Nearly 5,000 Children Abused in Portuguese Catholic Church Turkey: Rescuers Still Recovering Survivors After Earthquake

At least 5,000 children have been sexually abused in the past seven decades in the Portuguese Catholic Church, according to an independent study.

The Commission of Inquiry said the number of confirmed victims was unquestionably 4,815 when it published its report in Lisbon on Monday. But there have probably been many more cases since the 1950s, because the 4,815 is “an absolute minimum number,” said committee coordinator Pedro Strecht.

According to the respected child psychiatrist, the victims were on average 11.2 years young. 25 cases of abuse have already been sent to the prosecutor’s office, but some are already time-barred, said ex-minister of justice and commissioner Álvaro Laborinho Lúcio. At the end of this month, the church and the authorities will receive a list of the names of all suspected perpetrators who are still active as clergy in the Catholic Church.

The commission started its work in early 2022 after Portugal was shaken by the revelation of many cases of abuse. In all, more than 500 witnesses were heard, Strecht told journalists and church representatives. Most cases of abuse occurred between 1960 and 2000.

According to the information, nearly half (43 percent) of the interviewed victims of various ages spoke to the committee about their suffering for the first time after often decades of silence. Only 4 percent of the victims ever reported the crime. In 27 percent of all cases, the abuse lasted longer than a year.

The report quotes victims with harrowing statements. “When I told my mother, she didn’t believe me. And she even said I was guilty,” says a woman who was abused as a child. A male victim reported waking up “with[de priesters]penis between his legs and all dirty”.

President of the Bishops’ Conference of Portugal (CEP), Dom José Ornelas, said in an initial response that people were “deeply concerned about the pain of those who have suffered”. A special session of the CEP will be held on this subject on 3 March. They now want to “focus all attention on the abuse victims”. There is talk of a financial compensation of up to 60,000 euros per victim, but victims and their spokespersons indignantly rejected this amount. (aeg/sda/dpa)