MELBOURNE, Australia — The sentencing of Cardinal George Pell for molesting boys more than two decades ago comes just weeks after a Vatican summit in which Pope Francis called for “all-out battle against the abuse of minors.”

Cardinal Pell is the most senior cleric in the Roman Catholic Church ever to receive jail time for child sexual abuse. But for decades, it has been victims, journalists and civil authorities who have forced abusers into the open and called them to account when church leaders failed to do so.

Law enforcement officials in some countries have become more willing in recent years to prosecute priest perpetrators, according to observers of the scandals.

Here is how countries other than Australia — with varying historic and societal ties to the Catholic church — have dealt with abusive clergy:

United States

While thousands of priests have faced civil lawsuits for sexual abuse in the United States, and some have faced criminal trials, no one of Cardinal Pell’s stature has been convicted. In February, the Vatican found former cardinal and archbishop of Washington Theodore McCarrick guilty of abuse, and defrocked him. Mr. McCarrick is unlikely to face criminal prosecution, however, because the alleged abuse took place well beyond the statutes of limitations.