The commission, which launched an investigation into sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Portugal in January 2022 and has already received hundreds of testimonies, will release its findings on Monday, which will be delivered to the church this Sunday.
The final report of the Independent Commission for the Study of Child Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church, which began collecting testimony on January 11 last year, will not be released until Monday morning in Lisbon.
The report is due to be presented this Sunday by Pedro Strecht, coordinator of the independent commission, child psychiatrist, at the Portuguese Episcopal Conference (CEP), whose chairman, Bishop José Ornelas of Leiria Fatima, scheduled a speech for Monday. about its content.
An extraordinary plenary meeting of the Bishops’ Conference has already been convened for March 3 to analyze the report.
Unwilling to advance definitive figures until a final report is submitted, the commission said in its last public balance sheet in October that it had already registered 424 confirmed testimony, including cases of abuse since 1950 and victims ranging in age from 15 to 88. years.
The members of the commission clarified from the very beginning that this was not a criminal investigation, but added that denunciations of crimes that had not yet expired would be sent to the court, which was confirmed by the submission of 17 complaints before June. to the State Ministry (MP).
However, in October the Prosecutor General’s Office suggested that of the 10 investigations launched, more than half (six) were already on file.
At the same time, earlier this month it was reported that diocesan commissions for the protection of minors have so far received 26 reports of sexual harassment across the country.
Cases of sexual violence revealed during 2022 shocked the church and Portuguese society itself, similar to what happened with similar initiatives in other countries.
Despite “zero tolerance” for abuses set by Pope Francis, Pedro Strecht has said throughout the year that “there is a sector of the Catholic Church that wants to keep secrets” and that it has become “quite clear that there has been a cover-up of the Catholic hierarchy in Portugal” , urging the institution to “overcome the fear” and abandon the “cover-up cover-up”.
An alleged cover-up of crimes was at stake, namely by the Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon, Manuel Clemente, and the Bishop of Leiria Fatima and President of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference, José Ornelas.
These cases eventually took on political significance when the President of the Republic considered that over 400 testimonies were not a “particularly large” number.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was heavily criticized, and almost only Prime Minister António Costa defended the head of state, who, after two days of consistent explanations, eventually apologized to the victims.
Sexual harassment scandals in the Catholic Church, uncovered in recent years in a number of countries such as the US, France or Australia, reached Portugal last year as a result of the work of an independent commission.
Led by child psychiatrist Pedro Strecht, who established himself 20 years ago as a doctor for juveniles abused in the Casa Pia trial, the commission also includes psychiatrist Daniel Sampaio, former Justice Minister Alvaro Laborinho Lucio, and sociologist and researcher Ana Nunez. de Almeida, social worker and family therapist Filipa Tavares, and filmmaker Catarina Vasconcelos, as well as access to church archives.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
I am Michael Melvin, an experienced news writer with a passion for uncovering stories and bringing them to the public. I have been working in the news industry for over five years now, and my work has been published on multiple websites. As an author at 24 News Reporters, I cover world section of current events stories that are both informative and captivating to read.