Pope Francis
Pope Francis has made it mandatory for Roman Catholic clergy to report cases of clerical sexual abuse and cover-ups to the Church.
In an Apostolic letter, which is set to become Church law, he makes clear that any sexual advance involving the use of power will now be considered abusive.
The clarification is being seen as a message to the Church hierarchy that no-one will be exempt from scrutiny.
The Pope promised in February to take concrete action to tackle abuse.
“The crimes of sexual abuse offend Our Lord, cause physical, psychological and spiritual damage to the victims and harm the community of the faithful,” he writes in the new Apostolic letter. (BBC)
