Nuns used crucifixes to rape girls during decades of abuse carried out by clergy in France's Catholic Church that saw attacks on 330,000 children covered up 'by a veil of silence', damning report finds5 October 2021 PII
Some 86 per cent of victims were male children - many of whom did not report the abuse they suffered for decades.
Sauvé said the overall figure of victims includes an estimated 216,000 people abused by priests and other clerics.
The independent inquiry covered alleged sex abuse of minors by French Catholic priests, deacons and other clergy since 1950, and found the abuse was a 'massive phenomenon' that was covered up for decades by a 'veil of silence.'
The 2,500-page landmark report was released Tuesday after more than two years of investigations by an independent commission. Pictured: Commission president Jean-Marc Sauve (left), hands copies of the report to Catholic Bishop Eric de Moulins-Beaufort (right)
The 2,500-page document comes as the Catholic Church in France, like in other countries, seeks to face up to shameful secrets that were long covered up and follows widespread outrage over a string of paedophilia claims and prosecutions against Church officials worldwide.
Véronique Margron, President of the Conference of Religious People of France and a nun, spoke of 'crimes against humanity'.
'Can we deal with this disaster?' asked Sister Margron, who said sexual abuse in the Church amounted to 'crimes against humanity'.
She added: 'How do we overcome this? I do not know. We have not even finished reviewing everything.
The commission issued 45 recommendations about how to prevent abuse. These included training priests and other clerics, revising Canon Law - the legal code the Vatican uses to govern the church - and fostering policies to recognize and compensate victims, Sauvé said.
The report comes after a scandal surrounding now-defrocked priest Bernard Preynat rocked the French Catholic Church. Last year, Preynat was convicted of sexually abusing minors and given a five-year prison sentence. He acknowledged abusing more than 75 boys for decades.
The church must not only acknowledge events but also compensate victims, Devaux said. 'It is indispensable that the church redresses the harm caused by all these crimes, and (financial) compensation is the first step.'
The Preynat case led to the resignation last year of the former archbishop of Lyon, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, who has been accused of failing to report the abuses to civil authorities when he learned about them in the 2010s. France´s highest court ruled earlier this year that Barbarin did not cover up the case.
French archbishops, in a message to parishioners read during Sunday Mass across the country, said the publication of the report is 'a test of truth and a tough and serious moment.'
'We will receive and study these conclusions to adapt our actions,' the message said. 'The fight against pedophilia concerns all of us … Our support and our prayers will keep going toward all the people who have been abused within the church.'
Pope Francis issued in May 2019 a groundbreaking new church law requiring all Catholic priests and nuns around the world to report clergy sexual abuse and cover-ups by their superiors to church authorities.
In June, Francis swiftly rejected an offer from Cardinal Reinhard Marx, one of Germany's most prominent clerics and a close papal adviser, to resign as archbishop of Munich and Freising over the church´s mishandling of abuse cases.
But he said a process of reform was necessary and every bishop must take responsibility for the 'catastrophe' of the crisis.
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