AUSTRALIA
Crux
Inés San MartínFebruary 6, 2017
VATICAN CORRESPONDENT
The Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse revealed on Monday that between 1980 and 2015, 4,400 people had reported having been abused at more than 1,000 Catholic institutions across Australia, with seven percent of Australian priests facing charges.
After data from Australia’s highest board of inquiry revealed that seven percent of the country’s Catholic priests have been accused of sexually abusing minors, the Australian Church is responding, with one archbishop saying that he feels “shaken and humiliated.”
The Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on Monday released statistics showing that between 1980 and 2015, 4,400 people reported having been abused at more than 1,000 Catholic institutions across Australia.
Gail Furness, the lead lawyer assisting the commission, said the average age of the victims was 10.5 for girls and 11.5 for boys.
In her opening remarks, Furness also revealed that seven percent of priests in Australia had been accused of sexually abusing children between 1950 and 2010.
She also asserted that the Vatican had refused to hand over documents involving Australian priests accused of abuse in July 2014, with a Vatican communication saying that it was “neither possible nor appropriate to provide the information requested.”
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