This page documents Catholic Church sexual abuse cases by country. Catholic sexual abuse cases in Europe have been documented by cases in several dioceses in European nations. Investigation 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 , 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. The U. Committee on the Rights of the Child has asked for detailed information on the full extent of child abuse worldwide by priests, monks and nuns. It has also asked how the Holy See prevents abusers from contacting additional children and how the Holy See ensures that known crimes against children are reported to the police.
In the past there were issues over the church hierarchy failing to report abuse to law enforcement and allowing abusers further contact with children. In a statement read by Archbishop Silvano Maria Tomasi in September , the Holy See stated, "We know now that in the last 50 years somewhere between 1.
It was compiled solely from data provided by leaders of U. After widespread publicity about the abuse, in 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. 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.
