According to a report, the Spanish parliament have agreed to a proposal for an enquiry into sexual abuse within the catholic church. Reportedly, there are two hundred existing claims of sexual abuse within the catholic church in Spain over the last twenty years.
According to reports, Ireland, France and Germany have held enquiries, but according to a study, the number of claims of sexual abuse within the catholic church corresponded to the number of claims elsewhere. Reportedly, paedophilia was rare. According to the report, many cases were that of underage homosexual sex. The age of consent for homosexuals was eighteen years, is now seventeen. Sexual harassment of the older person was said to have been a mitigating factor.
There are a vast number of sexual abuse claims within the catholic church, but do politics play a part? The ecumenical movement is changing the character of the catholic church, and a reported trend is the overseeing of parish affairs by lay persons.