Catholic Church sexual abuse cases in Europe

The Catholic sexual abuse scandal in Europe has affected several dioceses in European nations. Italy is an exceptional case as the 1929 Lateran Treaty gave the Vatican legal autonomy from Italy, giving the clergy recourse to Vatican rather than Italian law.

It has been reported that since Pope Francis was elected pope the Vatican gradually increased its efforts to deal with clerical sexual abuse, for example in 2019 discontinuing the application of "pontifical secrecy" to sex abuse legal proceedings. This affects all countries.