CNA Staff, Apr 11, 2024 / 15:25 pm
The Portuguese Episcopal Conference announced on Thursday the creation of a “financial compensation” fund for victims of Church abuse in that country.
The Conferência Episcopal Portuguesa (CEP) said on its website that the bishops at their plenary assembly “unanimously approved the allocation of financial compensation, on a supplementary basis, to victims of sexual abuse against vulnerable children and adults in the context of the Catholic Church in Portugal.”
The assembly had convened in Fátima on Monday of this week. The fund “will count on the solidarity contribution of all dioceses” in the country, the announcement said.
An independent commission authorized by the Portuguese bishops found last year that thousands of children had been sexually abused by priests and others within the Church in that country since the 1950s.