The Catholic sexual abuse scandal in Europe has affected several dioceses in European nations. Italy is an exceptional case as the 1929 Lateran Treaty gave the Vatican legal autonomy from Italy, giving the clergy recourse to Vatican rather than Italian law.
It has been reported that since Francis was elected pope the Vatican gradually increased its efforts to deal with clerical sexual abuse, for example in 2019 discontinuing the application of "pontifical secrecy" to sex abuse legal proceedings. This affects all countries.
Austria
Archdiocese of Vienna
In 1995, Cardinal Hans Hermann Groër stepped down as head of the Roman Catholic Church in Austria following accusations of sexual misconduct. In 1998, he left the country. He remained a cardinal.
Diocese of Sankt Pölten
Bishop Kurt Krenn resigned from his post in 2004 after there was a scandal concerning child pornography allegedly being downloaded by a student at the seminary. Up to 40,000 photos and an undisclosed number of films, including child pornography, were found on the computer of one of the seminarians, but Krenn earlier angered many by calling the images a "childish prank".
Kremsmuenster Abbey
In March 2010, several monks were suspended at Kremsmunster Abbey, located in the Upper Austria city of Kremsmunster, for severe allegations of sexual abuse and physical violence. The reported incidences ranged over a period from the 1970s until the late 1990s and had been subject to police investigation. In July 2013 an Austrian court found Kremsmuenster Abbey director Alfons Mandorfer guilty in 24 documented cases of child abuse and sexual violence. The now laicized priest, who was accused of committing "sexual acts of differing intensity" on the pupils between 1973 and 1993, was sentenced to twelve years in prison. By 2013, the school had paid approximately €700,000 in compensation.
Belgium
Abuse affairs have affected several Belgian dioceses, which were hurt by allegations of abuse similar to those found in other Western countries. In response to this, an independent commission was established by the Belgian Episcopal Conference in 2000 under the presidency of Godelieve Halsberghe, a retired magistrate. A total of more than 300 complaints were made to the commission. The commission ultimately dealt with 33 formal complaints. 32 complaints were upheld by the commission, 1 was ruled false. Of these, only 1 case came before a court, because the facts of the other 31 cases were concerned with statutes of limitation. In about half of the 32 cases, the alleged abusers, clerics and religious, refused to appear before the commission, due to a lack of cooperation from the Belgian episcopate in forcing hierarchical obeyance to do so. The president and numerous commission members resigned from the commission as a result.
A second Independent Commission was established in 2009 under the presidency of psychiatrist Peter Adriaenssens. He resigned his commission in the aftermath of the large-scale police raid on 24 June 2010. Judicial police searched the archbishopric palace in Mechelen whilst the Belgian episcopal conference was officially meeting. Further searches were conducted at the archbishopric cathedral of Mechelen, the private residence of former archbishop Godfried Danneels in Mechelen and the offices of the independent commission in Leuven. 450 internal dossiers were confiscated.
Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels
Former parish priest André Vanderlyn of Saint-Gillis parish in Brussels was arrested 20 June 1997 on charges of rape of a minor. He later confessed to seven rape cases between 1968 and 1997. On 18 December 2008, former parish priest Robert Borremans was sentenced to five years in prison for sexual abuse of a six-year-old boy from 1994 until 2001. His sentence was uphold in the Brussels court of appeal in April 2010. As a consequence, he will be laicised. He had previously been convicted for indecent exposure. He presided over the marriage Mass of Crown Prince Philippe of Belgium and his wife Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz.