More than 300,000 children are raped in the Catholic Church and the Catholic school in the european

 

More than 300,000 children are raped in the Catholic Church and the Catholic school in the european 

Many children are raped by Catholic schools

At least 216,000 children are feared to have fallen victim to pedophiles in the French Catholic Church over the past 70 years, according to a new report. Between 2,900 and 3,200 perpetrators are suspected of having committed the abuse. According to the report, two thirds of the perpetrators are priests.

Catholic pedophiles

For the first time, France is dealing with a culture of silence that has allowed thousands of priests to rape hundreds of thousands of children. After a new report on this "massive phenomenon" comes demands for justice - and for financial compensation.

Catholic pedophiles

- It is deplorable, because the ratio between 216,000 and 3,000 means 70 victims per perpetrator. It is terrible for French society, for the Catholic Church, says Oliver Savignac, from the crime victim organization "Parler et revivre", to AP.

The survey by Ciase, an independent commission, fills 2,500 pages. It has been about abuse since the 1950s, affecting over 300,000 children.

Catholic pedophiles

Éric de Moulins-Beaufort, Archbishop of Reims, calls the abuses a disgrace.

- We're scared. Their voices shake us, the number torments us. Today I want to ask you all for forgiveness, he says, according to the news agency AP.

As a 13-year-old, Olivier Savignac was sexually assaulted by a priest.

- The Catholic Church is a large spiritual family, and you do not condemn a family member. Especially not the priest, the saint who incarnates God, who when he speaks is Jesus. So for victims, it's a mountain to climb, and they do not talk about it. And so the silence was kept.

"The system must be rebuilt"

Between 2,900 and 3,200 priests and employees of the church are estimated to be the perpetrators of the suspected pedophile crimes. This corresponds to about 2.5 percent of the church's employees. A high number that today raises demands for major changes in the church's way of recruiting.

- The system must be completely rebuilt from the ground up, says Francois Devaux, one of the founders of the association La Parole libérée, which represents the victims.

In the independent investigation carried out on behalf of the Catholic Church's bishops' conference, about 40 proposals are made on how, among other things, priest education should be changed. How selection methods should be changed with a greater focus on the applicants' psychological profile and their judgment.

Systematic abuse

Jean-March Sauve, who has led the commission behind the report, says the atrocities have been systematic since the 1950s. The church must have closed its eyes to what was going on, ignored reporting the events and on certain occasions deliberately connected some children with perpetrators.

According to Sauve, the church should have been indifferent to the victims and did not change its attitude towards this until around 2015.

"Outside the inner circle of family and friends, the Catholic Church is the environment where sexual violence is most common," the report explains.

Work on the report lasted for 2.5 years and consisted of listening to victims and witnesses, and studying archives from the church, the court and the police starting in 1950.

Report points to 3,000 priests as pedophiles

A new report on sexual abuse within the Catholic Church in France for 70 years, points out about 3,000 priests and other church staff as pedophiles.

The report is based on documents from the archives of the police, the church and the courts and interviews with witnesses. The survey has been going on for two and a half years and the 2,500-page report is expected to be published on Tuesday.

The expert group behind the report has reviewed suspicions of sexual abuse of children from the 1950s onwards within the Catholic Church.