It is estimated that more than 100 priests suspected of sexual abuse continue to celebrate mass in Portugal

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The commission that studies the dimension of the saga of Pedophilia in the Catholic Church of Portugal he estimates that there are more than 100 active priests in that country suspected of abusing minors. They will be notified to the Public Prosecutor’s Office in the coming weeks, and to the Portuguese Bishops’ Conference.

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The data comes after the release of a report that revealed Portuguese Catholic clergy have sexually abused at least 4,815 minors since 1950. The document was the result of a year-long investigation, with hundreds of victims testifying.

“These testimonies allow us to establish a much larger network of victims, of at least 4,815,” said child psychiatrist Pedro Strecht at the presentation of the report.

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The survey was commissioned in 2021 by the church in Portugal, after similar -alarming- reports had been circulated in other countries, such as France.

The head of the Episcopal Conference of Portugal, mgr.  José Ornelas, at the presentation of the report on sexual abuse this Monday in Lisbon.  Photo: AP

The head of the Episcopal Conference of Portugal, mgr. José Ornelas, at the presentation of the report on sexual abuse this Monday in Lisbon. Photo: AP

On Monday evening, in an interview with the SIC Notícias channel, Strecht referred to the number of priests who are still active in Portugal and who are now among those reported for sexual abuse.

The number is “clearly over a hundred”, assured the coordinator of the commission that investigated cases of pedophilia in Portugal.

Strecht explained that this data is the result of the sum of the victims’ reports, the cross-referenced testimonies and the cases collected in the diocesan archives (some of which have not previously been communicated to the commission).

According to their data, this number remains at levels similar to those reflected by studies from other countries, which indicate that they could be “2 to 4 percent of the working population of a country’s entire religious community.”

The names

The list with their names, prepared after a year of research, will be sent in the coming weeks. to the Portuguese Episcopal Conference (CEP) and the Portuguese Public Prosecutor’s Office to take action.

“Only real distance in physical space will work,” since “within the psychopathological profile, there is a clear tendency to perpetuate crimes,” Strecht stressed.

The expert made these statements just hours after the commission revealed that in Portugal there are “minimum” 4,815 minors who have been sexually abused by members of the Catholic Church over the past 72 years and warned that “it is not possible to quantify the number total number of crimes.

Pedro Strecht, coordinator of the commission that revealed the harsh history of sexual abuse in the church in Portugal.  Photo: AFP

Pedro Strecht, coordinator of the commission that revealed the harsh history of sexual abuse in the church in Portugal. Photo: AFP

During the interview, Strecht, who is also a child psychiatrist, said he does not believe that “the hierarchies of the Catholic Church are repeating the mistakes of the past” at a time when abuse cannot be denied.

“It’s no longer worth saying that it didn’t happen. It happened intensely and dramatically.” This was reiterated by Strecht, who recalled that it cannot be seen as “a problem that existed in the past”.

The report of the commission – created by the CEP and made up of six members including psychologists, sociologists, jurists and even a director – demonstrates that a quarter of victims have been abused since the 1990s.

For this reason, the task force suggested creating a new permanent team of experts to give victim monitoring and act as a “communication channel”, insisted Strecht, who also underlined the importance of the adult population being informed about this issue to prevent these crimes and educate younger people on the limits of privacy.

Experts have also called for the age limit within which a person can report these crimes to justice in Portugal to be lengthened, due to the average time it takes for victims to report it.

raw report

For two hours, the members of the commission of experts expounded, in a crude and detailed way, the teachings of the 512 testimonials validated but also by their investigations into church archives and their interviews with their senior leaders in the hierarchy.

“The report released today reveals a harsh and tragic reality. However, we believe that the change is underway”, said the president of the Portuguese Bishops’ Conference (CEP), mgr. José Ornelas, bishop of Leiria-Fátima.

“We apologize to all the victims”, he added, referring to an “open wound that (…) makes us feel ashamed”, after attending the presentation of the report.

Most of the crimes reported have expired, but 25 charges have been forwarded to the judicial authority, which has opened the investigation.

Source: EFE

Source: Clarin

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