inquiry by the French Catholic Church in 2018. The investigation took more than two-and-a-half years, during which court, police, and church records were searched and victims and witnesses were interviewed.
Most of the cases reviewed in this inquiry are so old that the perpetrators cannot be punished under French law.
