The number of clerics defrocked by the Catholic church is down.
The news comes just days after a U.N. panel grilled Vatican officials for hours, demanding more transparency on the full scope of child sex abuse within the church...
Reuters Vatican Correspondent Philip Pullella:
(SOUNDBITE) (English) REUTERS VATICAN CORRESPONDENT, PHILIP PULLELLA, SAYING:
"Recent Vatican statistics which have been published in annual Vatican yearbooks show that the peak was at about 250, 260 in 2011 and then since then it has begun to go down to about 125 the year after that."
Visitors here at the Vatican welcomed the news.
(SOUNDBITE) (Italian) VATICAN VISITOR, ANGELO BRUNO, SAYING:
"If the news is correct, I believe the Church has done their duty and It is right, more than right."
(SOUNDBITE) (Italian) VATICAN VISITOR, MILOVACK MILO, SAYING:
"I believe that the Church has understood that they cannot go forward like this. I think with this new era of
