Castex urges church to act on abuse report findings

Prime Minister Jean Castex on Monday urged the French Catholic Church to find "the necessary answers" to the findings of a report that estimated some 330,000 French children were abused by clergy and other church authority figures dating back to 1950.

Speaking after an audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican celebrating the 100th anniversary of bilateral relations, Castex paid tribute to the abuse survivors, who testified and "had the strength to break their silence after decades of suffering".

The prime minister made his comments at Villa Bonaparte, seat of the French embassy to the Holy See.

The report released last week said an estimated 3,000 priests and an unknown number of other people associated with the Catholic Church sexually abused children, providing France's first accounting of the global phenomenon.

The French church, like in other countries, has had to face up to shameful secrets that were long covered up.

IMAGE: AP