It was not only the Catholic Church: also The Portuguese Police helped cover up child abuse. This is the conclusion of the experts who investigated the dimension of the pedophilia within the institution and who estimate that the number of victims in Portugal is close to 5,000.

He expert committee report reveals the “complicity of civil authorities in the cover-up of sexual abuse perpetrated by Catholic priests”, according to information found in diocesan archives, reports EFE. The documents confirm that civil authorities they had indications to notify the Church of complaints of abuse and not to immediately open official investigations.

Specifically, the commission relates in its report the case of a priest who sexually abused girls and boys in the 1970s and that he was not arrested nor did progress with the investigation to protect the image of the religious institution despite the complaints. The process reached the courts thanks to the complaint from the family of one of the minors, although other victims came to testify in favor of the abuser. The priest was acquitted and the complainants were accused of trying to damage the image of the religious. The testimony of a commander of the National Gendarmerie of the Republic (GNR) uncovers “the role of his superiors in the proceedings so that the case was not investigated.” The abuser remained active until he himself called for his retirement in the 1990saccording to the report.

This Friday has transcended that a priest suspected of abusing a minor in Funchal (Madeira) He appeared this Thursday before the Prosecutor’s Office to “assume his responsibilities” but he was not arrested and remains at large because he would not have presented himself to the proper “authority”, according to the newspaper Observer. The Prosecutor’s Office will initiate the process for his arrest after a investigation for abuse of a minor that occurred between 2017 and 2018, during their visits to the residence of the child’s grandparents. When the process started the priest eloped and in 2019 asked for his withdrawal from the priesthood.

After a year of research into abuses committed in the Church since 1950, the commission of experts estimates that there are at least 4,800 victims, the majority abused when they were between 10 and 14 years old and that 77% of their abusers were priests. Although the bulk of the abuse occurred between 1970 and 1990, at least 27 victims were born afterward and the youngest is now 6 years old. The commission also estimates that there are more than 100 active priests suspected of having abused minors in Portugal.