The religious organization Opus Dei acknowledged five cases of sexual abuse of minors in Portugal.

In a statement, they said they have contacted the Independent Commission for the Study of Child Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church in Portugal to collect information and support the victims, repair the damage and prevent a similar situation.

One of the cases corresponds to a priest who around the year 2000 in the facilities of Colegio Planalto asked questions that were considered inappropriate in a confession, which was perceived as intrusive. The identity of the priest is unknown.

“My knees still hurt from scrubbing the men’s toilets for hours”: Opus Dei allegedly bypassed immigration controls to transfer minors to other countries

Three more cases occurred at the Planalto school, a branch of the Cooperativa Fomento de Centros de Ensino. In one a teacher left the school, another is from 1988 that the name given did not match someone who worked at the place and the other is touched once by an employee in a non-school context in 1990, more than after two he has not worked with them for decades.

The other known testimony is of a person who was once inappropriately touched by a monitor during a leisure activity at an institution that helped the prelature in 1997. That institution informed the Public Prosecution Service, which closed the case. The prelature’s decision was not to carry out activities with young people, as the defendants pleaded not guilty.

“If all child abuse is extremely serious, wherever it is committed and by whomever, then it is even more serious when it is committed by a Christian. Therefore, an Opus Dei Christian who commits this crime must answer before the courts and civil authorities, repair the damage, ask the victims’ forgiveness, beg God’s forgiveness, make a deep and demanding conversion of life, and see to what insofar as this behavior affects their membership in the prelature,” the organization said.

Opus Dei apologizes to the affected women: after the complaints of labor exploitation, they apologize for “not knowing how to be present with the generosity and affection they needed”

These thanks come just days after acknowledging complaints against eight members in the La Plata region (Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina). Three refer to clergy (two are already deceased) and five to lay believers.

One of these cases led to a canonical conviction in a diocesan body and disciplinary action was taken in the others.

“We reiterate our desire to guide the victims on the path of recovery and healing. We reaffirm our complete rejection of any form of abuse and our commitment to promoting a safe environment for children, adolescents and vulnerable adults. We also want to thank those who cooperated with the investigations to clarify the truth,” it added.