AUSTRALIA
News 24
Sydney – An Australian Catholic Church body dealing with the legacy of child sex abuse by clergy said on Tuesday it believed the number of paedophile priests was historically twice the pope’s reported estimate.
In an report published on Sunday, Pope Francis condemned child sex abuse as a “leprosy” in the church and cited his aides as saying that “the level of paedophilia in the church is at two percent”.
“That two percent includes priests and even bishops and cardinals,” the pope was quoted as telling Italy’s La Repubblica daily, in comments later questioned by a Vatican spokesperson.
Francis Sullivan, the chief executive of the Truth, Justice and Healing Council, said he believed the figure was historically higher in Australia, where clergy were deeply involved in schools and orphanages.
The council, on behalf of the church, is compiling a database of abuse by clergy dating back to the 1940s and its preliminary work suggests the number of perpetrators of child sex abuse was about four percent in Australia, he said.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.