I’m asked about this quite a lot in private messages from persecutors of my Church
What everyone seems to forget is the Church is made up of imperfect, flawed human beings and it is not God’s fault that they have abused the sacred vows they make on being anointed as priests. They betray God, Mother Church, their congregations and the vulnerable individuals involved.
The statistics suggest that twelve per cent of all children abused in Christianity are by Catholic priests. The other eighty eight per cent?
In Austria, a 2010 report documented physical, sexual, and emotional abuse by 422 alleged perpetrators, most of whom were priests. In 1995, Austrian Cardinal Hans Hermann Groër resigned as Archbishop of Vienna following allegations of abuse.
In Belgium, police raided Church offices in 2010 due to an investigation into abuse allegations following Bishop Roger Vangheluwe's resignation, as he admitted to molestation. The Vatican protested the raids, and a court later ruled them illegal.
In Croatia, three priests were convicted in separate cases in the Archdioceses of Zagreb, Rijeka, and Zadar between 2000 and 2012.
In France, Archbishop Philippe Barbarin was convicted in 2019 for failing to report abuse by priest Bernard Preynat, although the conviction was later overturned; Pope Francis accepted his resignation in 2020.
Preynat was laicized and later sentenced to five years in prison. An independent commission reported in 2021 that an estimated 3,000 clergy and religious personnel had abused approximately 216,000 children since 1950, with the total rising to about 330,000 when including lay Church employees. Former nuncio Luigi Ventura also received a suspended sentence in 2020 for sexual harassment.
In Germany, a 2018 Church-commissioned study found that 3,677 minors had been abused by clergy between 1964 and 2014, and a 2020 report identified more than 1,400 additional accusations involving members of religious orders. In 2021, Cardinal Reinhard Marx offered his resignation, citing institutional failures, though Pope Francis declined to accept it.
In Italy, the justice system handled about 300 cases of clergy abuse with around 150 to 170 convictions.
In Norway, after revelations by Norwegian newspaper Adresseavisen, the Norwegian Church and the Vatican acknowledged bishop Georg Müller resigned in 2009 due to discoveries about his abuse of an altar boy two decades earlier; they were made aware of the incident, but did not alert the authorities, and the law did not allow criminal prosecution.
In Portugal, priest Frederico Cunha was convicted for the murder of 15-year-old Luís Correia, and four witnesses told the court that they were sexually abused by the priest. Bishop Teodoro de Faria protested the detention, described Cunha as "innocent like Jesus Christ." Cunha also said that he was a victim of injustice. In April 1988, Cunha escaped to Rio de Janeiro, and the sentence expired on 8 April 2018. A February 2023 report revealed that at least 4,815 children had been sexually abused by Portugal clergy since 1950.
Ireland
Beginning in the 1990s, a series of criminal cases and state inquires in Ireland documented widespread abuse over several decades. State investigations found that tens of thousands of children suffered abuse in Church-run institutions from the 1940s to the 1990s. Reports also concluded that senior clergy had, in many instances, reassigned accused priests to new parishes rather than removing them from ministry.
Several high-profile cases drew national attention. Micheál Ledwith resigned as President of St Patrick's College, Maynooth in 1994 following allegations of misconduct, and the 2005 McCullough Report criticized the inadequate response of Church authorities. Brendan Smyth was found to have abused children in Ireland and the United States between 1945 and 1989, and controversy over the priest's extradition contributed to the collapse of the Irish government in 1994. In 2010, Dublin priest Tony Walsh received a lengthy sentence for multiple offenses committed in the 1970s and 1980s.
By 2011, six priests had been convicted in cases reviewed by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church. A 2018 list reported more than 1,300 clergy accused of abuse, with 82 convictions. In 2020, an independent review found that the Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland and the Scout Association had, over several decades, failed to act on allegations involving 275 known or suspected abusers.
In Northern Ireland, the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, which began in 2014, examined sexual and physical abuse of children in various institutions between 1922 and 1995, including both Catholic and non-Catholic homes. The De La Salle Brothers and the Sisters of Nazareth admitted to physical and sexual abuse in institutions they operated and issued apologies to victims. A 2017 report found that local police, who had also inadequately investigated abuse at the non-Catholic Kincora Boys' Home, had helped Catholic officials conceal reported abuse in four-Catholic run boys' homes in Belfast, which recorded the highest levels of abuse among the 22 institutions investigated.
Poland
In Poland, the public became concerned about reports of child sex abuse scandals and the poor response to it by the Polish Catholic Church. The Polish Church resisted paying compensation to victims and refused to publish sexual abuse data. Bishop Antoni Dydycz said priests should not rush to report abuse due to the seal of confession barring revealing confessions.
In September 2018, Bishop Romuald Kamiński apologized to victims, and said leaders were working on a document addressing abuse, the scale of it, and prevention. In early 2019, the document was still not public. In October 2018, a group of victims mapped out 255 cases of alleged sexual abuse in Poland.
In April 2019, the Episcopal Conference of Poland released data from 10,000 local parishes, finding abuse reports on 382 priests and 625 children sexually abused. Some commentors said that it could be an undercount of the actual numbers. With pressures from the Vatican, the Polish Church apologized and accepted the need to report abuses. In earlier cases, clergy were not required to notify the police, but only investigate themselves, and if necessary, inform the Vatican about the sexual abuse of minors.
By May 2019, Polak issued an apology as the documentary Tell No One, which presented multiple accounts of clerical abuse, drew millions of viewers online. The film highlighted cases such as Father Jan A., who admitted to abusing minors, and raised concerns about priests continuing to work with young people despite prior convictions. In response, the Polish government increased penalties for child sexual abuse and raised the age of consent from 15 to 16. In June 2020, Pope Francis removed Bishop Edward Janiak from oversight of the Diocese of Kalisz while he was under investigation for protecting abusive priests, later accepting his resignation. Allegations also emerged involving Franciszek Cybula, former chaplain to Lech Wałęsa. In August 2020, Pope Francis removed Archbishop Sławoj Leszek Głódź, who had been accused of mishandling abuse cases linked to both priests.
In November 2020, the Vatican sanctioned Cardinal Henryk Gulbinowicz after an investigation into abuse allegations, barring him from public ministry and denying him cathedral burial rites. He died shortly afterward.
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, Cardinal Keith O'Brien resigned in 2013 due to allegations of inappropriate and predatory sexual conduct with priests and seminarians. In 2020, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse released a report stating that the England and Wales churches covered up allegations, as there was "no acknowledgement of any personality responsibility" by Vincent Nichols, a cardinal and the senior cleric in England and Wales since 2014. The report said he lacked compassion and cared more about the Church's reputation than the victims.
The statistics suggest that twelve per cent of all children abused in Christianity are by Catholic priests. The other eighty eight per cent?
In Austria, a 2010 report documented physical, sexual, and emotional abuse by 422 alleged perpetrators, most of whom were priests. In 1995, Austrian Cardinal Hans Hermann Groër resigned as Archbishop of Vienna following allegations of abuse.
In Belgium, police raided Church offices in 2010 due to an investigation into abuse allegations following Bishop Roger Vangheluwe's resignation, as he admitted to molestation. The Vatican protested the raids, and a court later ruled them illegal.
In Croatia, three priests were convicted in separate cases in the Archdioceses of Zagreb, Rijeka, and Zadar between 2000 and 2012.
In France, Archbishop Philippe Barbarin was convicted in 2019 for failing to report abuse by priest Bernard Preynat, although the conviction was later overturned; Pope Francis accepted his resignation in 2020.
Preynat was laicized and later sentenced to five years in prison. An independent commission reported in 2021 that an estimated 3,000 clergy and religious personnel had abused approximately 216,000 children since 1950, with the total rising to about 330,000 when including lay Church employees. Former nuncio Luigi Ventura also received a suspended sentence in 2020 for sexual harassment.
In Germany, a 2018 Church-commissioned study found that 3,677 minors had been abused by clergy between 1964 and 2014, and a 2020 report identified more than 1,400 additional accusations involving members of religious orders. In 2021, Cardinal Reinhard Marx offered his resignation, citing institutional failures, though Pope Francis declined to accept it.
In Italy, the justice system handled about 300 cases of clergy abuse with around 150 to 170 convictions.
In Norway, after revelations by Norwegian newspaper Adresseavisen, the Norwegian Church and the Vatican acknowledged bishop Georg Müller resigned in 2009 due to discoveries about his abuse of an altar boy two decades earlier; they were made aware of the incident, but did not alert the authorities, and the law did not allow criminal prosecution.
In Portugal, priest Frederico Cunha was convicted for the murder of 15-year-old Luís Correia, and four witnesses told the court that they were sexually abused by the priest. Bishop Teodoro de Faria protested the detention, described Cunha as "innocent like Jesus Christ." Cunha also said that he was a victim of injustice. In April 1988, Cunha escaped to Rio de Janeiro, and the sentence expired on 8 April 2018. A February 2023 report revealed that at least 4,815 children had been sexually abused by Portugal clergy since 1950.
Ireland
Beginning in the 1990s, a series of criminal cases and state inquires in Ireland documented widespread abuse over several decades. State investigations found that tens of thousands of children suffered abuse in Church-run institutions from the 1940s to the 1990s. Reports also concluded that senior clergy had, in many instances, reassigned accused priests to new parishes rather than removing them from ministry.
Several high-profile cases drew national attention. Micheál Ledwith resigned as President of St Patrick's College, Maynooth in 1994 following allegations of misconduct, and the 2005 McCullough Report criticized the inadequate response of Church authorities. Brendan Smyth was found to have abused children in Ireland and the United States between 1945 and 1989, and controversy over the priest's extradition contributed to the collapse of the Irish government in 1994. In 2010, Dublin priest Tony Walsh received a lengthy sentence for multiple offenses committed in the 1970s and 1980s.
By 2011, six priests had been convicted in cases reviewed by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church. A 2018 list reported more than 1,300 clergy accused of abuse, with 82 convictions. In 2020, an independent review found that the Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland and the Scout Association had, over several decades, failed to act on allegations involving 275 known or suspected abusers.
In Northern Ireland, the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, which began in 2014, examined sexual and physical abuse of children in various institutions between 1922 and 1995, including both Catholic and non-Catholic homes. The De La Salle Brothers and the Sisters of Nazareth admitted to physical and sexual abuse in institutions they operated and issued apologies to victims. A 2017 report found that local police, who had also inadequately investigated abuse at the non-Catholic Kincora Boys' Home, had helped Catholic officials conceal reported abuse in four-Catholic run boys' homes in Belfast, which recorded the highest levels of abuse among the 22 institutions investigated.
Poland
In Poland, the public became concerned about reports of child sex abuse scandals and the poor response to it by the Polish Catholic Church. The Polish Church resisted paying compensation to victims and refused to publish sexual abuse data. Bishop Antoni Dydycz said priests should not rush to report abuse due to the seal of confession barring revealing confessions.
In September 2018, Bishop Romuald Kamiński apologized to victims, and said leaders were working on a document addressing abuse, the scale of it, and prevention. In early 2019, the document was still not public. In October 2018, a group of victims mapped out 255 cases of alleged sexual abuse in Poland.
In April 2019, the Episcopal Conference of Poland released data from 10,000 local parishes, finding abuse reports on 382 priests and 625 children sexually abused. Some commentors said that it could be an undercount of the actual numbers. With pressures from the Vatican, the Polish Church apologized and accepted the need to report abuses. In earlier cases, clergy were not required to notify the police, but only investigate themselves, and if necessary, inform the Vatican about the sexual abuse of minors.
By May 2019, Polak issued an apology as the documentary Tell No One, which presented multiple accounts of clerical abuse, drew millions of viewers online. The film highlighted cases such as Father Jan A., who admitted to abusing minors, and raised concerns about priests continuing to work with young people despite prior convictions. In response, the Polish government increased penalties for child sexual abuse and raised the age of consent from 15 to 16. In June 2020, Pope Francis removed Bishop Edward Janiak from oversight of the Diocese of Kalisz while he was under investigation for protecting abusive priests, later accepting his resignation. Allegations also emerged involving Franciszek Cybula, former chaplain to Lech Wałęsa. In August 2020, Pope Francis removed Archbishop Sławoj Leszek Głódź, who had been accused of mishandling abuse cases linked to both priests.
In November 2020, the Vatican sanctioned Cardinal Henryk Gulbinowicz after an investigation into abuse allegations, barring him from public ministry and denying him cathedral burial rites. He died shortly afterward.
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, Cardinal Keith O'Brien resigned in 2013 due to allegations of inappropriate and predatory sexual conduct with priests and seminarians. In 2020, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse released a report stating that the England and Wales churches covered up allegations, as there was "no acknowledgement of any personality responsibility" by Vincent Nichols, a cardinal and the senior cleric in England and Wales since 2014. The report said he lacked compassion and cared more about the Church's reputation than the victims.
26-30, F
