A judge in Granada in Spain has charged 10 priests and two Catholic lay workers with child sexual abuse.
The 12 are suspected of abusing four teenage boys between 2004 and 2007.
The most serious offences are alleged to have occurred in a house used by the priests.
Pope Francis telephoned one of the alleged victims, now 24, in November to offer his apologies.
He acted after the man wrote him a letter about the alleged abuse.
The pontiff, who has pledged zero tolerance of child sex abuse, then ordered a Church investigation.
Several arrests were made in November, but the suspects are now free on bail.
Following the alleged victim’s call from the Pope, the Archbishop of Granada, Francisco Javier Martinez, and fellow priests prostrated themselves in front of the altar of Granada’s cathedral to seek pardon for sexual abuse in the Church.
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