Pope Francis strengthens Catholic Church's sex abuse laws.

Pope Francis has updated a 2019 church law aimed at holding senior churchmen accountable for covering up cases of sex abuse, expanding it to cover lay Catholic leaders and reaffirming that vulnerable adults can also be victims of abuse when they are unable to consent. The new rules conform to other changes in the Catholic Church’s handling of abuse that have been issued since then. The law contained precise timelines to initiate investigations if allegations were well-founded, and that has been retained with some modifications.