Lisbon, March 5. The Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon, Manuel Clemente, today defended that only the Holy See can suspend a priest suspected of having committed abuse if there are ‘proven facts’ and the cases are also in the hands civil authorities.
“Suspension is a very serious penalty that can only be pronounced by the Holy See after a canonical process. In civil law, all cases are known to the public ministry, which acts in accordance with the law,” he said. said in statements to reporters. .after a procession and mass in Lisbon.
Clemente thus aligned himself with the position defended on Friday by the Portuguese Episcopal Conference, which excluded the preventive removal of priests identified as suspected of child abuse by the commission of experts who investigated this question in Portugal.
This commission gave the CEP a list with the names of the priests denounced by the victims during the investigation, which was then transferred to the various dioceses.
The patriarch insisted the document is just a “list of names”, with no details of abuse, victims or complainants.
“If this list of names was complete with facts, we and the civil authorities can act. The ball is on that side,” he said.
Even so, for there to be a suspension, there must be “proven facts” and this is a measure that corresponds to the Holy See, “it is not something the bishop can do on its own,” he said.
The auxiliary bishop of Lisbon, Américo Aguiar, told the procession on Sunday that the Patriarchate would act with “zero tolerance” towards those suspected of abuse and that next week he would present measures in this regard.
Questioned by these declarations, the Patriarch of Lisbon limited himself to saying that “these words are from the one who made them” and that the measures will be in accordance with what has already been announced by the Episcopal Conference, in terms of prevention.
“The rest is done in accordance with the law,” he insisted.
PREVENTION AND MEMORY
The bishops gathered in assembly last Friday agreed to create a new commission within the Church to receive testimonies and complaints from victims, in which there will also be members from outside the institution.
“Spiritual, psychological and psychiatric” support will be offered to victims and the orientations and training plans of seminaries and other institutions will be reviewed.
A memorial is also being prepared for the victims which will be presented during the World Youth Day celebrated in Lisbon next August.
The commission of experts created by the CEP to study the abuses committed within the Church over the past 70 years issued its final report in February, in which it estimates that there are at least 4,800 victims, and gave the bishops a list of about a hundred suspects. active abuse. EFE
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