Portuguese abuse survivors call on bishops to end ‘revictimisation’

SÃO PAULO, Brazil – An association of abuse survivors in Portugal complained to the bishops’ conference earlier this week about the Portuguese Church’s handling of reporting and compensation for victims, and asked prelates to put an end to “revictimization.”

The meeting between the Portuguese Episcopal Conference (known by the acronym CEP) and the Silent Heart Association (“Silent Heart Association”), which brings together dozens of victims, took place in Coimbra on July 10.

António Grosso, one of the founders of the association, said Node that the group expressed to the CEP its concerns about the Church’s handling of the church abuse crisis.

“We have talked to them and we hope they will change their attitude. We don’t need more words for the headlines. We need them to be proactive,” he said.

After years of apparent inaction on reports of sexual abuse in the Church, the Portuguese episcopate faced pressure from a movement organized by lay Catholics in 2021 demanding a serious investigation into the scandals.

At the end of that year, the bishops decided to launch an independent commission to investigate cases of church abuse from 1950 to the present.

Composed of professionals from different disciplines, including psychiatry and the judicial system, the panel received more than 500 contributions from victims from different regions and of different ages. The final report concludes that there were at least 4,815 victims of sexual abuse in the Portuguese church during this period, but the real number could be higher.

The commission concluded its work in 2023, but critics say the episcopate has not clearly presented to victims and Portuguese society how it intends to manage the volume of abuse complaints.

“The reaction of the bishops to the report was very negative and shocked not only Catholics, but Portuguese society as a whole,” Grosso said.

Some bishops have tried to downplay the commission’s findings, while others have made clear they are not even considering the possibility of compensating victims, he said.

“The Church probably did not imagine that so many victims would come forward to tell their stories. Nor did it know that television channels, especially major ones like SIC and RTP, would interview the victims and present their cases to a wide audience,” Grosso said.

Observers say the Portuguese episcopate has given the impression that it is unwilling to take concrete steps to address the problem of church abuse, and that the commission’s report will have no consequences.

Later in 2023, however, the bishops’ conference announced that it would create a new group – named Vita – to meet the needs of victims. Its mandate is to receive reports and to support and assist each victim, while striving to prevent new cases. The group was launched without a set operating period.

In May, after a year of activity, Vita Group The association announced that it had been contacted by 98 victims. Eighteen of them received psychological support and 32 indicated that they would seek financial compensation.

In April, the conference announced that all victims seeking compensation must formalize their claim by December, sending a letter describing the type of abuse they suffered.

Meanwhile, as the press continued to cover abuse cases and invite victims like Grosso to give interviews, he and other victims decided to create an association to bring together those affected by church abuse and fight for their cause. Silent Heart Association was founded last summer and Grosso said she has been contacted by dozens of victims so far.

The association requested a first meeting with the CEP leaders in November 2023. In January, it had its first meeting with the episcopate and was promised that it would take place every two months. The second meeting, however, only took place this week.

Grosso said he and his colleagues had been informed by the Bishop of Leiria-Fátima, José Ornelas, president of the CEP, that the codes that had been used to identify the reports submitted to the independent commission between 2022 and 2023 had been destroyed, allegedly to avoid possible leaks of personal information.

“This means that a victim who has reported her case to the independent commission and now wants compensation will have to describe the abuse case again,” Grosso said.

Those who requested the independent commission between 2022 and 2023 “were obviously hoping for a concrete consequence, but now everyone is discovering that no, this testimony does not have concrete consequences,” he said.

“Not everyone is willing to continue to remember from time to time the abuse they suffered years ago. It’s painful. It’s revictimization,” Grosso added.

The association spoke out against the bishops’ conference’s plan to assess each case and then determine individual financial compensation.

“How do they want to measure the suffering of each victim? With a scale or a tape measure? It’s completely absurd,” Grosso said.

The victims’ association believes that establishing different compensations for victims is a way of dividing them, going against the meaning of fraternity and equality.

“A person might even be envious of the compensation received by another victim,” Grosso said.

According to him, the episcopate should establish an equal amount of money to be paid to each victim who requests compensation.

“We have also asked them to promote a television campaign and provide an email address and phone number through which all victims can apply for compensation,” he said.

Grosso said conference officials listened to the association and promised to consider the requests.

“It is important for the bishops to understand that it is not enough to apologize. Something must be done. But the victims are not beggars. We do not need to ask them for money. They are the ones who must seek us out,” Grosso said.