Member of the Independent Commission ensures that the Church has data on abuse

Psychiatrist Daniel Sampaio this Monday denied that the church had received a list with the names of abusive priests, without further information on reported cases, calling the bishops’ stance “postponing the issue.”

“It is not true that this is just a list of names,” said a member of the Independent Commission for the Study of Child Sexual Abuse at the Portuguese Catholic Church, explaining: “The list was obtained from complaints from victims in which victim X says she was abused by a priest Y – and as a result of an investigation conducted by the Historical Investigation Group in the archives. And the delivered list is the result of a combination of the two.”

Speaking to Lusa, Daniel Sampaio stressed that over the past year, all dioceses have been working with bishops and that “every name is known to the dioceses,” as the Historical Research Group has already shown the records to the bishops, adding that “there are already bishops working on this issue.”

“When the Cardinal Patriarch says that the Church has no data, it’s not true,” the psychiatrist said, emphasizing: “This is not a list of names that have fallen from the sky.”

On Sunday, Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon Manuel Clemente said the Church could act if it had facts to add to the names on the submitted list.

“The Independent Commission provided us with a list of names. If this list of names is filled with facts, both we and the civil authorities will be able to act,” said Manuel Clemente.

Although the IC is not a commission of inquiry, Daniel Sampaio deplored the Portuguese Episcopal Conference (CEP) reaction Friday to a report released in February by the IC in which the bishops refused to commit to the immediate removal of priests. like offenders.