The Catholic Church of Portugal apologized this Friday to the victims of sexual assaults committed by religious, after the publication of a report that exposed thousands of abuses suffered by minors for more than half a century.
“It is with pain that we again apologize to all the victims of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church of Portugal,” said a statement from the Portuguese bishops gathered in the sanctuary city of Fátima (center).
The request for forgiveness will have a “public expression in April” in Fatima and a monument will be erected to honor the victims during the next World Youth Day, at the beginning of August in Lisbon, indicated the Extraordinary Plenary Assembly of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference .
“We reaffirm (…) our firm intention to do everything possible so that the abuses do not happen again,” adds the statement, which promises “zero tolerance with all abusers and with those who, in some way, concealed the abuses carried out within the Catholic Church”.
On February 13, a report by a group of independent experts revealed that members of the Portuguese Catholic clergy had sexually abused at least 4,815 minors since 1950.
The abuses were covered up by the ecclesiastical hierarchy in a “systemic” way, they stressed in their conclusions, after hearing more than 500 testimonies.
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