With each new stage, “a pattern of opacity, slowness and disrespect for people who have suffered abuse becomes more evident”, considers the association, which regrets that no information has been disclosed regarding the global amount available to compensate.
The Silenced Heart Association, which brings together victims of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, expressed “concern and indignation” with the financial analysis and compensation process, regretting the lack of information on the global amount to be allocated.
In a statement released this Monday, the association accuses the Portuguese Episcopal Conference (CEP) of a lack of “transparency and responsibility” in this process.
The association maintains that, “with each new stage, a pattern of opacity, slowness and disrespecto for people who have suffered abuse” and regrets that, to date, “no information has been disclosed regarding the overall amount available for the reparation of the approximately 90 people already recognized by the Church”.
The association’s statement comes after the VITA Groupcreated by the CEP to monitor situations of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, announced on Thursday that the number of claims for compensation increased to 93 and that the analysis and interview process should be completed at the beginning of 2026 so that CEP can then move on to awarding compensation.
The Silenced Heart Association requires victims to have access “immediate and complete to the opinions that concern themthat the compensation process becomes fully transparent, dignified and centered on survivors, and that the Catholic Church in Portugal put an end to the culture of hiding which continues to compromise truth and justice.”
“Reparation cannot be an administrative farce. It has to be an act of responsibility, courage and respect for the lives destroyed”, he highlights, considering that “the process has progressed slowly which, for the victims, translates into anxiety, exhaustion and re-traumatization”.
According to the association, the interviews were carried out “in an excessively inquisitorial manner without access to cell phones, pens or paper by the victims, forcing them to repeat the same reports in sessions that lasted up to eight hours”.
On November 13th, the CEP announced that, until that day, 89 requests for financial compensation had been presented following abuses in the Catholic Church, 78 of which were considered effective.
On Thursday, the coordinator of the VITA Group, Ruth Agulhasstated that “implemented does not mean that they will necessarily receive compensation”, with the 93 processes being analyzed and studied and, in some of these situations, information from the Church itself is still awaited.
The person in charge also said that the VITA Group was not asked for a suggestion financial amount for compensation, but rather “a somewhat transnational analysis”, to understand “What happened in other countries?s”.
Cross-referencing this information with national jurisprudence, Rute Agulhas believes that values for financial compensation can be reached.
The VITA Group emerged following the work of the Independent Commission for the Study of Sexual Abuse of Children in the Catholic Church, led by the pedopsychiatrist Pedro Strechtwhich over the course of almost a year validated 512 testimonies from cases that occurred between 1950 and 2022, pointing, by extrapolation, to a minimum number of .
