The Catholic Church in Germany has issued tougher guidelines on the handling of reports of sex abuse.
The revised rules insist all allegations must be reported to prosecutors in an attempt to prevent cases being covered up.
But critics say the new advice does not go far enough to tackle the issue.
The Catholic Church in Germany and other European countries has been hit by repeated accusations of abuse.
Since the start of 2010, at least 300 people have alleged sexual or physical abuse by priests across Germany, the Pope's home country.
The new code firms up existing guidelines from 2002 which were criticised as being too weak.
The old guidelines had not required cases to be reported to law enforcement agencies, and had instead only "advised" it if the allegations were "proven". BBC News
