Ten Roman Catholic priests and two Catholic lay workers have been formally charged with child sex abuse by a judge in the southern Spanish city of Granada.

The 12 suspects are accused of sexually abusing four teenage boys between 2004 and 2007.

After one of the allegedly abused children, a former altar boy in the Diocese of Granada, Francisco Javier Martinez, wrote Pope Francis a letter about what he claims to have suffered, the pontiff telephoned him to council him and offer condolences.

According to the BBC, the allegation is this young man (who is now 24) and another friend were invited by a priest to spend time at his parochial house and another property. In the parochial house, the most serious sex crimes were alleged to have taken place.

Pope Francis has pledged a zero tolerance for child sex abuse. After he ordered a Church investigation, several arrests were made in November.

All of the alleged suspects, however, are currently free on bail.

After the pope made his call to the Martinez, the Archbishop of Granada, along with his fellow priests, prostrated themselves before the altar of Granada's cathedral in order to seek pardon for the sexual abuses that had taken place within the Catholic Church.

The many victims of sexual abuse at the hands of catholic priests are furious and demand justice for what they see as the Vatican's policy of declining to punish their senior officials who have been accused of covering up sex scandals.

Pope Francis has begged for forgiveness from the victims of sexual abuse by priests. According to the BBC, he has condemned the Church's "complicity" in endeavoring to mask the "grave crimes" committed by catholic clerics.