It is unclear how the compensation fund was sourced. French bishops voted during their plenary assembly in November to sell off real estate and movable property of some Catholic dioceses. The Church also reportedly invited clergy and laity to make donations.
The Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church published a report on child sex abuse in the Catholic Church in France in October.
The report estimated 216,000 children were abused by priests, deacons, monks or nuns from 1950 to 2020.
It added that when abuse by other Church workers was also taken into account, “the estimated number of child victims rises to 330,000 for the whole of the period.”
Catholic bishops in France responded to the report with promises of a “vast program of renewal” of their governance practices and the possibility of mediation and compensation for abuse victims.
They also established working groups to address and prevent abuse.
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