Perón publicly accused bishops and priests of sabotaging his government.

Later Argentina was among 25% of bishops conferences that did not reach the deadline for getting policies in place to deal with complaints and accused priests.

A priest finds himself on the run from the Spanish Republicans, who accuse priests of indoctrinating their followers against them.

In recent years the Catholic Church has been shaken and embarrassed by a wave of lawsuits accusing priests of sexual misconduct.

Field accused priests of doing this in order to indulge in "games of Sodom" in the afternoon.

The best estimate comes from the number of lawsuits filed against the archdiocese accusing priests of abuse, which now stands close to 600.

In a communique, the state government also accused "Catholic priests of the theology of liberation and their deacons" of maintaining ties to the guerrillas.

He allowed "at least two credibly accused priests in San Francisco to stay in active ministry," said David Clohessy, the group's national director.

Despite the thousands of people who have accused priests of sexual abuse and the church of covering up, few cases ever actually go to trial.

By some estimates, as many as 500 people have filed or intend to file lawsuits accusing priests of abuse.