French bishops to form commission on child sex abuse

By Omer Aydin

PARIS

The Bishops' Conference of France announced Wednesday that an “independent” commission would be set up to investigate sexual abuse of minors in the Catholic Church.

Following a four-day meeting in the French city of Lourdes, French bishops released a statement saying the aim of the commission would be to “shed light on the sexual abuse of minors in the Catholic church since 1950”.

In addition, the commission would seek to “understand the reasons which led to the way these affairs were handled” and make recommendations.

The members and leadership of the commission will be named in the coming days, with a report to be published within two years.

One of the commission’s objectives will be “collecting the stories of victims in order to better understand the reasons that led to these acts”, and the conference had indicated that financial compensation could be offered to the victims.