Nearly 5,000 children have been raped and sexually molested by Catholic priests in Portugal new investigation shows

Published February 15, 2023 | By NewsJive.com

Catholic priests in Portugal have raped and sexually abused at least 4,815 children since 1950, a new investigation reveals that was setup by the Vatican itself.

A commission was set up in January 2022 that begun an investigating of sexual abuse in Portugal’s Catholic church going back as far as 1950. In October 2022, the commission announced that they had managed to collect credible evidence in 424 different cases from alleged victims. The experts believe that the testimonies form the vicitims indicates that the total number of victims is much higher in reality.

The deadline for filing charges has already passed in most of the cases, but 25 cases have been handed over to the police and several investigations have been launched.

According to one of the experts that is leading the investigation, child psychiatrist Pedro Strecht, “there is a sector of the Catholic Church that wants to keep secrets” and that it has become “very clear that there has been a cover-up by the Catholic hierarchy in Portugal“, despite the so called decree from Pope Francis himself, about “zero tolerance” against sexual abuse of children within the Vatican Catholic Church, he said on a press conference on Monday in Lisbon.

Related news