The Vatican Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, has recognized in Fatima (Portugal) that there are cases of pedophilia in the Catholic Church that “it will not be possible to solve, and cases in the future that it will not be possible to solve either”, according to local media.

This was stated by Parolin at a press conference held at the Fátima sanctuary on the occasion of the massive pilgrimage scheduled for this weekend, where he added that he is “a daily witness of the Pope’s work so that there is greater transparency of the cases“, according to the Portuguese medium Expresso.

Regarding the study released in February on the extent of pedophilia within the Portuguese Catholic Church, which amounts to more than 4,800 victims of crimes that have occurred in the last 70 years, he assured that the Vatican has closely followed the case and recalled that the institution works on prevention to avoid future abuses.

“It is a path that must be marked by truth and transparency. The Holy See received this information, it knows what happened, but decisions are made by the local church“, the cardinal specified.

The position of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference has been widely criticized in the country -including by the Portuguese president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa-, since has left to the discretion of each bishop the decision to separate or not the priests indicated in this study, carried out by a team of experts after a year of work.

Parolin, in Fatima for the celebrations of the anniversary of the first apparition of the Virgin to some children in 1917 -according to Catholic tradition-, also responded to the controversy caused in Portugal by the high cost of construction of the stage and altar for the final mass of the World Youth Day (scheduled for this August in the country), which was finally revised downwards. “This news happens regularly. They do not make us happy, they cause sadness and suffering,” he claimed, adding that “many of the works” will remain for the local community.