An investigation into sexual abuse in the French Catholic Church has found that an estimated 216,000 children were victims of abuse by clergy since 1950, Jean-March Sauvé, head of the commission that compiled the report, said on Tuesday.
The revelations in France are the latest to rock the Roman Catholic Church, after a series of sexual abuse scandals around the world, often involving children, over the past 20 years.
The abuse was systemic, Sauvé said at a public, online presentation of the report.
The Church not only did not take the necessary measures to prevent abuse but also turned a blind eye, failing to report abuse and sometimes knowingly putting children in touch with predators, he said.
There is no excuse.
There is no pardoning of this disgusting crime.
Reparations? There is not enough money in the whole Church that could conceivably repair this horrific tragedy.
I also believe that this is nowhere near the whole story.
The Church needs to come clean on a global scale, the sewer needs purging.
Those involved need to be charged and tried.