The independent commission said that over 100 priests suspected of abuse are still active in the Church.

An independent commission has published a report on child sexual abuse in the Portuguese Church, detailing cases from the 1950s up to last year.

Speaking as the report was issued on Monday, the president of the commission, Pedro Stecht, said that it had validated 512 of 564 accounts of abuse presented to it between January and October last year, which indicated a “much more extensive” number of victims.

From this data, the commission had calculated a figure of 4,815 victims at the “very minimum”, he said.

“It is not possible to quantify the total number of victims.”

The president of the Portuguese bishops’ conference, Bishop Josè Ornelas of Leira-Fátima, promised that the Church would act on the findings.

“We have heard things we cannot ignore. It is a dramatic situation we are living,” he…