Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon Manuel Clemente this Sunday lifted the suspension of alleged priests who abuse minors without “proven facts to be refuted” and a canonical process conducted by the Holy See.
Speaking to the RTP, SIC and Rádio Renascença after the Senhor dos Passos march in Lisbon, Manuel Clemente emphasized that Portugal is “a country of law and anyone who is accused must know what he is accused of.”
“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. […] On the part of the Church, we are fully prepared to seek a solution to this problem, in cooperation, of course, with civil and canonical formations,” said the Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon.
Asked if the solution to the problem could go through the immediate suspension of the alleged child abuser, Manuel Clemente replied: “This is a very serious punishment, this is the most serious punishment that the Holy See can give, and that the Holy See can give.”
“If we have facts, and facts that are proven and can be refuted, of course – we are in a country of law and laws – only the Holy See can do this, this is not something that the bishop can do himself. “, He said.
Asked if the priests in question could not be preemptively removed, the Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon again rejected this scenario, stating that “this cannot be because it is subject to contradiction.”
“Removal from office, as I said, is a very serious punishment that can only be imposed by the Holy See after a canonical process. In civil law, all cases are handled by the prosecutor’s office, and the prosecutor’s office acts in accordance with the law, and we are here to cooperate,” he said.
Faced with statements from an honorary bishop of the Armed Forces who, in an interview with RTP, defended the preventive removal from office of alleged priests who abuse minors, and believed that bishops who cover up these cases are “not fit for the place they occupy.” – Manuel Clemente said that “these words belong to the one who spoke them.”
“I don’t know if there are such cases. If there are such cases, then they should be treated as such and taking into account one fact: the current legislation is not the legislation of a decade ago, neither civil nor canonical. 30 years ago,” he said.
In the words of the Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon, “many of the cases at hand” refer to “50, 60, many years ago”, at a time when “there was none of this in the legislation, it was not even a public crime, nor were they crimes against people, whether they were just indecent assaults, which were treated with a kind word.
“We must write this into what happened at every moment of time. Now everything that needs to be done will be done. We are the first who are interested in resolving the issue,” he stressed.
Manuel Clemente assured that the Church would do “everything” it could, in accordance with the law.
“We cannot invent a law, neither civil nor canonical. Everything that can be done according to the law will be done according to the law. But do not demand anything else from us, because we cannot be more … Now you can be sure: we the first ones who are interested in resolving the issue,” he said.
Asked if he thought the memorial to the victims of sexual violence to be unveiled during World Youth Day was enough, Manuel Clemente replied: “The only thing that’s enough is to never do things like that again.”
“This is what we want because one case was too many. This is enough and enough,” he said.
In those statements, Manuel Clemente was also asked what action the Patriarchate of Lisbon would take this week after Lisbon Auxiliary Bishop Américo Aguiar announced that new steps would be taken and that there would be “zero tolerance” for alleged abusive underage priests. .
In response, the Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon mentioned that the conclusions to be drawn “are in line with those that were also said at the plenary meeting of the bishops, that is, to strengthen the role of the diocesan commissions, possibly equipping them even more, as well as national coordination, […] it was even supposed to be expanded, with a team of people specializing in these cases.”
“Therefore, everything that goes in this preventive sense – because basically it is about this – we will do. The rest is done according to the law,” he said.
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.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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