PARIS (AP) — About 2,000 people who reported being sexually abused by priests or other church representatives have sought reparations from a French independent body created to address decades of abuse, the organization said Tuesday as it prepares to end its five-year mission.
The Independent National Authority for Recognition and Reparation, or INIRR, said its work extended beyond financial compensation to include psychological support.
INIRR's report comes ahead of Pope Leo XIV's four-day visit to France, beginning Friday, during which he is expected to meet privately with seven survivors of sexual abuse by priests and other Catholic personnel.
France’s Catholic bishops’ conference agreed to provide reparations after a 2021 report estimated some 330,000 children were sexually abused over 70 years by priests or other church-related figures in France. The report described a “systemic” cover-up by church officials and urged the French Catholic Church to respect the rule of law in France.
Here's a look at the independent reparations program, by the numbers:
Over 1,184 decisions granting financial or other reparations from the church have formally been made by the INIRR.
Hundreds of other cases are still awaiting a decision. Some 183 people reached out to the independent body this year.
The INIRR closed to new submissions on Aug. 31, after completing its scheduled mandate, but is still accompanying victims until the end of next year.
It is to be replaced by another body, meant to be permanent and focusing on restorative justice, long-term guidance, and support for victims of sexual violence within the church.
After completing the process, survivors receive a “letter of recognition” that formally acknowledges the sexual abuse and details the financial compensation.
“The letter was a shockwave for me,” said Cécile Reneaume, 34, who received reparations from INIRR after she was abused as a young child by the leader of a Catholic community, who has since died.
“I was expecting a very small amount of financial compensation — that’s how I had imagined it. But when I read the letter, it said: ‘The church acknowledges these specific failings'," she described.
“It meant that the little girl who once had been unable to speak was finally believed. It gave weight and credibility to what happened to me as a child,” Reneaume said.
The Associated Press generally doesn’t identify victims of sexual assault or abuse unless they come forward publicly or give their consent to be identified.
Survivors who went through the process were awarded an average of 36,892 euros ($42,186) each.
Once the INIRR approves the financial compensation, the case is sent to a special fund financed by the church for payment.
“My first reaction was violent,” said Eric, 55, who didn’t want his last name to be public, when he was informed of the amount. “I felt anger, disbelief. Am I worth this?”
Eric was raped by a priest when he was between ages 8 and 14.
“It took me time to understand that it wasn’t me who was being assessed, nor was it about putting a price on what I had suffered, because you can’t put a price on a childhood," he said.
The compensation is intended to financially support the healing process.
People reaching out to INIRR last year were aged 56 on average, about two-thirds were men and one-third were women.
Among them, Philippe Gomes was 49 in 2023 when a session of therapeutic hypnosis helped him remember he had been a victim of sexual abuse by two priests from age 7 to 12. Survivors may experience complete or partial loss of memory due to the traumatic events.
“I reached out to the INIRR and that was a real shock, because the first thing I was told was: ‘I believe you,’" Gomes said.
Gomes said the therapy he is undergoing has helped him say he was raped without crying.
"I'm not ashamed, I'm not the one who should be ashamed," he said.
Reparations also may include nonfinancial support. Requests have included help for victims to write down their stories, organizing meetings with local church representatives, or installing a plaque in memory of victims.
Activists fighting child abuse stage a protest near the home of a former Catholic priest suspected of sexually assaulting dozens of children, in Etrechy, outside Paris, Wednesday, Sept 16, 2026, Placards read from the left: '330,000 victims of child sexual abuse, never again' and Delfosse, the church knew'. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
President Donald Trump returned to the U.N. General Assembly at a tumultuous moment for the world — and for his presidency.
The president used his address to tick off progress — including adding private sector jobs, stemming illegal migration and curbing crime — before defending his decision to start a war with Iran. He accused Iran of stalling to make a deal to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz and negotiate an endgame to the war until after the midterm elections in the U.S.
The global economy, meanwhile, continues to roil from the war.
Trump later held talks with new British Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
Also, Trump is hosting Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Washington this week as economic and tech competition escalates between the two countries. Both leaders are aiming to stabilize fragile ties, though no major agreements are expected. The meeting itself is seen as significant given the deep differences and a lack of trust between the United States and China.
Here's the latest:
The U.S. president praised Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi as “a friend of mine,” while she said that Trump had made a powerful commitment to their countries’ alliance.
The two leaders were meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. Takaichi said the goal of the meeting was to demonstrate the robust nature of the partnership.
Japan has sought to solidify its currency with U.S. support and position its industries for rising levels of competition from Chinese automakers and electronics firms.
Trump is hosting Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House on Thursday for a state dinner.
Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani warned Tuesday that such a policy would obstruct efforts to improve conditions for Palestinians.
He called on Israel to fulfill its commitments to halt operations, withdraw from Gaza and lift the blockade. Qatar has worked with Egypt and the United States to mediate the Gaza ceasefire and push for implementation of the agreement.
Turning to Iran, Tamim said Qatar remains convinced that the conflict can be resolved through “diplomatic means,” adding that the region’s lack of “collective regional security” encourages efforts to resolve disputes peacefully. Qatar has played a key mediation role between the United States and Iran during the war, including in efforts to sustain a ceasefire and revive diplomacy.
Speaking to the United Nations General Assembly, Trump warned that he was considering whether to “annihilate” Iran.
A few hours later, he struck a decidedly softer tone after a discussion with United Kingdom Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
“I think that a settlement is going to be reached,” Trump said of the war in Iran while sitting alongside Burnham. “They want to talk to us. They have been talking to us, even today. They’ve been talking to us, and the relationship is developing.”
The vice president held a news conference on Tuesday related to his fraud task force at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which is part of the White House campus.
Vance said as he turned to take questions, “I have my notes here that I’m supposed to take questions from CNN and Politico. Anybody from CNN and Politico here? No.”
His remarks were met quiet laughs from his staffers seated in the room.
Because of the visa denial, Mahmoud Abbas was not able to attend the U.N. General Assembly meeting.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan decried that as an “injustice.” He said Turkey would “serve as the voice of the free and sovereign state of Palestine and to proclaim the struggle of the Palestinian people to the world from this podium.”
Erdogan called on all U.N. members to recognize Palestinian statehood. So far, 157 of 193 member nations have done so.
A harsh critic of Israel, Erdogon said Gaza had become “the world’s largest graveyard for children” and the place with the highest rate of child amputees globally.
“Gaza is the most inhumane and most shameful concentration camp of our time,” he added.
In a speech Tuesday at the U.N. General Assembly in New York, King Abdullah II said Israel was displaying an “expansionist appetite” that was threatening its neighbors.
Jordan, which signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, has long called for a resolution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the establishment of a Palestinian state.
“For decades, I have stood before this General Assembly and warned of the dangers of leaving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict unresolved, but the international community has chosen to manage the conflict rather than confront it,” Abdullah said.
He called the “destruction in Gaza and the de facto annexation of lands in the West Bank” an “attempt to erase the Palestinian presence,” and said the Israeli goal was to make establishing a Palestinian state “impossible.”
“Forcibly removing Palestinians from their homes in the West Bank is forced displacement,” he said, adding his country will “continue to support the Palestinian resistance.”
Speaking during Tuesday’s signing ceremony, Trump called the deal to boost the U.S. military’s presence in Greenland “tremendous for Europe and the United States and everybody and for Greenland.”
“It’s going to be incredible,” Trump said. “And the people of Greenland have been so nice. The people of Denmark have been amazing.”
Trump faced resistance earlier this year when he had threatened to take Greenland by force. Leaders of the self-governing territory of Denmark, with a population of about 56,000 people, said it was not for sale.
Greenlanders had mixed reactions when Trump first started talking about acquiring the territory. In Denmark, many expressed relief following last week’s announcement of the deal.
As he was leaving the ceremony, Trump did not answer a question about whether he had taken the threat off the table.
Jens-Frederik Nielsen said at the signing ceremony that “it takes into account the people of Greenland, our rights, our livelihoods and the development of our country.”
Nielsen said that was a key priority for Greenland throughout the process, which was marked by tensions over Trump’s designs on the semiautonomous territory of Denmark.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen says the agreement “represents a milestone” in her country’s longstanding cooperation with the United States.
“This deal is good for the United States, it’s good for Greenland, Denmark, for the NATO alliance and therefore also good for Europe,” she said in remarks before leaders from the three countries signed it.
The agreement is set to give the U.S. military a larger footprint on Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, though it falls short of the total control of the island that Trump had sought after returning to office.
President Trump signed the agreement with Denmark and Greenland aimed at strengthening Arctic and North Atlantic security, easing tensions over his repeated calls for Greenland to become part of the United States.
The signing Tuesday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York comes days after Trump announced the deal to bolster U.S. military presence on the vast, icy island but keep it under Danish control. The governments provided few details of the agreement before the signing.
For months, Trump has expressed his desire for Greenland to become part of the United States and issued threats to seize the semiautonomous territory from Denmark, a NATO ally.
▶ Read more
There was an unusual playlist before Trump was set to sign an agreement giving the U.S. the ability to expand its military presence on Greenland.
As aides and media awaited the leaders for the signing, they listened to a cover of “Send in the Clowns.” That ballad is from the musical “A Little Night Music” and includes the lyrics:
“Sorry, my dear,
But where are the clowns?
Quick, send in the clowns.
Don’t bother, they’re here.”
Other tracks included “One More Night” by Phil Collins and “I Wanna Know What Love Is” by Foreigner.
Democratic attorneys general from California and New York are suing the Trump administration over its plans to buy back offshore wind leases as Trump seeks to discourage the expansion of wind energy in favor of fossil fuels.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said he’s suing over removal of a project off his state’s coast planned by Chicago-based Invenergy. The Trump administration said in June that it’s buying back the company’s U.S. offshore wind leases for four wind projects.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, meanwhile, led seven states in suits seeking to block two deals that would hand energy companies $1.4 billion in exchange for the cancellation of four planned offshore wind projects. One challenges a deal with Bluepoint Wind and the other challenges a deal with Invenergy.
James called the deals illegal and said they will ultimately increase Americans’ electricity bills by sabotaging states’ ability to meet growing energy demands.
A student activist scaled a light pole on Pennsylvania Avenue, four blocks away from the U.S. Capitol in the rain Tuesday morning to hang banners in protest of the Chinese government.
Organizers say it was meant to “unwelcome” Chinese leader Xi Jinping ahead of his Wednesday arrival to Washington to meet with President Trump.
One banner said, “Dictator Xi Your empire will fall Free Tibet.” Another said, “Dictator Xi: You are not welcome.”
The protester was taken into police custody later.
Thousands of protesters are expected to gather in Washington this week to protest Beijing’s policy and practices in Tibet, China’s ethnic region of Xinjiang, Hong Kong and what it calls human rights abuses.
And in contrast to his typical addresses, he rarely deviated from the script in his roughly 40-minute speech.
Trump read key parts of the speech almost exactly how they were presented in excerpts released to the media ahead of time.
One example: “While others have talked, I have acted. While others have spoken of peace, I have made peace.”
The U.S. president said he would “officially” change the name of artificial intelligence, saying the existing name makes the technology seem “fake.”
“The use of the word artificial makes intelligence fake, it makes it sound fake and it is not fake. It’s actually amazing,” Trump told other world leaders at the United Nations.
It’s not clear yet if there was an official order making the change, but it would likely mean adjusting the name of the “AI Force” that Trump announced this weekend to the “SI Force.”
The president said at the U.N. that from this “point forward,” U.S. government documents “will be changed to use the much more accurate term super as opposed to artificial. So it’s super intelligence.”
During his United Nations speech, Trump denied the U.S. military is running low on advanced weapons because of the Iran war. But that has been contradicted by experts and allies alike.
“We have more munitions than we could ever possibly even think of using, and we’re building them at levels that we have never done before,” Trump said.
Experts, however, say weapons stockpiles are diminishing and that it’ll take years to replenish Tomahawk cruise missiles as well as Patriot and THAAD missile interceptors.
Depleted stockpiles have caused alarm in Europe, where U.S. and NATO officials have told The Associated Press there is a “beyond critical” shortage of missile interceptors. Saudi Arabia also is running low on interceptors and has turned to allies for help.
The U.S. president pledged in his speech at the United Nations’ General Assembly that Russia’s war in Ukraine would soon end.
“We’re working very closely with the leaders of Russia and Ukraine, and we will get that one done,” Trump said. “It’s going to happen, I think, more quickly than people understand.”
The war began in early 2022 with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Trump has repeatedly suggested peace was at hand since returning to the White House in 2025, only for the conflict to continue.
“Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before?” Trump asked.
“Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again?”
The president continued: “Do I drive them into hell?”
Trump said he believes Tehran will “make a deal right after the election” in November.
Trump says he’s not worried that the war in Iran will undermine the Republican Party’s chances in the midterm elections. In fact, he says, the election “doesn’t even enter my mind” when it comes to Iran.
Polling suggests the unpopular war is making it more difficult for the GOP to maintain control of Congress. Republicans in some states have also started to speak out against the war.
Still, Trump insisted Tuesday that he’s not concerned with politics.
“They’re waiting to see how I do in the midterm election,” Trump said of Iran. “What they don’t realize is that I’m not running. I did that already, and won in a landslide … and I’ll be here for two-and-a-half years.”
As Trump began to describe the last six months of on-and-off military strikes against Iran, the delegation of Iranians began to walk out, with only one person remaining seated.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi are in New York for the annual meeting but didn’t arrive in the General Assembly hall for Trump’s speech. Instead, lower level staff and delegates were seated when he began to speak, only to leave 10 minutes into his speech.
The president opened his speech at the United Nations with more of a campaign stump-style speech, largely overlooking foreign affairs to focus on his domestic track record on the economy, immigration and crime.
“I can report to you with pride that America is back and our country is stronger today than ever before,” Trump said. “Our technology is second to none, and we are leading in virtually everything.”
Trump talked about the U.S. stock market performance, the 2025 decline in the official U.S. poverty rate, his efforts to stop illegal crossings on the southern border and reduced violent crime rates in American cities.
The venue has been set up for the signing of an agreement between the United States, Denmark and Greenland aimed at strengthening Arctic and North Atlantic security.
Photos from the room in the United Nations headquarters showed a small table with three chairs and place markers. Denmark is placed in the center, between the United States and Greenland.
The signing follows prolonged tensions over U.S. President Donald Trump’s interest in Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of Denmark.
The Ukrainian president thanked the group including Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-NH, Sen Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and others for the strong bipartisan support in Congress for the Russia sanctions package Trump signed into law.
“When it can be fully implemented, peace and guaranteed security will definitely become closer,” he posted on X.
They met Monday in New York.
It’s standing room only inside the massive General Assembly hall ahead of the Republican president’s speech to the world body. Diplomats, delegates and staff lined the corners and stairwells of the oval shaped room to see the first world leaders take the massive stage.
The Trump administration has spent the last year-and-a-half blasting the institution, saying it has failed to live up to its potential while issuing massive cuts to its programs and initiatives.
This year, Trump is arriving to the U.N. as the U.S. struggles to end a more than six-month war with Iran that’s wreaked havoc on the global economy and once again thrown the Middle East into chaos.
Sitting in the U.S. section are some members of the U.S. mission as well as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Excerpts from Trump’s upcoming speech to the U.N. General Assembly read: “The Cuban regime has also spent decades coordinating with left-wing radicals and Communist networks here in the United States.”
Provided by a White House official, the excerpts accuse Cuban officials of having “cultivated ties to subversive and radical groups” like the Communist Party USA, Antifa and democratic socialists.
Facing low approval ratings, Trump argues that many top Democrats are aligned with communists, hoping it can lift Republicans ahead of the midterm elections.
Trump has long suggested that Cuba’s communist government may collapse without U.S. intervention. But, with the war in Iran still ongoing, his administration mostly hasn’t turned its full attention to the situation on the island.
Republican Sen. John Curtis of Utah has called on the Senate Judiciary Committee to launch an investigation into Donald Trump Jr.
Curtis’ letter sent Tuesday asks the committee to probe whether Trump Jr. used his proximity to the presidency for financial benefit, which comes after his recent wedding party was partially bankrolled by a Russian oligarch.
He called for the same scrutiny of Hunter Biden, former President Joe Biden’s son.
“The country should not have to accept one standard for the family of a Republican president and another for the family of a Democratic president,” Curtis wrote.
The letter comes after ProPublica reported last week that Umar Kremlev, who has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, helped pay for festivities when Trump Jr. and socialite Bettina Anderson were married in the Bahamas in May.
President Trump defended Kremlev’s involvement but said the money would be paid back.
The president might have banned CNN from accessing the White House, but he faced questions from the network’s Kaitlan Collins as soon as he entered the United Nations to address the General Assembly.
“I’m surprised that CNN is here,” the president said. “You should not be here.”
Trump has banned CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House. Those news outlets are suing the president for violating the First Amendment.
In his address to the General Assembly, he told superpowers to recognize “that their power isn’t so super.”
Recent years have made it clear that “military power alone cannot secure peace,” he said.
The annual high-level gathering at the U.N. General Assembly will be consumed with wars in Iran, Gaza, Ukraine,Sudan, Congo and Myanmar and a persisting question: Can the leaders do anything to end them?
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the U.S. military should have at least two bases in Greenland following President Trump’s announcement of a deal with Denmark to bolster the U.S. military presence there.
Rubio told WABC radio that American forces will focus in large part of missile defense because he said missiles launched at the U.S. would come over the Arctic. He said the U.S. has a base in Greenland that can be built up and another that can be restarted.
Rubio said the deal allows the U.S. “to put as many military bases as we need in order to defend everything.” He also said the U.S. will screen companies aiming to invest in Greenland to block those with links to China or other non-NATO adversaries.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres is pleading for “a world built on interdependence” as he makes his final address to the General Assembly gathering of world leaders.
The U.N. leader has long implored leaders not to give up on cooperation and shared decision-making in the face of accelerating global challenges and increasing great-powers competition. Tuesday’s message took on additional urgency because he leaves office at the end of this year.
“The fault lines in our world are widening,” he said, citing geopolitical divides, wars, climate change and artificial intelligence. But instead of letting the future continue to veer toward fragmentation, transactionalism and mistrust, he called for “a world built on interdependence — and sustained by a dense web of economic, political, social and technological connections.”
▶ Read more
President Donald Trump meets with Britain's Prime Minister Andy Burnham during the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, at the UN headquarters. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump speaks at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at the UN headquarters on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)
President Donald Trump arrives to speak to the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, at the UN headquarters. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump speaks to the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, at the UN headquarters. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
United States President Donald Trump speaks during the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
People pose as they arrive for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at the UN headquarters, Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)
President Donald Trump and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speak to reporters at Gracie Mansion, Monday, Sept. 21, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
