French Catholic Church starts compensating sex abuse victims

PARIS (AP) — A reparations panel says France’s Catholic Church has paid financial compensation to 23 victims of child sexual abuse by priests or other church representatives under a recently launched process. Representatives of the Independent National Authority for Recognition and Reparation said Friday that over 1,000 victims have come forward to claim compensation since the body was established this year. The authority says it has made about 60 reparation decisions and 45 of them include financial compensation that ranges from 8,000 to 60,000 euros ($7,806 to 58,548). It said 23 people have received the money. France’s Catholic bishops’ conference agreed to provide reparations after a report issued last year revealed a large number of child sex abuse cases.