Spanish judge charges 10 Catholic priests with child sexual abuse

Ten Spanish priests were charged with child sexual abuse on Tuesday (27 January).

The case has driven Pope Francis to telephone the victim in August last year to offer the Church's apology, court documents revealed.

The case surfaced when the victim, now 24, wrote to Pope Francis alleging he was sexually molested as an altar boy.

The victim claimed he was repeatedly abused over several years from when he was 14 up until he was 17 at a house rented by the abusers in a Granada suburb, the court said.

Pope Francis ordered a church investigation into the case last November.

Meanwhile, the Archbishop of Granada, Francisco Javier Martinez, dismissed several priests connected to the case from their duties, according to a Reuters report.

The accused priests were reportedly former members of a church brotherhood called 'Hermanos Focolares' before they were expelled.

The large number of sexual abuse allegations to Spain also led the Archbishop of Granada to prostrate himself before the cathedral altar last year to beg forgiveness during mass.

Pope Francis has pledged a zero tolerance policy for child sexual abuse by clerics after an increase in the number of sexual abuse allegations worldwide.

Last year, the Vatican said it had defrocked 850 priests involved in child sexual abuse between 2004 and 2013.