Portuguese Catholic church completes compensation payments to sexual abuse victims

Virgílio Antunes, the president of the Conferência Episcopal Portuguesa (CEP), announced that the Portuguese Catholic Church is finalizing payments to victims of sexual abuse.

The church is finishing payments for 11 additional requests submitted during a later phase of the process. These payments total 255,000 euros. This follows an initial phase where the church approved 57 compensation payments totaling 1.6 million euros.

Antunes stated that while the financial process is nearly finished, money cannot repair the suffering experienced by the victims. Antunes told the 216th Plenary Assembly of the CEP that the church will now focus on building an institutional culture of prevention and protection. The church plans to continue supporting victims and training pastoral workers to ensure church spaces remain safe.

The CEP will continue working with the Grupo VITA, an independent body created to listen to and prevent sexual violence against children and vulnerable adults within the church.