Portugal's Catholic Church To Compensate Victims Of Child Sexual Abuse
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 criticised for not adopting tougher measures.
CEP head Bishop Jose Ornelas said the organisation'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.
https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/portugal...se-5421697
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 criticised for not adopting tougher measures.
CEP head Bishop Jose Ornelas said the organisation'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.
https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/portugal...se-5421697
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
