Vatican Ignored Sexual Assaults Against Nuns for Decades – Reports

The Vatican has faced a series of major child sexual abuse scandals in recent years, including the latest in Chile, where all the country's bishops offered to quit for collectively failing to protect children from pedophile priests.

According to an Associated Press (AP) report, published on Saturday, a series of sexual assault cases within the Catholic Church in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Latin America had been reported, but the Vatican never addressed them properly.

READ MORE: All Chilean Bishops Offer to Resign Due to Cover-Up of Child Abuse — Reports

The data collected by AP focused on nuns abused predominantly by priests, interviewing assault victims around the world. The report mentioned recent rape accusations against a Catholic bishop in India and scandals that have occurred over the last several decades in Uganda.

It also cited 1990s reports made for top church officials, saying that a six-year, 23-nation survey showed that in a single parish 29 nuns had been impregnated.

According to the reports, the nuns were used as sexual partners by priests who feared being infected with HIV from prostitutes or other women.

The Vatican, however, has never commented on measures taken to assess the scope of the problem, saying that it's up to local church leaders to sanction priests who sexually abused nuns.