French report: 330,000 children victims of church sex abuse

By SYLVIE CORBET
Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — Victims of sex abuse within France’s Catholic Church have welcomed a new report that says an estimated 330,000 children were sexually abused over the past 70 years. The report released Tuesday provides France’s first accounting of the worldwide phenomenon. It found that at least 3,000 priests and other people involved in the church committed abuse that Catholic authorities covered up over decades. The report says the tally of child victims includes an estimated 216,000 people abused by priests and other clerics. The independent commission that compiled the 2,500-page document recommended compensation for victims and strong action from the church. The head of France’s Catholic bishops’ conference asked for the victims’ forgiveness.