Hundreds of victims of sexual abuse in the church “just the tip of the iceberg”, says Portuguese body

By Catarina Demony

LISBON (Reuters) – A commission investigating child sexual abuse in the Portuguese Catholic Church said on Tuesday that the nearly 300 testimonies from alleged victims it had collected so far were “just the tip of the iceberg.”

“There have been numerous cases of sexual abuse of children and young people in the past,” said the head of the commission, child psychiatrist Pedro Strecht. More than half of the 290 witness statements indicated “many more victims.”

The allegations of abuse came from people born between 1933 and 2009, from a wide range of backgrounds and from all regions of the country, as well as from Portuguese living in other European countries, the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Most of the alleged victims are men who were sexually abused as early as the age of two.

The commission began its work in January after a report by a French commission last year revealed that around 3,000 priests and religious officials had sexually abused more than 200,000 children over the past 70 years.

The commission, which has its own website and telephone line, relies on alleged victims to come forward and also on access to historical files from the dioceses. It hopes to present its report by the end of this year.

A team of experts is working with the dioceses to gain access to the files.

Sociologist Ana Nunes de Almeida said the commission had requested interviews with the 21 Portuguese bishops, but so far only 12 had agreed to speak.

“The number (of victims) does not stop here … we are only at the tip of the iceberg,” Almeida said.

Of the 290 witness statements, 16 were forwarded to the public prosecutor’s office for investigation, since all the others were committed more than 20 years ago and no legal proceedings can be initiated.

But Strecht said the commission had already identified “signs” that cases of sexual abuse were being covered up, including by bishops who continued to hold church offices.

He said alleged victims had been abused in a variety of contexts, including in Catholic schools, in catechism classes and during confession.

(Reporting by Catarina Demony; Editing by Angus MacSwan)