Amid criticism considered insufficient, the Catholic Church in Portugal asks for forgiveness from the victims of sexual abuse

On Friday, the Portuguese Catholic Church asked for forgiveness from victims of sexual abuse committed by priests and church officials against an estimated 5,000 children, following the publication of an independent report on crimes committed against children in the church.

The President of the Portuguese Bishops Conference d.

Jose Ornelas in the city of Fatima, in the center of the country, yesterday evening.

A "general initiative" expressing a request for forgiveness will be organized in Fatima in April, and a monument will be erected on the occasion of World Youth Days, which will gather a large number of Catholic youth in Lisbon in early August.

This step by the church comes as a response to a report by an independent commission of inquiry issued in mid-February, which stated that there are at least 4,815 confirmed cases of sexual abuse of children committed within the church in a religious context since 1950, and the report concluded that church leaders concealed this violence in a way " methodology".

Commission chairman Pedro Strecht said at the time that there had likely been many more such cases since the 1950s.

On the other hand, victims' associations and (some Catholics) criticized the church's statement.

In statements to the "Publico" newspaper, Georgy Vimans - one of the signatories of an open letter from which the committee was launched - described the church's statement as a "backward step" that lacked "concrete measures" related to how to avoid cases of sexual abuse and how to help victims in the future.

He added that the statement was also devoid of "a reflection on the exercise of authority within the Church and on an inclusive class of clergy" that allowed the crime of violation to be committed.

The newspaper commented that although the bishops expressed their concern about the cases of abuse, they lacked empathy.

For her part, Lisette Vradique of the Portuguese branch of the Catholic reform movement We the Church said she was "shocked" by the bishops' intention to hold a ceremony to remember the victims during World Catholic Youth Day. "This is an enormous pain," she told the newspaper, warning that the victims would then have to Experience it all again.