An independent commission looking into the sexual abuse of minors in the Catholic Church said on Tuesday it had documented cases pointing to at least 4,815 victims.

Set up by the Portuguese Episcopal Conference to examine abuse in recent decades, the commission added this was the tip of the iceberg.

Presenting the report, the commission’s president, child psychiatrist Pedro Strecht, described its objective as “giving voice to the silence” of victims.

He paid tribute to the hundreds who contacted its staff to provide testimony.

“They have a voice; they have a name,” he said.

In all, the commission documented 564 experiences of people who said they had been victims of abuse by priests or other Church officials. The exercise looked at cases dating back to 1950.

In many cases, testimony pointed to other minors having been abused – hence the estimate of thousands of further victims.

Throughout his presentation, Mr…