France's Interior Ministry – the agency charged with law enforcement – has ordered Catholic priests to report all child sex abuse allegations to the police, even if they learn about the incidents in confession.

The order comes a week after an independent study documented at least 330,000 cases of child sex abuse involving priests or other church officials extending over 70 years.

While Pope Francis expressed "shame" on learning of the report, the head of the French conference of bishops, Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, said that the tradition of secrecy surrounding confessions was "above the laws of the Republic."

"The secrecy of confession is a requirement and will remain a requirement – in a way, it is above the laws of the Republic," Moulins-Beaufort told FranceInfo in an interview. "It creates a free space for speaking before God."

French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin then summoned Moulins-Beaufort for a long meeting on October 12. According to the Guardian newspaper, Darmanin insisted that professional secrecy – including that of the Catholic confessional – did not apply to disclosures of potentially criminal cases of sexual violence against children, which priests were required to report to the police and justice system.

Immediately after the meeting, Darmanin was applauded by members of the French parliament in the National Assembly when he reported the results of his meeting with the bishop.

"I told him what I say to all religions: there is no law that is superior to the laws of the National Assembly and the Senate," Darmanin told the body. "The French Republic respects all religions from the moment they respect the Republic and the laws of the Republic."

Following the meeting, Moulins-Beaufort issued a statement asking for forgiveness for his comments to FranceInfo.

The Bishops Conference of France said in a statement that the scale of the abuse detailed in the report meant the church should review its practices, and that work was needed "to reconcile the nature of confession with the need to protect children."

President Emmanuel Macron said he had asked the interior minister to hold the meeting with the Catholic bishop in order to "make sure that things are clear," a government spokesperson said.

"Nothing takes precedence over the laws of the Republic in our country," the spokesperson, Gabriel Attal, said.