sábado, 11 de setembro de 2010

Catholic Church in Belgium details widespread sexual abuse


(CNN) -- The Catholic Church in Belgium released an independent report Friday detailing hundreds of assertions of sexual abuse of children by clergy and others working for the church from the 1950s into the late 1980s.
"We can say that not a single congregation escaped sexual abuse of minors by one or more of its members," said the Commission on Church-Related Sexual Abuse Complaints, which was led by Dr. Peter Ariaenssens, who is both a church investigator and psychiatrist.
The commission said it received about 500 reports from alleged victims, about 60 percent of them from males.
It cited 320 alleged abusers, of whom 102 were known to have been clergy members from 29 congregations.
Thirteen of the alleged victims committed suicide, it said.
CNN