Most victims of sexual abuse in the Church are between 5 and 25 years old.

The most common age of victims of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Portugal who filed a complaint with VITA Group was 11 years old at the time of the abuse, according to a report from the organization published on Tuesday.

“In terms of age at which the first sexual assault situation occurred, it ranges from 5 to 25 years, with the most common age being 11 years, followed by 7, 12 and 14 years. where the first situation of sexual violence occurred, depending on the gender of the victims, it appears that in the age group of 11 years there are more male victims,” says the second report on the activities of the VITA group.

The VITA group was created by the Portuguese Episcopal Conference (CEP) and began its activities on May 22, 2023.

According to testimonies from 58 victims visited by VITA Group in person or online over the past year, “at the time of the alleged events, the majority of victims (67.2%) were living with their nuclear family,” with the remainder being in a seminary (8), an orphanage (3), a religious school (1) and nursing home (1).

About 9% of victims who said they had siblings said they were also victims of sexual abuse.

In terms of the time period during which abuses occurred, the vast majority of them occurred “in the last century, namely the 60s (17) and 80s (15), with abusive behavior reported less frequently in the 70s.” -x (11) and 90s.” (7), a trend that appears to have continued from 2000 to the present (8),” states the report presented today in Fatima.

Regarding the frequency and duration of violent situations, the document shows that “the majority of victims are unable to indicate this frequency (63.8%) and almost half are also unable to indicate their duration (46.6%). 17% of victims report that the abusive situation occurred several times, and about 14% only once. Only three victims mentioned that this happened twice.”

In terms of duration, “more than a quarter of victims (31%) report that the abusive situation lasted a year or more, with six victims reporting that the abusive situation lasted three, four or five years, with five indicating two years.” and four mention one year. For three victims, the duration of victimization ranged from six to nine years.”

The alleged abusers were mostly men (57, 53 of them were priests), and only one victim reported being sexually assaulted by a woman. Five victims named a lay abuser, albeit in the context of the Church.

Regarding the context in which they encountered the perpetrator of sexual abuse, the majority of victims (89.7%) cited a context directly related to the Church.

Regarding the location of violence, situations occurring in the Church correspond to 32.8% of cases, and in institutions – 20.9%.

“Most situations in the context of the Church took place first in the confessional and then in the sacristy. For 16 victims, abusive situations occurred in the priest’s home, in his car, in his office, or on vacation. at home or in the parish. In the case of seven victims, the abuse occurred in the seminary,” the report adds.

Regarding sexual violence, “touching/stroking other erogenous areas of the body (53.4%) and manipulation of the genitals (34.5%) seem to be the most commonly reported (…) topics.”

“Sexually violent behavior committed by both (from the aggressor to the victim and from the victim to the aggressor, at the latter’s request) refers primarily to masturbation (17.2% of situations) and in a more residual form (8.6% of cases) . situations) for different forms of penetration (oral, anal and vaginal),” adds the VITA Group report.

The VITA group, led by psychologist Rute Agulhas, arose from the work of the Independent Commission on Child Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church, led by pediatric psychiatrist Pedro Strecht, which over the course of almost a year verified 512 evidence of cases occurring between 1950 and 2022, indicating , by extrapolation, to a minimum number of victims of 4815 people.