The independent commission which is investigating sexual abuse of minors within the Catholic Church in Portugal wants to involve young people in prevention and the creation of a safer environment for children.
During a press conference, commission member Daniel Sampaio, a psychologist, spoke of the importance of having members of Catholic youth movements involved in “spreading our message and adopting a preventive attitude amongst the young, explaining the situation and being ambassadors for the commission in the different environments in which they move”.
The commission began its work in January, opening channels for people to provide information on cases of abuse that had not yet been acknowledged or investigated. At the time of the press conference more than 320 situations had been reported, some dating back decades, but child psychiatrist Pedro Strecht says he believes that this is only the tip of the iceberg. “We know of many more victims than the 300 who contacted us directly, since in many cases the witnesses spoke clearly and openly of other victims, sometimes naming names”, he said.
The members of the commission hope to have a report published by the end of the year and have complimented the church hierarchy for calling for the investigation and trying to find out the extent of the abuse crisis in the Portuguese Church. “It is important that society take this issue seriously”, said Daniel Sampaio, “the fact that the Church took the initiative, in this case, makes it even more important for other institutions to follow suit, and that is definitely one of the recommendations we will be making in our report”.
Portugal has so far been spared the devastating revelations of abuse that other Western countries have faced. Around a dozen cases have come to light over the past decade, with no suggestion of the existence of networks of abuse or systemic coverup. However, following the publication of the report on abuse in the Church in France, in October 2021, the Portuguese bishops decided to call on an internal investigation of their own.
The commission is made up of six specialists in subjects such as medicine, psychology, law and family therapy, and has been given full liberty by the bishops to investigate the performance of the Portuguese Church in this regard.
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