Portugal: Church sex abuse panel unearths over 200 cases

By BARRY HATTON
Associated Press

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — A lay committee looking into historic child sex abuse in the Portuguese Catholic Church says that during its first month of work it received allegations from 214 people. The allegations are from people born between 1933 and 2006 and tell of psychological torment kept secret for decades. Portuguese church officials said two years ago that authorities had investigated only about a dozen allegations of sexual abuse involving Portuguese priests since 2001. More than half of those cases were dropped because church investigators decided there was not enough evidence. The Independent Committee for the Study of Child Abuse in the Church began its work on Jan. 1.