Clerical sex abuse: Pope Francis’s thorniest challenge

Pope Francis's efforts to address child sex abuse in the Catholic Church, including sanctions and legal changes, face ongoing challenges.

When Pope Francis took over in 2013, the Catholic Church was embroiled in a global scandal over child sex abuse by priests, and the institution’s attempts to cover it up.

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The pontiff sanctioned top clergy and made reporting abuse mandatory, but victims said more can and must be done.

In December 2014, Pope Francis established an international panel of experts to recommend how to protect minors, but the commission was mired in controversy from the start.

Two members representing abuse survivors resigned in 2017, including Marie Collins, who was raped by a priest in Ireland when she was 13 years old and who decried as “shameful” the lack of cooperation from Vatican officials.

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In March 2023, the commission’s last remaining founding member, prominent German Jesuit priest Hans Zollner, resigned expressing concerns over “responsibility, compliance, accountability and transparency”.