Cardinal Matteo Zuppi of Bologna, the newly appointed president of the Italian bishops’ conference, faces demands from abuse victims for an independent inquiry into the sexual abuse of minors by Italian priests.

A former editor of L’Osservatore Romano’s women’s magazine alleged that “typically poor children from families reliant on the Church were victimized by predator priests who selected them precisely because of their vulnerability. The Church managed to save the priests by turning to powerful lawyers who offered minimal payouts from 15,000-25,000 euros to the needy families if they opted against filing a criminal complaint.”