The Portuguese Catholic Church on Friday asked for forgiveness from victims of sexual violence committed by members of the clergy, following the publication of an independent report on the extent of the phenomenon of child crime.
"
It is with pain that once again we ask for forgiveness from all victims of sexual assault within the Catholic Church in Portugal
," the Portuguese bishops' conference said in a statement read after the meeting. a meeting devoted to this subject in the city-sanctuary of Fatima (center).
Concealed violence
A “
public gesture
” expressing this request for forgiveness will be organized in Fatima in April, and a memorial will be created on the occasion of World Youth Days, which will bring together a multitude of young Catholics in Lisbon at the beginning of August.
The Portuguese bishops had promised to take “
concrete measures
” in response to the conclusions of an independent commission they had appointed at the end of 2021 to shed light on the phenomenon of pedocrime within the Church.
Read alsoSexual assault in the Church: 290 testimonies in three months in Portugal
After collecting more than 500 testimonies in the space of a year, this group of independent experts established that at least 4,815 minors had been victims of sexual violence in a religious context since 1950. This violence was concealed by the Church hierarchy in a "
systemic
" way, they added in their conclusions.
