Vatican to set up clergy sexual abuse help center

The Vatican is to set up a new e-learning center to help safeguard children and victims of sexual abuse by clergy, as part of its efforts to deal with damaging scandals.

The Roman Catholic Church is preparing for a major conference on abuse to take place next February in Rome, BBC reported Saturday.

The Vatican has told bishops to come up with guidelines to combat abuse, in line with local laws.

The Catholic Church has been rocked by scandals of sexual abuse by priests.

The center will offer guidance to those who have to respond to abuse cases, as well as providing information for victims. Its advice will be available in German, English, French, Spanish and Italian.

"The e-learning center will work with medical institutions and universities to develop a constant response to the problems of sexual abuse," said Monsignor Klaus Peter Franzl of the archdiocese of Munich, according to the Reuters news agency.

The BBC's David Willey in Rome says the Vatican appears to be coming round to the view that the measures taken by the leadership of the Catholic Church in England and Wales during the past decade to deal with clerical sexual abuse of children could provide a model for other countries to follow.