Pope expresses ‘shame’

France's church sex abuse of children, by the numbers

PARIS — Victims of abuse within France’s Catholic Church welcomed a historic turning point Tuesday after a new report estimated that 330,000 children in France were sexually abused over the past 70 years, providing the country's first accounting of the worldwide phenomenon.

The figure includes abuses committed by some 3,000 priests and an unknown number of other people involved in the church — wrongdoing that Catholic authorities covered up over decades in a “systemic manner,” according to the president of the commission that issued the report, Jean-Marc Sauvé.

During his regular audience at the Vatican on Wednesday, Pope Francis expressed “shame” for himself and the Roman Catholic Church for the scale of child sexual abuse within the church in France and acknowledged failures in putting the needs of victims first.

“There is, unfortunately, a considerable number. I would like to express to the victims my sadness and pain for the trauma that they suffered,”

Francis said. “It is also my shame, our shame, my shame, for the incapacity of the church for too long to put them at the center of its concerns.”

He called on all bishops and religious superiors to take all actions necessary “so similar dramas are not repeated.”

The 2,500-page document was issued as the Catholic Church in France, like in other countries, seeks to face up to shameful secrets that were long covered up. Victims welcomed the report as long overdue and the head of the French bishops’ conference asked for their forgiveness.

France's first major study of sexual abuse of children in the Catholic Church revealed shockingly large estimates of victims and adds to global understanding of the depth of the problem. Here is a look at some key findings:

The victims

Based on projections, the independent study estimates some 330,000 children overall were victims of sexual abuse linked to the church from 1950-2020. Of those, it estimates that some 216,000 were abused by priests, and the rest by other church figures such as scout leaders or camp counselors.

The study's authors estimate 80 percent of the abused children were boys. A broader study of sexual abuse of children in France found that 75 percent of the overall victims were girls.

France has had several legal cases involving church sexual

Michel Euler / Associated Press People pray for the victims of child sex abuse during a special service Tuesday at Sainte Jeanne d'Arc de la Mutualité in Saint Denis, outside Paris. Tens of thousands of people are believed to have been victims in France's Catholic Church.