SPAIN
The Local

A Spanish court has dropped charges against 11 out of 12 suspects in a clerical sex abuse scandal because the crimes fall within the statute of limitations, court papers showed on Monday.

The court in the southern city of Granada dropped charges of “sexual abuse with penetration, exhibitionism, and concealment of evidence” against nine priests and two laymen accused of abusing an altar boy, in a case that prompted an intervention by Pope Francis.

Ten Roman Catholic priests and two lay people were charged at the end of January, in a case that came to light after one of the victims petitioned the Pope.

But the court in the southern city of Granada, where the alleged abuse took place, ruled their accuser, now aged 25, should have brought a case within three years of turning 18.

One priest, however, is still charged with the more serious…