The Italian church is coming under mountain pressure to confront its legacy of clerical sexual abuse. “We are starting from them (the victims),’’ Zuppi told a news conference. Francesco Zanardi, founder of Rete L’Abuso (Abuse Network), one of Italy’s main victims’ advocacy groups, said most of the victims report the abuse only after decades have passed. The Italian Catholic Church is one of the few in Western Europe that has not opened its archives to independent researchers to establish the scope of abuse and cover-up in recent decades. By Zanardi’s count, 164 priests are under investigation for abuse in Italy and another 162 have been convicted.

Source: ABC News May 27, 2022 20:10 UTC