Victims of abuse in the Church call for audit and review of the law

A silent Heart association, which represents victims of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, will ask parliamentary groups for a “review and audit of the financial compensation process” decided by the bishops, was announced today.

On Friday, “each of the parliamentary groups and parties sitting in the Assembly of the Republic” will receive a folder with documents, identical to the one the association delivered on September 18th to the President of the Republic, announced the association, in a statement.

In the folder, which Lusa had access to, the association complains that the victims were not heard in the compensation process and that many testimonies were ignored and therefore calls for an independent audit.

It also asks Members to change the limitation period for the crime of child sexual abuse, because it may take many years to report it, taking into account the age and trauma associated with it.

“ The participation or suggestions of the survivors of abuse in the decisions of the CEP [Portuguese Episcopal Conference] were practically null, except for the subject of the prescriptions, which were removed in the Financial Compensation Regulation ", says the association.

“Trauma and suffering do not prescribe” and “there is no reason to prescribe crimes of sexual abuse against minors to benefit the abuser,” they say.

The association recalls that the report ‘Give Voice to Silence’, presented in 2023 on the study of child sexual abuse in the Portuguese Catholic Church, included 512 testimonies validated by the professionals of the independent commission, motivating a “extremely negative” reaction of the Portuguese bishops, citing Cardinal Manuel Clemente, who then criticized the existence of compensation to be paid.

“ These and other attitudes generated great challenge in Portugal, both within and outside the Catholic Church”, leading to the creation of the association of the victims, who met with the former President of the Republic and with elements of the Church.

“Thanks to the widespread dissemination of the situation in the Social Communication and the criticisms circulating within the Church, the Portuguese Episcopal Conference decided to move forward, one year after the aforementioned Report, with the constitution of the Vita Group, to listen again to the victims, since the personal data of those who had witnessed were destroyed under the General Data Protection Regulation.”.

“The Vita Group, committed to the dioceses and the structure of the CEP, triggered a whole process guided by that Regulation, whose central axis was to find out who was or was not eligible for financial repairs, and the “verisimilitude of situations” was evaluated, a process that, according to the association, removed several cases.

In some cases, “they excluded due to lack of evidence, others because “being on their knees, with their faces in front of the priest’s genitals” were “obviously insufficient behavior to conclude on the experience of a sexually abusive situation”, among other examples listed.

“ This is how the CEP and the Vita Group came to the ridiculous number of 57 survivors compensated by the Portuguese Catholic Church, after “we learned in 2023 that the estimate of the professionals of the Independent Commission pointed to 4,815 victims abused in recent decades, of which 512” witnessed.

In the folder delivered to Members, the Silent Heart Association criticizes the “lack of transparency” of the process, which excludes victims themselves from accessing their testimony.

“The reality that we have just presented is the result of the ambiguities of the aforementioned Regulation on Compensation, the unclear criteria and the margin of interpretation that allows such different decisions,” the association maintains, which calls for the intervention of political power.

“The omission of state bodies throughout this process is also the reason for our discontent”, because “an active stance in defending the rights and dignity of victims would be expected.”.

In this sense, the association calls for a “review of the process” that includes “the guarantee of effective access to psychological follow-up promised to all eligible victims”, the “definition of maximum deadlines for the assignment of a health professional” or “institutional accountability mechanisms whenever the commitments made are not fulfilled”, among other matters.

“ The recognition of the suffering of the victims requires not only decisions on financial compensation, but also full compliance with the support measures that have been formally promised to them, ensuring a quick, transparent, dignified and effectively reconstructive response ", add.

The Report of the Independent Commission “identified an institutional pattern that went through decades of the history of the Church in Portugal: the concern to protect the institution and its members often prevailed over the protection of victims”, with the transfer of abusers or solutions of “internal discipline”, even when there were crimes, they also remember.

In September, the CEP was available to collaborate in an audit ordered by the State to the internal process of compensation for sexual abuse.

The CEP “respects the right of victims to present to state entities the concerns and issues they consider relevant and, with respect for the competences of the institutions, maintains full readiness to provide all the clarifications requested and collaborate in the fight against sexual abuse”, the Catholic Church replied to Lusa, following the meeting of the Association Silenced Heart with the President of the Republic.

On the deadline of the prescriptions, “the CEP considers it legitimate that society continues to reflect on the matter, taking into account the seriousness of these crimes and the fact that many victims may take many years to be able to talk about their experiences”.

In April, the outgoing president of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference, José Ornelas, estimated that internal investigations of abuses, support for victims and compensation entailed a total expenditure of three million euros by the Church in Portugal, with individual compensations between nine thousand and 45 thousand euros.