Portugal's Catholic Church Announces Case-by-Case Compensation for Child Sex Abuse Victims

Portugal's Catholic Church has announced that it will financially compensate victims of child sexual abuse within the Church.

The amount of compensation will be determined on a case-by-case basis.

Members of the Portuguese Bishops' Conference have been meeting at the Shrine of Fatima to discuss the compensation and other issues.

Survivors' groups have criticized this approach.

In February 2023, a Portuguese commission funded by the Church reported that at least 4,815 minors had been sexually abused by clergy, primarily priests, over the past seven decades.

The commission head, Pedro Strecht, stated that the findings were just the tip of the iceberg, and over 100 suspected abusers remained in Church roles.

In March, the Church announced some measures to address child sexual abuse but faced criticism for not implementing stronger actions.

The Church's assembly unanimously approved compensation grants, with applications to be submitted between June and December 2023.

Twenty-one individuals have requested compensation from the CEP (Episcopal Conference of Peru) for church sexual abuse.

A committee will determine the compensation amounts using a newly created CEP fund.

The criteria for determining the amounts are still being developed, with no maximum limit set and the severity of cases to be considered.

Antonio Grosso, a co-founder of Coracao Silenciado (Silenced Heart), a church sexual abuse survivors' group, criticized CEP's case-by-case approach.