Latin American Catholic Church covers up new child abuse scandals: study

In June 2018, 34 Chilean bishops offered Pope Francis their resignations following the biggest child abuse scandal in the country’s history. Many of these bishops were directly involved in covering up sexual abuse accusations dating back to the 1980s. Just one year later, the Catholic Church sees itself amid yet another round of accusations—this time, with new cases of abuse and coverups in all 18 Latin American countries.

A new report by NGO Child Rights International Network (CRIN), entitled “The Third Wave: Justice for survivors of child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church in Latin America,” looks not only into the scale of child abuse and coverups by the Church but also as how countries’ laws and authorities fail to adequately protect children. CRIN says the first wave of abuse scandals took place in Ireland and North America, with the second taking place in Oceania and continental Europe.

“There is a growing global wave of demands for accountability of the Catholic Church for the sexual abuse of children, especially...