Vatican sex abuse scandal: Is Pope Francis’ hardline stance proving fruitless?

Subscribe to France 24 now: FRANCE 24 live news stream: all the latest news 24/7 Five years after becoming head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis is facing his most serious crisis so far. Despite the pontiff’s efforts to toughen Vatican laws against child sex abuse and his repeated apologies, the scandal continues to grow. This summer, a number of reports in the US and Germany revealed thousands of cases of sexual abuse of minors committed by priests for decades while the local ecclesiastical authorities turned a blind eye. So what is the Vatican’s reaction to the sex abuse scandal? What are the concrete results of Pope Francis’ “zero tolerance policy“ established on his arrival at the Vatican in 2013? Our Rome correspondents report. A programme prepared by Patrick Lovett and Gaëlle Essoo.