At least 4,815 minors have been victims of sexual violence within the Portuguese Catholic Church since 1950, concluded on Monday an independent commission, which heard more than 500 testimonies last year.
"These testimonies allow us to arrive at a much larger network of victims, calculated at the minimum number of 4,815 victims," said the coordinator of this commission of experts, child psychiatrist Pedro Strecht.
"The report published today expresses a harsh and tragic reality. (We believe, however, that change is on the way", reacted the president of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference (CEP), the bishop of Leiria-Fatima José Ornelas.
"We ask forgiveness from all the victims," he said, referring to "an open wound that hurts us and makes us ashamed".
The Portuguese bishops will meet on March 3 to draw the conclusions of the independent report and announce "concrete measures" to "prevent the repetition of any type of violence".
For two hours, the members of the commission of experts presented, in a sometimes raw and detailed way, the lessons drawn from the 512 validated testimonies, but also from their research in the archives of the Church and their interviews with its highest authorities. responsible.
“Unfortunately, the magnitude of the numbers and the stories are very familiar to us because we have heard them before from all over the world,” commented Jesuit Hans Zollner, member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors and director of the Institute of Anthropology for the Prevention of Abuse, based in Rome.
But the work of the Portuguese independent commission is also "a sign that the Church is capable of confronting this deep wound," he added after attending the presentation of the report in Lisbon.
Faced with the thousands of cases of sexual violence by priests coming to light around the world and accusations of a cover-up by clergy, Pope Francis promised in 2019 to wage an "all-out battle" against pedophilia within the Church.
Expected in the Portuguese capital for the World Youth Days which will take place at the beginning of August, the sovereign pontiff could meet victims, recently indicated the auxiliary bishop of Lisbon, Américo Aguiar, in charge of the organization of this world meeting. young Catholics.
At the end of 2021, the hierarchy of the Portuguese Church had commissioned a commission of independent experts to take stock of the phenomenon of pedocrime, as has already been done in countries such as Germany and France.
"The majority of people we have heard consider that there is no possible reparation. But they are waiting for a request for an apology from their attacker or from the Church as an institution", explained the committee coordinator.
Almost all of the crimes denounced to the independent commission are already time-barred, but twenty-five testimonies have been sent to the public prosecutor, said Pedro Strecht.
Among these rare cases is that of Alexandra, the middle name of a 43-year-old woman wishing to remain anonymous, raped by a priest during confession when she was a 17-year-old novice preparing for a life as a nun.
"It's very difficult to talk about the subject in Portugal", where 80% of the population defines themselves as Catholic, this mother told AFP last week.
"I had kept this secret for many years, but I felt that it was becoming more and more difficult to manage it on my own," she said in a telephone interview.
Waiting to hear what steps the bishops will take with a mixture of hope and skepticism, Alexandra says the work of the independent commission has been a “good start” for those seeking to “break down the wall” of silence that has held them back. long surrounded.
02/13/2023 17:48:42 - Lisbon (AFP) - © 2023 AFP
