Seven years after the Vatican ordered all bishops conferences around the world to develop written guidelines to prevent abuse, tend to victims, punish offenders and keep pedophiles out of the priesthood, the headquarters of the Catholic Church has no such policy.

Pope Francis named two apostolic administrators to govern the now “vacant” dioceses.

It is the first time that a Vatican official has been condemned for such a crime.

"There's something going on in the culture. And one of the elements of that cultural shift is that people are prepared to speak up in a way that they would never have done before."

The report is expected to reveal details of widespread abuse and efforts to conceal and protect abusive priests.

An increase in calls to dioceses to report claims of clergy sexual abuse has happened before, and is likely to happen again in the wake of the credible claim lodged against Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington, according to the head of the U.S. bishops' Secretariat for Child and Youth Protection.