The Code of Canon Law must more directly address the frequent spiritual manipulation and abuse of office wrought by members of the church to solicit sex, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández said.

A lead researcher on the report by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate believes the findings represent the Catholic Church’s superlative commitment to transparency.

Pope Francis has asked the Vatican to study whether the Catholic Church should classify “spiritual abuse” as a new crime in order to address cases where priests use purported mystical experiences as a pretext for harming others.

“It is very clear that I must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and retraumatising period between 2013 and 2024,” Archbishop Welby said in a Nov. 12 statement.

The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors issued findings and recommendations in its pilot annual report, specifically calling for greater transparency from the Vatican’s sex abuse office, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has reached an agreement in principle worth $880 million to compensate more than a thousand decades-old claims of childhood sexual abuse.