WAs too many Portuguese bishops still do not understand what is at stake in the tragedy of abuse of minors in the Church, perhaps it is worth drawing a picture. The issue of pedophilia is particularly serious and shocking not because of the individual crimes of certain priests – because then the argument that pedophilia exists everywhere is valid, and most abuses occur within the family –, but because the structure of the Catholic Church was actively involved in its cover-up, from parishes to dioceses, from ecclesiastical provinces to the Vatican. The Church hid cases, allowed the continuity of criminal conduct and, through the rotation of pedophile priests, increased the number of abuses. Everywhere. All around the world.
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