Portugal’s Catholic Church to compensate sexual abuse victims

FATIMA, Portugal – Portugal’s Catholic Church will financially compensate victims of child sexual abuse within the Church, setting the amounts to be paid on a case-by-case basis, it announced on Thursday.

Members of Portugal’s Bishops’ Conference (CEP) have been meeting since Monday at the Shrine of Fatima in central Portugal to discuss, among other issues, the compensation for abuse victims.

A report in February 2023 by a Church-funded Portuguese commission found that at least 4,815 minors had been sexually abused by clergy – mostly priests – over seven decades.

The report’s authors said their findings were the “tip of the iceberg”, and commission head Pedro Strecht added that more than 100 priests suspected of child sexual abuse remained active in Church roles.

The following month, the Church announced a handful of steps to tackle child sexual abuse, but it was heavily criticized for not adopting tougher measures.

CEP head Bishop Jose Ornelas said the organization’s assembly unanimously approved the granting of compensation, with requests to be filed from June to December this year. Twenty-one people have already requested compensation.

A committee will then determine the amount to be given to each victim and a newly created CEP fund will be used to make the payments, Ornelas said.

The criteria for deciding the amounts is still being worked on, Ornelas said, explaining there was no maximum amount set and the gravity of cases would be taken into consideration.

Sexual abuse scandals have rocked the Catholic Church in a number of other countries as well, including the United States, Ireland and France.

In neighboring Spain, the Church said in November it would compensate victims of sexual abuse even in cases that have not been concluded because the offending priest has died, in a shift from its previous position on the matter.

Ornelas said compensation would also be given to Portuguese victims accusing priests who are now dead. — Reuters