A commission investigating child sexual abuse in the Portuguese Catholic Church said Tuesday it had collected more than 400 statements from alleged victims, but conceded that the number of actual cases was “much higher”.
The Portuguese commission began its work in January after a report revealed that nearly 3,000 priests and religious officials in France have sexually abused more than 200,000 children in the past 70 years.
The Portuguese Catholic Church has been rocked in recent weeks by several cases of alleged cover-ups for sexual abuse, including by bishops who are active in the institution.
“In cases of sexual abuse, it’s natural to hide it,” said commissioner Daniel Sampaio, a Portuguese psychiatrist. “Of course there was a concealment by the Church.”
One of the most notable cases concerns José Ornelas, president of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference (CEP). Prosecutors said they were investigating Ornelas. A teacher accused him of covering up sexual abuse at an orphanage in Mozambique in 2011.
According to the Portuguese newspaper Publico, the professor said he reported the sexual abuse of two Italian priests to Ornelas, who was in charge of the post at the time. The professor claims that Ornelas did not act.
CEP defended Ornelas in a statement and said it had reported the incident to the local community in Mozambique, but there was no evidence of its abuse.
So far, 424 testimonies have been confirmed, but commission chairman Pedro Strecht said the number of victims was “much higher” as many of the people the commission spoke to were also talking about other acquaintances who had been abused.
source: Noticias
