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Portugal

More than 200 allegations of sex abuse in Portuguese Catholic Church

An independent committee was set up in January to examine historical sex abuse.

Spain

Spain moves closer to investigation into Catholic Church sex abuse

Spain's Bishops Conference has now refused an official inquiry into allegations of priest abuse.

Tech News

EU will force tech firms to do more against child sexual abuse online

The EU's home affairs commissioner plans to propose new legislation that will strengthen requirements for reporting abuse by social media platforms and internet service providers.

France

French Catholic Academy questions findings of child sex abuse inquiry

An October report estimated that 216,000 children have been abused by French clergy since 1950.

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Portugal

Portugal's Catholic Church plans committee to probe child sex abuse

Leading Portuguese Catholics, including politicians and writers, had urged bishops to create a fully independent committee to investigate possible historic abuse.

France

French Catholic Church agrees to compensate victims of child sex abuse

A damming report last month estimated that around 330,000 children were sexually abused over 70 years by priests or other church-related figures.

France

French bishops pray for forgiveness for 'massive phenomenon' of abuse

Bishops in the holy town of Lourdes prayed on their knees in a penitential gesture to ask god for forgiveness for sexual abuse in the Catholic church.

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French bishops kneel to ask forgiveness for sexual abuse

Bishops gathered in Lourdes pray on their knees on the esplanade of the Rosary Basilica in a penitential gesture to ask God for forgiveness for sexual abuse in the Catholic church

France

'It's also my shame': Pope Francis on French church sex abuse scandal

"It is also my shame, our shame, my shame, for the incapacity of the church for too long to put them [victims] at the centre of its concerns."

France

French clergy abused 216,000 children since 1950, says inquiry

France's Catholic Church showed "a profound and even cruel indifference towards the victims" of abuse, the head of the inquiry said.

France

'3000 paedophiles' held positions in French Catholic Church since 50s

An independent commission has heard evidence from thousands of people since being set up in 2018 in response to a large number of historic sexual abuse claims.

Tech News

Tech this week: Apple delays abuse scanning plans, Reddit crackdown

Apple said it's delaying controversial plans to scan iPhones for child abuse images, plus more in our round-up of this week's top tech stories.

Tech News

Apple's own staff concerned about plans for anti-child abuse scanning

According to sources within the company, staff have been taking to Slack to voice their concerns over customers' privacy.

Tech News

Apple defends new anti-child abuse measures after backlash

Critics penned an open letter, which was signed by 5,000 people and organisations, raising concerns over privacy.

Tech News

Apple to scan US iPhones for images of child sexual abuse

Child protection groups have applauded the announcement but some security researchers are concerned that the system could be misused.

USA

Defrocked cardinal McCarrick charged with sexually assaulting boy

Theodore McCarrick, who was defrocked by Pope Francis over the sexual molestation of children and adults, has been charged with sexually assaulting a teenage boy in the 1970s.

United Kingdom

Hundreds of children in care homes faced decades of abuse: UK inquiry

A damning public inquiry sheds light on the "culture of cover-up" that has exposed over 700 children in London care homes to decades of abuse.

Europe News

EU adopts temporary rules to detect and report online child abuse

The legislation which aims to protect children more effectively from sexual abuse and exploitation when using webmail, chat and messaging services, was backed by MEPs, with 537 voting in favour, 133 against and 24 abstaining.

Germany

Five people sentenced in Germany over child sex abuse scandal

A German court has sentenced five people involved in a child sex abuse ring to between 10 and 14 years in prison.

Canada

Hundreds unmarked graves found at another indigenous school in Canada

Last month the remains of 215 children, some as young as 3 years old, were found buried on the site of what was once Canada’s largest Indigenous residential school near Kamloops, British Columbia.