Child sexual abuse in the French Catholic Church has evolved into a systemic crime, a Chinese English-language newspaper quoted an independent report as saying recently.
The 2,500-page report from an independent French commission on sexual abuse revealed that about 216,000 children, mostly boys, have been sexually abused by French Catholic clergy since 1950. Taking account of abuses committed by lay members of the Church, the number of victims rises to 330,000, according to the newspaper Global Times.
Out of a total of 115,000 priests and other clerics, at least 3,200 have committed child sexual abuse, the report said.
Apart from that, the Church has been covering up the crimes. "There was a whole bunch of negligence, deficiency, silence, and institutional cover-up," Jean-Marc Sauve, leader of the commission, said in the report. (ANI/Xinhua)
( With inputs from ANI )
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