LYON, France -- A former French priest was sentenced to jail for five years for sexual assaults against Scouts.

CANBERRA, Australia -- Australia's High Court has released the full set of submissions for Cardinal George Pell's March 11 and 12 final appeal hearing against historic child sexual abuse crimes.

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis expelled from the priesthood the founder of Miles Christi, a religious institute based in Argentina, after he was found guilty of sexual and physical abuse.

LYON, France -- A French cardinal welcomed an appeal court judgment that overturned his suspended jail sentence for failing to report abuse, but confirmed he will ask Pope Francis to allow him to resign.

VATICAN CITY -- Sexual abuse and the abuse of authority have occurred and are occurring within religious orders of women and must be addressed with transparency and boldness, said Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz, prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

VATICAN CITY -- Bishop Joseph E. Strickland of Tyler, Texas, said he asked Pope Francis about the Vatican investigation into Theodore E. McCarrick and the release of a promised report on how the former cardinal managed to rise through the church ranks.

VATICAN CITY -- The Legionaries of Christ vowed to cooperate with an investigation after a report stated that the congregation failed to address sexual abuse and cover-ups at one of its prestigious schools in Mexico.

YANGON, Myanmar -- A six-person committee charged with reviewing church governance and management is expected to present Australia's bishops with a plan to overhaul the management of the church in the country.

LOS ANGELES -- An attorney who specializes in lawsuits for victims of clergy sexual abuse has announced plans to file 12 suits in nine California dioceses under California's new Child Victims Act, which takes effect Jan. 1, extending the state's statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse survivors.

OTTAWA -- The decision by the Jesuits of Canada to release a list of priests “credibly accused” of abuse of minors is a step in the right direction, but an honest accounting of the extent of child abuse will take a lot more work, said the president of an abuse survivor group.

ROME -- Demonstrating a strong "chain of abuse," the Legionaries of Christ said its founder, the late Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, sexually abused at least 60 minors and that at least another 51 youngsters were abused by Father Maciel's victims or victims of his victims.

OTTAWA -- Canada’s Jesuits are planning to do what no other Catholic religious order in the country has done — release the names of priests “credibly accused” of sexual abuse of minors.

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Archbishop Luigi Ventura, the nuncio to France, who has been under investigation for sexual misconduct in France and in Canada.

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis has abolished the obligation of secrecy for those who report having been sexually abused by a priest and for those who testify in a church trial or process having to do with clerical sexual abuse.

NEW YORK -- John Bellocchio, 37, who claims former Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick abused him when he was a teenager, announced at a Dec. 9 news conference the he is suing the Vatican and demanding "sweeping child protection changes."