Pope Francis expresses shame as French Catholic nuns use crucifixes to rape girls

Pope Francis has expressed “shame” for himself and the Roman Catholic Church on Wednesday for the increase in child sexual abuse within the church in France and acknowledged failures in putting the needs of victims first.

2,500-page landmark report was released on Tuesday, October 5, after more than two years of investigations by an independent commission. The commission found that an estimated 330,000 children were victims of sex abuse within France’s Catholic Church between 1950 to 2020, with an estimated 216,000 minors abused by priests and other clerics.

The pope spoke during his regular audience at the Vatican about the report that estimated some 330,000 French children were abused by clergy and other church authority figures dating back to 1950.

“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 centre of its concerns.”

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

Meanwhile, he also expressed his “closeness and paternal support” to French priests in the face of a “difficult test,” and called on French Catholics to “ensure that the church remains a safe house for all.”