-afp
There are at least 4,815 victims of pedophilia in the Portuguese Churchaccording to an independent investigation that aimed that sexual abuse of children by the country’s Catholic clergy from 1950 to the present. The commission responsible presented its conclusions after taking hundreds of testimonies from the victims. The study was commissioned Church of Portugal and the final report was presented in Lisbon.
“These testimonies allow us to reach a much broader network of victims, counting towards the minimum number of 4,815 victims,” said the coordinator, child psychiatrist Pedro Strecht, when presenting the final report.
The Independent Committee to Investigate Child Abuse in the Catholic Church, as the commission is called, was formed just over a year ago. The Portuguese bishops are due to discuss the report next month. However, most of the alleged cases are statute-barred.