Strasbourg, 12/04/2001 (Agence Europe) - Last Thursday the EP adopted - by 65 yes, 49 no and 6 abstentions - a resolution from the Socialist, Liberal, Greens/ALE and the United Left/NGL calling for the Holy See to seriously examine the allegations of sexual abuse against Catholic nuns by priests which the American magazine National Catholic Council reports in 23 countries (especially in Africa, but also in Latin America and Asia, the United States and in Europe, in Italy and Ireland). The EP notes that, since 1994, at least five reports on this issue have been handed to the Vatican, whose spokesperson, Monsignor Joaquin Navarro, nevertheless indicated that the "problem is known", but geographically limited. The EPP-ED group announced that it did not support the resolution, even if rape and sexual abuse, notably by priests, must be punished. Though it is impossible to generalise, adds the group, when underlining that there are more than a billion Catholics in the world, including 404,208 priests and 819,287 nuns. At the same time, the group "welcomed the open debate over the issue.