PARIS — A new report has linked France’s Catholic Church to the sexual abuse of about 330,000 children over the past seven decades.
According to The Associated Press, an independent French commission created to investigate sexual abuse within the church released the 2,500-page report Tuesday. An estimated 3,000 priests and other figures committed the acts, which church authorities systemically attempted to hide, since the 1950s, the report said.
The report said the vast majority of the sexual abuse victims – 80% – were boys, according to the AP. Priests and other clergy members abused about 216,000 of the victims, the report said.
“The consequences are very serious,” said Jean-Marc Sauvé, president of the group that issued the report. “About 60% of men and women who were sexually abused encounter major problems in their sentimental or sexual life.”
The commission said France should help provide compensation to the victims and implored the church to act, the AP reported.
“Sometimes church officials did not denounce (sex abuses) and even exposed children to risks by putting them in contact with predators,” Sauvé said, adding that the church “has a debt toward victims.”
Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, president of the French bishops conference, said his group was “appalled” by the findings and asked the victims for forgiveness, according to the AP.
– The Associated Press contributed to this report.