Major report to expose sex abuse in France’s Catholic Church

By SYLVIE CORBET
Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — At least tens of thousands of people are believed to have been victims of child sex abuse within France’s Catholic Church over the past seven decades, according to a major report due to be published Tuesday. The 2,500-page document prepared by an independent commission comes as the Catholic Church in France, like in other countries, seeks to reckon with shameful secrets that were long covered up. The commission worked for 2 1/2 years, listening to victims and witnesses and studying church, court, police and press archives starting from the 1950s. A hotline launched at the beginning of the probe received 6,500 calls.