Bishops assure Catholic Church in Portugal is at ‘point of no return’ in fight against abuse

The Permanent Council of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference (CEP) considered on Tuesday that the Catholic Church in Portugal is “at the point of no return” regarding sexual abuse.

In a statement issued following the Fatima Permanent Council meeting, CEP Bishops assured that the Church will continue to “work, paying attention to the many indicators that are present in the Final Report.” The Independent Commission for the Study of Sexual Abuse of Minors in the Catholic Church of Portugal, presented on 13 February.

“The path followed by the Church in Portugal, following the steps of the process that Pope Francis has indicated for the entire Church and whose main goal is to protect victims and guarantee security and trust in the environment of the Catholic Church, opens doors of hope and commitment so that the behavior and attitudes of the past do not repeated,” the CEP Permanent Council said in a statement.

The Permanent Council of the CEP adds that the victims of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Portugal continue to be “a priority in this entire process”, reaffirming the “willingness to welcome and listen to the victims who so desire”, maintaining a “strong commitment to take on (… ) responsibility and provide victims with all necessary assistance for their spiritual, psychological and psychiatric support and other forms of reparation for the crime committed.

“We are starting contacts to create a group responsible for receiving and accompanying the victims. This task force, autonomous in nature, made up of people who guarantee credibility and trust in front of the victims, will be combined with the National Coordination Group and with the diocesan commissions for the protection of minors and vulnerable adults,” they say, confirming the measure, which has already been announced 3 Martha.

Tuesday’s meeting commended “the work done by bishops and diocesan administrators on suspected abuses, namely in identifying situations that have not yet been clarified, with the help of the former Independent Commission and Investigation Team.” The history of the archives, ”the message says.

“When it is delivered at the end of April to the Conference of Religious Institutes of Portugal (CIRP), the list with the names of the alleged perpetrators of the institutes of consecrated life will be duly checked by the superiors of the congregations,” a note is added stating that the meeting on Tuesday was attended by some members of the Independent Commission, chaired by child psychiatrist Pedro Strecht.

Meanwhile, the CEP guidelines on the abuse of minors and vulnerable adults are “under revision taking into account the proposals and recommendations of the Final Report in the light of the Holy See’s Manual of Procedures (Vademecum) revised in June 2022, which defines the treatment of these cases, which all church leaders are following,” the Permanent Council announced, adding that “the CEP is committed to ‘zero tolerance’ for situations of abuse while respecting the autonomy of each diocese.”

With Diocesan Commissions for the Protection of Minors and Vulnerable Adults set up at the behest of Pope Francis in a process of restructuring to integrate only the laity, bishops ensure that “these are ecclesiastical bodies (…) increasingly capable of adequately addressing child abuse.”

There is also space in the communiqué to refer to “the reaction of Catholics and other members of Portuguese society to the decisions taken at the Extraordinary Plenary Assembly on 3 March”, which drew sharp criticism from the President of the Republic.

“We would like to thank you and say that we appreciate public scrutiny. We are fully prepared to go along with the entire society in eradicating the drama of juvenile abuse, in constant support for the victims and in condemning the aggressors. have always been clear about our intentions,” the bishops said in a statement on Tuesday.

The document also confirms other actions announced on March 3, such as “the goal of holding a memorial and a nationwide day of prayer for the victims of “sexual assaults, abuses of power and conscience in the church”” on April 20, the day when the next plenary meeting of the Bishops’ Conference of Portugal ends, which will take place in Fatima from the 17th of the same month.

The Catholic Church’s Independent Commission for the Study of Child Sexual Abuse confirmed 512 of the 564 testimonies received, extrapolating to a minimum number of victims of about 4,815.

Twenty-five cases were reported to the prosecutor’s office, resulting in 15 investigations, nine of which have already been archived and six are still under investigation.

These testimonies refer to cases that took place between 1950 and 2022, the period covered by the commission’s work.

Following these results, some dioceses have already decided to remove certain priests from the ministry, namely Angra in the Azores (two priests), Évora (one), Guarda (one), Braga (one) and Vila Real (one).