False
Churches, False Brethren, False Gospels
Fresh revelations of child sex abuse continue to emerge in
Belgium's Catholic church
January 12, 2011 - 3:49PM
AFP
As fresh revelations of child sex abuse continue to emerge in
Belgium's Catholic church, an official church report shows most
priests implicated were not prosecuted.
The report, handed by the church to a parliamentary inquiry late
December and released by the daily Le Soir on Wednesday, details
134 cases of alleged abuse by priests over several decades.
"The document highlights very distinct policies of prosecution and
sanctions from one diocese to the next," the paper said.
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Of the 134 cases of alleged child sex abuse listed in the document
since the 1960s by the secretary of Belgium's episcopal
conference, Etienne Quintiens, 90 of the priests remain alive.
A further 50-odd complaints not yet on the list have been lodged
since a church-backed commission last September revealed nearly
500 cases of abuse by priests and church workers since the 1950s,
including 13 victims who committed suicide.
The church document shows either the church or the judiciary
received complaints in 70 per cent of the cases.
"Globally less than one abuser out of six was inflicted the
maximum penalty available to the bishop: definitive suspension.
And even fewer, 16 per cent, were effectively condemned by the
judiciary," Le Soir said.
The situation differed from one part of the country to another,
with no judicial action at all in the Hasselt diocese, though the
church transmitted 90 per cent of alleged cases to prosecutors,
while in Ghent, 73 per cent of alleged cases were prosecuted and
sentenced.
The largely Catholic country of 10 million is still reeling from
the 2010 revelations as the new year begins, with fresh
allegations of abuse in institutions run by nuns.
But the former head of Belgium's Roman Catholic church last month
denied before a parliamentary panel that top bishops "consciously"
covered up abuse cases.
Cardinal Godfried Danneels, who was quizzed for hours by Belgian
MPs, expressed his "horror" at the reports but said "there was no
drive to consciously cover up the sexual abuse or deny it".
The church's chief between 1979 and 2009 said perpetrators should
"pay damages as established by justice" but refused to say if the
church itself should pay victims.
His successor, Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard, on Tuesday opened
the door to possible compensation.
"It's not excluded that we voluntarily show solidarity with these
people," he said in an interview on the Flemish television network
VTM.