Child abuse found in Portuguese Catholic Church is ‘tip of iceberg’, commission says | – #Child #abuse #Portuguese #Catholic #Church #tip #iceberg #commission
LISBON, Feb 13 (Reuters) – At least 4,815 over the past 70 years child Members of Portugal’s Catholic Church have been sexually abused, mostly by priests, a commission investigating the matter said in a report Monday that the findings were “the tip of the iceberg.”
The head of the commission child Psychiatrist Pedro Strecht said: “(We want to) sincerely respect those who have been victims of childhood abuse and have the courage to vote to remain silent. They are more than statistics.”
Strecht said the 4,815 cases were the “absolute minimum” number of people who have been sexually abused by clergy in Portugal since 1950: “These numbers are just the tip of the iceberg.”
Most of the perpetrators (77%) were priests and 57% of the victims were men, Strecht said, adding that they were abused in Catholic schools, churches, priests’ homes, confessions and other places.
Most sexual abuse of children 10– It happened when he was 14 years old, the youngest sacrifice and he was only two years old.
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Jose Ornelas, head of the Bishops’ Conference, attended the launch of the final report and said at a press conference on Monday that the revelations were “an open wound that hurts and embarrasses us”.
Ornelas said the Portuguese bishops will meet on March 3 and look at introducing “more efficient and appropriate mechanisms” to prevent future abuses.
Among other recommendations, the commission said the Church should denounce all alleged abuse, provide psychosocial support to victims and continue to investigate the matter.
‘LOOK INTO THE PAST’
Hans Zoller, the Vatican official in charge of child sexual abuse, also attended the event in Lisbon. “It’s important to continue to listen to the victims because this is not going to be the end of it,” he said.
“There will be more victims to come,” he said, adding that it was now the bishops’ conference’s responsibility to inform Pope Francis of the report. “We (the Church) must look to the past.”
Portugal’s Catholic Church was rocked last year by a cover-up of sexual abuse, including by bishops who remain active in church roles. The commission said it is preparing a list of accused priests who are still active.
in Mozambique in 2011 child “We apologize to all the victims,” said Ornelas, who is being investigated by state prosecutors for covering up sexual abuse at his home. It is any law denies the violation.
Portuguese commission in January 2022 in France About 3,000 priests and religious officials 20It started after discovering that more than 0,000 children had been sexually abused.
Claims of abuse come from a variety of originshand from people, from every region of the country, as well Europecame from Portuguese citizens living in Africa and other countries of the American continent.
The commission spoke to more than 500 victims, analyzed historical church documents and interviewed bishops and other clergy.
A total of 25 of the statements heard in the commission were sent to the prosecutor’s office for investigation, because other statements 20 Since it was committed a year ago, it is no longer possible to start a trial.
The commission said that the law should be amended due to historical crimes committed 30 years ago.
The commission, which claims to be independent, was funded by the Catholic Church. When asked by Reuters in December 2021 whether the commission’s independence could be threatened, Strecht said the church would be the first to leave and denounce it if it interfered in the process.
Reporting by Catarina Demony; Edited by Andrei Khalip, Jon Boyle, Mike Harrison and Hugh Lawson
Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Catarina Demony
2023-02-14 01:02:29
Source – reuters
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