VATICAN CITY
Straits Times

PUBLISHED ON NOV 11, 2014

VATICAN CITY (AFP) – Pope Francis has created a new commission to speed up the appeal process for priests found guilty by the Church of child sex abuse, the Vatican said Tuesday.

“The number of appeals has lead to a backlog of work,” Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told journalists, without specifying how many cases are currently being examined.

Speeding up the process would see sex abusers handed a definitive conviction more quickly, as well as helping innocent priests eager to clear their names.