Amsterdam, Netherlands, Sep 17, 2018 / 11:01 am
A report published Saturday by a Dutch daily claims that just over half of the Netherland's bishops between 1945 and 2010 were either child abusers or allowed the transfer of abusive priests.
NRC Handelsblad said Sept. 15 that in that time, four bishops abused children, and 16 others "allowed the transfer of paedophile priests who could have caused new victims in other parishes." There were in that time period 39 bishops in the country.
The Church in the Netherlands said that "bishops did not act with sufficient care" in transferring priests.
A Church spokeswoman told AFP that most of the clerics accused in the report are now dead, and that the statute of limitations has expired in all cases.