4800 victims of abuse in the Catholic Church Portugal

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In Portugal, an independent commission of inquiry counted at least 4,800 cases of sexual abuse by leaders of the Catholic Church. Only a small proportion are prosecuted.

Phenomenon of mass “individual cases”?

The incredibly high number of cases of abuse in the Catholic Church in Germany is not a unique selling point in terms of location. In Portugal, too, the attacks on children in Catholic institutions were not “regrettable isolated cases” but a mass phenomenon. In the past 70 years, more than 4,800 children have been sexually abused in the respective Catholic institutions in Portugal, according to the news portal of the Catholic Church, the result of an investigation by an independent commission.

This is a low figure, as it is not possible to identify all cases of abuse.

Most perpetrators were Catholic priests

The main crime scenes were therefore Catholic homes, seminars, schools and sports facilities. The average age of the abuse victims was just over 11 years. In more than 70 percent, the perpetrators were Catholic priests.
However, the public prosecutor’s office is only investigating in 25 cases of abuse, since most of the attacks have already become statute-barred.

The Bishops’ Conference of Portugal now wants to “do everything necessary to alleviate the suffering of those affected”.

Another intermediate status of the investigations in Germany

In the investigations of the cases of abuse by the Catholic Church in Germany, recently had oneinglorious interim. However, the accumulation of cases is not only in the past, but extends into the present.