Pope calls unprecedented 'child protection' meeting

Pope Francis will host a meeting next February of senior bishops from around the globe to discuss "the protection of minors", the Vatican announced yesterday.

The Church has been hit by a series of child abuse scandals in recent years, with widespread allegations of coverups, including against the pope himself.

Meanwhile, more than 3,600 children were sexually assaulted by Catholic priests in Germany over nearly seven decades, local media reported yesterday, citing a study commissioned by the German Bishops Conference. The damning report deals another blow to the Church after clerical child abuse has been uncovered worldwide.

The meeting of Episcopal Conference presidents will be held at the Vatican from February 21 to 24, the C9 cardinals' conference that advises the pope on reform said in a statement.

Conservative US Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano sparked a firestorm last month when he claimed Francis had personally ignored abuse allegations against prominent US cardinal Theodore McCarrick for five years.

The affair exposed a rift in the Church between some ultra-conservative Catholics and a pope they see as a dangerous progressive interested in social issues to the detriment of Church doctrine.

The church was also rocked in August by a devastating US report on child sex abuse which accused more than 300 "predator" priests of abusing more than 1,000 minors over seven decades in the state of Pennsylvania.

A Vatican commission on child protection set up by Francis said on Sunday that the fight against abuse must be a Church priority and emphasised the importance of listening to victims.