The British home secretary, Sajid Javid, has warned that at least 80,000 individuals are known to the authorities to constitute a risk to children. The alarming truth appears to be that sexual abuse is sweeping the country, though it is uncertain whether this is anything new, or unique to Britain. Such figures put into context the Catholic Church’s present crisis over clerical child abuse, reinforced by almost daily disclosures of failures to prevent it in another province of the global Church.

The focus of anger with the Church is often not on the abuse itself but on those in authority who could and should have stopped it happening.