For the second time in a week a former priest in the Netherlands has confessed he sexually assaulted children at a monastery boarding school.

The man (68) admitted to Radio Netherlands Worldwide that he had indecently fondled three boys, but emphasised that he did not go beyond that. The abuse occurred at the Don Rua monastery in the town of 's-Heerenberg in the eastern Netherlands.

The ex-priest said his confession comes in response to Pope Benedict's call of last weekend. In a long-awaited papal reaction to the sexual abuse scandal in Ireland, the pontiff called on the clergy to confess any sexual abuse they were involved in. It is the third time a former Don Rua priest has confessed. Two other ex-priests - one of them speaking after hiding his guilty secret for 45 years - confessed on public television that they had sexually abused several boys.

The confessions in the Dutch media follow revelations of a number of child sex abuse cases by priests and nuns published after research by Radio Netherlands Worldwide and daily NRC Handelsblad earlier this month.

© Radio Netherlands Worldwide