Catholic Church fires five priests suspected of abuse

Drop by drop, the Catholic Church has already suspended five priests suspected of sexually abusing minors, but there are bishops who continue to demand concrete evidence to push for the suspension, which has already earned criticism from the President of the Republic.

Following the final report of the Independent Commission for the Study of Sexual Abuse of Minors in the Catholic Church of Portugal, the Diocese of Angra in the Azores was the first to remove priests from their duties, dismissing two priests who were on a list handed over by the Commission to the Bishop of Angra, Armando Esteves Dominguez.

This was followed by the diocese of Évora, in which the priest was removed, the only survivor from the list of two names given to Bishop Francisco Coelho, the diocese of Guarda, where the priest was removed from office, and the diocese of Braga, where eight names from the list delivered to the diocese, one was removed from office.

Several dioceses indicated that the lists they received included the names of clerics, in some cases already dead, in others not belonging to the dioceses.

There are also cases where priests have been subjected to canonical proceedings and disciplinary action, as well as civil proceedings with acquittals in court.

But there are also a few cases where the names of priests are still in effect, which are recognized by the dioceses, but which so far refuse to suspend them.

This Friday, the dioceses of Lisbon and Porto announced that they received lists with 24 and 12 names respectively, of which five and seven priests, respectively, remain active.

They are currently taking no action to remove them from their functions, as Lisbon has requested additional elements from an independent commission that “allow to justify the ban on the public exercise of the ministry by priests in active service and the assumption of due responsibility to support and respect the dignity of the victims “.

Porto has already pledged preventive suspensions if “credible evidence” of crimes is found, echoing the argument of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference (CEP), which at a press conference last week defended the removal of clerics based on concrete evidence.

CEP President José Ornelas repeated several times in a press conference that what was sent by the independent commission was just a list of names, without any other elements that would allow the church to operate, something that the coordinator of this commission, child psychiatrist Pedro Strecht countered less than an hour later, saying that the church and diocesan commissions had received “important and meaningful” information sufficient to take action.

This idea was confirmed in recent days by one of the members of the independent commission, psychiatrist Daniel Sampaio, who already this Friday spoke out against criticism of the work of the commission and the presence of the names of deceased priests in the lists sent, as well as the fact that Lisbon and Porto have enough information, to act now and remove the priests.

The CEP press conference and the position it took on the report was a “disappointment” for the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Souza, as he stated in an interview with RTP and the Público newspaper, given that it was late and “not on all counts, that were important.”

“As President of the Republic, the expectation was so simple: you had to hurry up, take responsibility, take preventive measures and accept compensation. What if everything is the other way around, in general terms, or everyone is on their own side, ”he complained.

The Head of State suggested that the Portuguese Bishops’ Conference should “additional reflection in order to rediscover the path that has been lost in these 20 days.”

Contacted by Lusa, CEP declined to comment on criticism of the President of the Republic.

So far, the dioceses of Funchal, Angra, Evora, Viana do Castelo, Algarve, Portalegre, Viseu, Guarda, Braga, Lisbon, Porto, Aveiro, Santarém and Setubal have already commented on the lists of names sent by the independent commission.

Santarém stated that he did not receive any list because the cases did not correspond to the “geography and/or historical time” of the diocese, while Setúbal pointed to inconsistencies with the data received and announced that he had requested further clarification on five cases. reporting cases of child abuse.

There are 21 dioceses in the country, including the Diocese of the Armed Forces and the Security Forces.

An independent commission for the study of child sexual abuse in the Portuguese Catholic Church, set up by the Portuguese Episcopal Conference and coordinated by child psychiatrist Pedro Strecht, corroborated 512 testimonies, extrapolating at least 4,815 victims.

The testimonies refer to cases that took place between 1950 and 2022, that is, for the period covered by the work of the commission.

The Commission submitted to the Episcopal Conference of Portugal a list of alleged active rapists.

In a report released in February, the commission warned that the data collected from church records on cases of sexual abuse should be understood as “the tip of the iceberg.”