Rome

FRENCH Prime Minister Jean Castex met Pope Francis at the Vatican yesterday as the French Catholic Church battles a storm over clerical child sex abuse. The trip to Rome, which includes talks with Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, follows a devastating report showing that French Catholic clergy had abused

216 000 children since 1950. But the head of the Bishops’ Conference of France said priests were not obliged to report sexual abuse if they heard about it during Confession. Castex said the pope had said the French church had been courageous in dealing with the issue.