Many teenagers have reported being sexually assaulted after socialising with their peers, according to a child sexual abuse service.

Three-quarters of 13-15-year-olds assisted by a specialist service for children who suspect they were sexually abused said their alleged perpetrator was someone outside the family.

The documentary Leaving Neverland which delves into the accounts of two men who claim that they were abused by Michael Jackson as young boys aired on Channel 4 last night.

Pope Francis opened a landmark sex abuse prevention summit by warning senior Catholic figures that the faithful are demanding concrete action against predator priests and not just words of condemnation.

Church leaders from around the world are gathering after Pope Francis summoned them for a summit on how to deal with cases of sex abuse by clergy.

Catholic religious orders from around the world have apologised for having failed to respond when their priests raped children, acknowledging that their family-like communities blinded them to sexual abuse and led to misplaced loyalties, denial and cover-ups.

A 31-year-old man has been jailed for two years for having sex with a 14-year-old girl.

The Paris prosecutor's office has opened an investigation into alleged "sexual aggression" by Luigi Ventura, the Vatican's envoy to France, according to a judicial official.

Pope Francis has vowed that the Catholic Church will "never again" cover up clergy sex abuse and demanded that priests who have raped and molested children turn themselves in.

A Longford man serving 13 years for sexually abusing four of his nieces was on bail for these offences when he raped another child, the Central Criminal Court has heard.

A man has been jailed for seven years for abusing his girlfriend’s daughter at her home in Co Limerick.

A number of people have been held overnight by Gardaí in relation to an ongoing investigation into child abuse allegations in the south-west.

A report on sexual abuse inside the Catholic Church in Germany says 3,677 people were abused by clergy between 1946 and 2014, two leading German media outlets have said.

Paedophile football coach George Ormond, who worked for Newcastle United, has been jailed for 20 years at Newcastle Crown Court for sexually abusing teenage boys over three decades.

Hundreds of sex abuse victims should be compensated by the State without having to prove a prior complaint was made to authorities, the Government will be told next week.

As well as being a likeable and accessible Church leader, Pope Francis exhibits all the characteristics of an exemplary human being.

All of Chile's bishops have offered to resign over a sex abuse and cover-up scandal, in what is one of the biggest shake-ups in the Catholic Church's long-running abuse saga.

The State Claims Agency (SCA) has paid out €3.6m on behalf of the State to child sex abuse victims concerning 587 separate claims of historical child sex abuse since 2008.

Girls making their first confession were sexually abused by a priest who afterwards put his hand on their heads and said: “Your sins are forgiven.”

A former Michigan State University (MSU) dean has been charged with sexually harassing female students and pressuring them for nude selfies.

The HSE has confirmed that allegations of sexual abuse are among complaints that have come to light about the mistreatment of people at a care service for adults with intellectual disabilities over a 30-year period.

Former RTE Sports Producer, Kieran Creaven, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for child sexual abuse.

One member of a grooming gang spoke to British investigators in derogatory terms about British girls and said: "You can get anything here."

An audit looking at almost 2,000 allegations of clerical child sex abuse has found that 67 former Christian Brothers accused of abuse were “not traceable”, while others were visiting families with children where parents might have been unaware of any allegations.

A total of 1,882 allegations of child sexual abuse were returned in the Section 5 audit questionnaire completed by all 135 religious orders.

The head of Oxfam International described the damning sexual exploitation allegations its faces as a "stain" on the charity "that will shame us for years" as she announced plans to try to stamp out abuse in the organisation.

A deceased priest who served for many years in Cork has been named as an alleged child sex abuser in the UK.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has encouraged victims of sexual harassment to come forward and report their cases as it may empower others who might be afraid to do the same.

A total of 29 people have been charged with offences against 18 children who were aged between 11 and 17.

The Government is on a collision course with the Vatican over the funding of redress payments to sex abuse victims, saying it wants to seize lands owned by the Church.

Irish abuse survivor Marie Collins has resigned from a Vatican panel set up to fight sex abuse in the church.

A judge has described as “filthy” and “appalling” a mother’s circulation of a notice alleging that a home in the area is the subject of an ongoing garda investigation into child sex abuse.

A British woman has told how she was 'kidnapped' as a teenager and 'held captive for 13 years by a sadistic paedophile who sold the babies she had from him raping her'.

Police are investigating an allegation by a former Newcastle United player that he was abused in the club's youth system, it has been reported.

Disgraced former Radio 1 DJ Chris Denning has been jailed for 13 years for child sex abuse and even "offered" one boy to another BBC presenter.

Victims of child sexual abuse in the UK were described as having "consensual" relationships, "making choices" when in dangerous situations and being "promiscuous" despite clearly being exploited, Ofsted has said.

Online grooming is “grossly under-reported” with many children unable to distinguish between internet and real-life friends, police believe.

Children as young as one have fallen prey to paedophiles using the internet, with crimes including more than 100 rapes involving predators operating online in the last year.

A total of 116 new allegations of sexual abuse were reported to the Catholic Church’s National Board for Safeguarding Children from last April to March 2016.

French investigators have questioned a prominent cardinal about alleged failures to report on suspected paedophilia by a priest under his watch, in the highest-profile church abuse investigation in France to date.

A former US House speaker has been jailed for 15 months in a bribery case that centred on accusations that he sexually abused at least four students when he was a school wrestling coach.

Minister accused of trying to evade foster home abuse families

Austin Currie, a former junior health minister, insists he acted appropriately in the handling of sex-abuse allegations in the 1990s.

Two sisters who were sexually abused by their stepfather over a 10-year period say they would like to see charges brought against their mother who they say never believed that he abused them.