A watchdog group on Wednesday accused the Catholic Church within the Philippines of a tradition of impunity, saying it had discovered scores of clergymen who had been accused of sexually abusing kids and that many stay in lively ministry.
The group, Bishop Accountability, mentioned it had identified 82 priests and brothers with hyperlinks to the Philippines who had been accused of abuse in current a long time. It mentioned it compiled the record from respected media reviews, court docket data, church paperwork and different public sources.
The boys have been native clergymen or these from overseas who have been accused of abuse within the Philippines, or Filipino clerics who served at residence earlier than going through accusations abroad. However not one priest has been convicted of sexual abuse within the Philippines, the group mentioned, citing Bishop Buenaventura Famadico. The nation has the third-highest variety of Catholics on the earth, about 85 million, after Brazil and Mexico.
It was the most recent signal that the Catholic Church’s world abuse scandal continues to be ricocheting, this time in Asia, a area that the Vatican is eyeing for development. Pope Francis has ordered clergy to report allegations of abuse and cover-up, saying each diocese should have a system that permits the general public to submit reviews simply.
“He despatched them forth to essentially change issues up,” mentioned Anne Barrett Doyle, the co-director of Bishop Accountability. “None of that is evident within the Philippines.”
She added that her group’s record nearly definitely didn’t cowl all abuse as a result of it usually goes unreported. The group was established in Boston in 2003, and has compiled comparable lists of clergymen publicly accused of abuse in the USA, Argentina, Chile and Eire.
At a information convention in Quezon Metropolis, Ms. Doyle talked about six clergymen and displayed their photos.
Considered one of them was the Rev. Jose Belcina, who was charged by prosecutors within the metropolis of Cebu in 2006 with rape and little one abuse. The church eliminated him from his parish and made him endure “a means of spirituality,” Ms. Doyle mentioned.
However when the police tried to arrest Father Belcina they might not discover him. In keeping with Ms. Doyle’s group, when a journalist requested the spokesman of the Archdiocese of Cebu about Father Belcina’s location, he responded that he was not the priest’s custodian.
Father Belcina denied the costs, which have been later dropped by the accuser over causes of “reconciliation and peace.” The priest was then reassigned to a different parish within the province in 2008. He stays in lively ministry.
The Archdiocese of Cebu didn’t reply to a request for touch upon the standing of the circumstances of Belcina and different clergymen listed by Bishop Accountability.
“We hear about these circumstances as a result of the victims have been brave sufficient to go to regulation enforcement. The church is rarely the supply of data. By no means,” Ms. Doyle mentioned.
The Catholic Bishops Convention of the Philippines mentioned it has established the Workplace for the Safeguarding of Minors in response to Rome’s mandate. Each diocese can be now required to determine its personal Workplace for the Safeguarding of Minors and Weak Adults, which is below the bishops’ supervision.
“The C.B.C.P. has no direct authority as a convention to conduct such investigations. As a convention of bishops, we merely construct a consensus amongst ourselves about widespread insurance policies to be adopted,” mentioned its president, Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David.
He added that solely Rome, represented by the Nuncio, has direct disciplinary authority over particular person bishops.
“So long as the issue is contained inside the Church, there is no such thing as a justice,” Ms. Doyle mentioned. “The Church can’t self-police in relation to abuse.”
