The Vatican signs a landmark treaty with Palestine weeks after officially recognizing it as an independent state.

A Catholic priest is arrested in northern Italy over charges of sexually abusing young boys in his parish.

The head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, has urged the forced removal of ISIL as the only way for establishment of peace.

A Polish court sentences a Roman Catholic priest to seven years in prison over sexually abusing boys.

Although the Catholic Church enjoys great immunity in Italy, some survivors of sexual abuse by clergymen are determined to pursue punishment for the perpetrators. A group of sex scandal victims have formed an association that has been successful in bringing some pedophile priests to justice.

A Czech Roman Catholic priest is sentenced to five years in jail over rape and sexual abuse.

A court in Canada hands down a 19-year prison term to a defrocked priest for sexually abusing children.