The archbishop wrote that the Archdiocese and an independent investigative agency looked into the allegations, and found that there is insufficient evidence to verify the claims against him.

At the end of 2019, there were 1.34 billion Catholics worldwide, representing 17.74 percent of the global population, data from the Fides missionary agency show. This is up 15.4 million on the year previously and an increase from 1.18 billion a decade before.

The Bishop announced this month in a statement that one priest was assigned to minister to prisons, nursing and retirement homes, and provide administrative assistance to the chancery, the other was assigned to provide administrative assistance to the chancery and help retired priests.

The third form of closeness is closeness to priests. Please, do not forget that the priests are the closest of the close. Very often we hear complaints, that a priest says: “I called the bishop but the secretary told me his diary is full, that perhaps, within thirty days, he might be able to see me…”. This is not good enough. If you find out that a priest has called, call him the same day or the day after. And with this, he will know he has a father. Closeness to the priests, and if they do not come to you, go to them: closeness.

The Vatican cannot be sued in European courts because it is a sovereign state, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled Tuesday in dismissing a suit from survivors of abuse by Catholic clergy. It was the ECHR's first case to deal with the immunity of the Holy See, the court said.

Catholic priests must report all child sexual abuse allegations to police, including if they hear about it in the secrecy of the confession box, the French interior minister has said after reprimanding France’s top bishop for claiming that the secrecy of the Catholic confessional was “above the laws of the Republic”.