Catholic Church sexual abuse cases: The Diocese of Dallas agrees to pay $23.4 million to nine former altar boys who claim they were sexually abused by Rudolph Kos, a former priest.

There have been many cases of sexual abuse of children by priests, nuns, and other members of religious life in the Catholic Church. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the cases have involved several allegations, investigations, trials, convictions, acknowledgements, and apologies by Church authorities, and revelations about decades of instances of abuse and attempts by Church officials to cover them up. The abused include mostly boys but also girls, some as young as three years old, with the majority between the ages of 11 and 14. Criminal cases for the most part do not cover sexual harassment of adults. The accusations of abuse and cover-ups began to receive public attention during the late 1980s. Many of these cases allege decades of abuse, frequently made by adults or older youths years after the abuse occurred. Cases have also been brought against members of the Catholic hierarchy who covered up sex abuse allegations and moved abusive priests to other parishes, where abuse continued.

The Diocese of Dallas is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in North Texas in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of San Antonio.

Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child, indecent exposure, child grooming, and child sexual exploitation, such as using a child to produce child pornography.

Rudolph Edward Kos is a former Roman Catholic priest who was found guilty of sex crimes in the Diocese of Dallas in the U.S. state of Texas. In 1998, Kos was convicted of three counts of aggravated sexual assault and sentenced to life in prison. Kos was denied parole in 2012 and will not be eligible for another hearing until 2028.