The Vatican’s’ newspaper L'Osservatore Romano has called for clarity and justice for the victims of sexual abuse in Roman Catholic institutions.

The call came in an editorial over abuses in Germany, above all in the bishopric of Regensburg. The Holy See supports the wish of German church leaders to investigate the reported cases of sexual abuse with all possible determination and openness.
 
In the Netherlands, the Roman Catholic help agency Help & Justice (Hulp & Recht) reports that it has received 160 calls in the past few weeks about cases of sexual abuse. This was prompted by a story from Radio Netherlands Worldwide and the daily newspaper NRC Handelsblad that pupils at a boarding school in the eastern city of ‘s Heerenberg were abused by Salesian fathers in the 1960s and 1970s.
 
Further investigation by Radio Netherlands Worldwide and NRC Handelsblad has revealed that in 2006, the archbishopric of Utrecht closed a deal with insurance company Aegon to set aside one million euros to cover claims demanded by victims who have been sexually abused by Catholic priests. Any damages exceeding the one million euros must be paid by the church.
 
Read more about the Aegon deal here.