BBC News
The Vatican is facing tough questions from UN investigators in Geneva on the sexual abuse of thousands of children by Roman Catholic clergy.
Pope Francis has said that dealing with abuse is vital for the Church’s credibility, but the Church has been criticised over its inadequate response to some of the allegations.
When did the sex abuse scandals in the Church first come to light?
The sexual abuse of children was rarely discussed in public before the 1970s, and it was not until the 1980s that the first cases of molestation by priests came to light, in the United States and Canada.
In the 1990s, revelations began of widespread abuse in Ireland.
In the new century, more cases of abuse have been revealed in more than a dozen countries around the world.
What are the most salient cases of abuse?
Two major reports into Irish allegations of paedophilia in 2009 revealed the shocking extent of abuse, cover-ups and hierarchical failings involving thousands of victims, and stretching back decades.
In one, four Dublin archbishops were found to have in effect turned a blind eye to cases of abuse from 1975 to 2004.
A fresh scandal erupted in March 2010 when it emerged the head of the Irish Catholic Church, Cardinal Sean Brady, was present at meetings in 1975 where children signed vows of silence over complaints against a paedophile priest, Fr Brendan Smyth. This prompted Pope Benedict XVI to apologise to Irish victims.
In the US, the Boston Archdiocese has been worst hit, with the activities of two of its priests, Paul Shanley and John Geoghan, causing public outrage.
Cardinal Bernard Law resigned over the scandal in 2002.
In Mexico, the founder of the Legion of Christ order, Marcial Maciel, long admired by Pope John Paul II, was disciplined by the Vatican in 2006 over the abuse of boys and young men over a period of 30 years.
The Legion insisted his was an isolated case, but seven more priests of the order have been investigated.
The bishop of the Belgian city of Bruges, Roger Vangheluwe, resigned in 2010 after admitting that he had sexually abused a boy for years.
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