Investigations and widespread reporting of sexual abuse scandals were conducted in the early 21st century related to numerous dioceses in the United States of America; several American dioceses have filed for bankruptcy after settling civil lawsuits from victims. In addition, Catholic Church sexual abuse cases in Europe have been documented in several dioceses in European nations. The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) has criticized the Holy See’s worldwide handling of child sexual abuse cases, noting systemic failures in protection, accountability, and implementation of the Convention across its global institutions.
In 2001, lawsuits were filed in the United States and Ireland alleging that some priests had sexually abused minors and that their superiors had conspired to conceal and otherwise abet their criminal misconduct.Bruni, p. 336. Victims themselves often conceal the names and acts of the priests who abused them, due to lifelong shame surrounding such treatment. John Jay Report tabulated a total of 4,392 priests and deacons in the U.S. against whom allegations of sexual abuse had been made. The numbers of reported abuse allegations and court cases have increased worldwide since then.
The CRC has asked the Vatican for detailed information on the full extent of child abuse worldwide by priests, monks and nuns. They have also asked how the Holy See prevents abusers from contacting additional children and how they ensure that known crimes against children are reported to the police. In the past, there were issues with the church hierarchy failing to report abuse to law enforcement and allowing abusers further contact with children. November 1st 2013 was set as a deadline for the CRC to receive the information. In June 2021, a team of U.N. special rapporteurs for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights criticized the Vatican, because of the persistent allegations that the Catholic Church is obstructing and not cooperating with domestic judicial proceedings in order to deny accountability for the abusers and compensation for the victims.In a letter to the Holy See sent in April 2021, the U.N. special rapporteurs expressed "utmost concern about the numerous allegations around the world of sexual abuse and violence committed by members of the Catholic Church against children, and about the measures adopted by the Catholic Church to protect alleged abusers, cover up crimes, obstruct accountability of alleged abusers, and evade reparations due to victims", noting "the persistent allegations of obstruction and lack of cooperation by the Catholic Church with domestic legal proceedings to prevent accountability of perpetrators and reparations to victims". They also highlighted "the concordats and other agreements negotiated by the Holy See with States that limit the ability of civil authorities to question, compel the production of documents, or prosecute people associated with the Catholic Church". ()
Prevalence In a statement read by Archbishop Silvano Maria Tomasi in September of 2009, the Holy See stated, "We know now that in the last 50 years somewhere between 1.5% and 5% of the Catholic clergy has been involved in sexual abuse cases", adding that this figure was comparable to that of other groups and denominations. A 2010 article in Newsweek magazine reported that the figure for abuse of children by adults in the Catholic Church was similar to that in the general adult population. However, due to the reluctance of victims to name their abusers, in childhood or decades later--especially in cases where abusers wield religious authority--these statistics are likely inaccurate.
A Perspective on Clergy Sexual Abuse by Dr. Thomas Plante, of the Catholic Santa Clara University and volunteer clinical associate professor at Stanford University, states that "approximately 4% of priests during the past half century (and mostly in the 1960s and 1970s) have had a sexual experience with a minor", which "is consistent with male clergy from other religious traditions and is significantly lower than the general adult male population which may double these numbers". Plante's article was based on a study done by John Jay College. It was compiled from data provided by leaders of U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, who paid John Jay College to do the study.Mean Men "John Jay College's study of Catholic priests...was authorized and is being paid for by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops following the public outcry over the 2002 scandals."
After widespread publicity about the abuse, in 2013 Barbara Blaine, of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), stated, "We are confident that the ICC will see sufficient evidence that high ranking Catholic officials are still knowingly enabling predators to harm and endanger children across the world, while concealing these heinous crimes even more effectively." A group had filed charges in the International Criminal Court (ICC) against the Catholic Church for what it said was crimes against humanity because of its policy on this issue. The ICC refused to investigate. SNAP representatives note that most Catholics are found in the Third World, where child molestation is more easily concealed. They argued that it was necessary to guard against "the tempting assumption that the worst of this scandal is somehow behind us."
Africa Kenya In 2009 several people accused an Italian priest, Renato Kizito Sesana, of sexual molestation. The Catholic Church assured them it was investigating the case, but that did not appear to happen. Kenyan police said they found no evidence and believed Sesana was innocent.
In 2010, a young Kenyan woman alleged that a Catholic priest had raped her, but the police and church authorities failed to follow up the allegations.
The 2011 Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) documentary A Mission To Prey publicized Kenya's clerical abuse cases, saying they should have been handled with more transparency. It was discovered that this programme mistakenly alleged that Kevin Reynolds was an abuser, causing him to be removed from his home and his parish ministry. RTÉ subsequently apologized for this programme. It has since stated that Reynolds is innocent of the charges. RTÉ has allowed continued access to this programme online, while upwards of 32 slander and libel cases are pending in reaction by alleged abusers.Irish TV Network Defames Innocent Priest, Issues Apology , The Media Report, November 2011, accessed 23 November 2011.Republic's government order probe into RTE Fr Reynolds libel case , BBC News, 23 November 2011.
In 2011, a Dutch bishop in Kenya was reported to be under probe over alleged sex abuse. He was alleged to have abused a minor 18 years before while serving as a priest in Ngong diocese. He was retired by the church.
Mauritius Henry Coombes revealed that he was sexually assaulted at the age of 11 in the late 1950s by a Catholic priest from Ireland who was posted at Saint Joseph's College in Curepipe.
In September 2016, Teddy Labour, a 37-year old Catholic priest, was arrested following complaints made to church officials Hériberto Cabrera and Jean-Maurice Labour by a 20-year old church goer. She had attended St. Louis Cathedral, Port-Louis where its priest kissed and molested her.
In October 2019, Catholic priest Joseph-Marie Moctee was sentenced to 3 years in jail for molesting a 15-year old teenager at Cure de St Anne, a Catholic church located at Chamarel in April 2015. Joseph-Marie Moctee had convinced the teenager and his friend to have dinner with him and to stay overnight at the church.
Tanzania St Michael's Catholic Boarding School, Soni, Tanzania
Kit Cunningham, a prominent United Kingdom member of the Rosminian order, and three other priests, were exposed as pedophiles after Cunningham's death. While at Soni, Cunningham committed sexual abuse that made the school, according to one pupil, "a loveless, violent and sad hellhole". Other pupils recall being photographed naked, hauled out of bed at night to have their genitals fondled, and other sexual abuse. Although known about by the Rosminians before Cunningham's death in 2010, the abuse was not reported by the media until 2011. Formal action was launched by a group of former pupils who filed a civil suit at the civil court in Leicester, on 20 March 2013.
Settlement
The audited financial statements for the year ending 5 April 2015 report titled Legal and safeguarding related costs stated that the charity was liable also for the claimants' legal fees. The matter has had a significant impact on the charity's finances with payment of their legal and settlement costs amounting to a total GBP 1,746,523.00 for the year.
Asia East Timor In November 2018, the Vatican defrocked American priest Richard Daschbach after the church found him guilty of sexual abuse of girls in the shelter he had established. In September 2020, East Timor's public prosecutor charged Daschbach with 14 counts of sexual abuse, pornographic material and domestic violence. On 22 February 2021, the trial against Daschbach started in East Timor. On 21 December 2021, Dashbach was found guilty of the sexual abuse of four female children and subsequently was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Japan Between 2002 and 2012, at least five damage reports had been filed over clergy sexual abuse.
Philippines In 2002, the Catholic Church apologised for sexual abuses, including adultery, homosexuality and child abuse by 200 priests over the previous 20 years. In 2003, at least 34 priests were suspended in a sex abuse scandal involving sexual harassment of women. Twenty men were from a single diocese. In 2011, a priest accused of sexually abusing a 17-year-old female minor was sheltered by his bishop, despite calls for his surrender to civil authorities. In 2017, a priest was arrested in Marikina for attempting to have sex with a 13-year-old girl. In 2018, an American priest, who was assigned in the Philippines, was arrested for sexually abusing at least 10 young boys residing in Naval, Biliran. In 2019, a parish priest in Cadiz City, Negros Occidental was charged of rape for molesting a 4-year-old girl. In 2022, a priest was arrested in Tuguegarao City for sexually abusing a 16-year-old girl. In March 2023, a 62-year-old priest of the Diocese of San Carlos in Iloilo was arrested on charges of raping a 17-year-old choir girl in 2022. On 10 May 2023, a priest of the Diocese of Borongan was accused and removed by Pope Francis for sexually abusing minors.
India
In 2002, Mathew N. Schmalz noted that Catholic Church sexual abuse cases in India are generally not spoken about openly, stating "you would have gossip and rumours, but it never reaches the level of formal charges or controversies." In 2014, Raju Kokkan, the vicar of the Saint Paul's Church in Thaikkattussery, Thrissur, Kerala, was arrested on charges of raping a nine-year-old girl. According to Kerala Police, Kokkan had raped the child on several different occasions, including at least three times in his office during the month of April. Kokkan promised to gift the child expensive vestments for her Holy Communion ceremony before sexually assaulting her. The abuse was revealed after the victim informed her parents that she had been raped by Kokkan on 25 April 2014. The priest subsequently fled to Nagercoil in the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu and was arrested by police on 5 May. Following the arrest, the Thrissur Archdiocese stated that the vicar had been removed from his position within the church. Between February and April 2014, three other Catholic priests were arrested in the state of Kerala on charges of raping minors. In 2016, the Catholic Church reappointed a convicted and jailed priest in the Ootacamund Diocese in Tamil Nadu, with no additional measures for victim or child safety.