French bishops questioned at Senate about sexual abuse

PARIS – The head of France's Catholic bishops group will be questioned by Senate lawmakers who are writing a report to combat pedophilia across all of the country's institutions.

The group expects to submit the report in April with recommendations to root out sexual abuse.

It was created after plans for a separate parliamentary inquiry to investigate just the Catholic Church — which would have wielded more power — failed to gain support last fall.

The mission comes as France's most important church sex abuse trial yet is likely to end in acquittal for a cardinal who is accused of protecting a pedophile priest.