Hundreds of victims of kid sexual abuse by priests or church representatives have received financial compensation to this point from France’s Catholic Church under a sweeping reparations program, an independent body in control of the method said Thursday.
An annual report by the Independent National Authority for Recognition and Reparation said 1,351 victims got here forward to assert compensation and seek psychological support in an effort to recuperate from childhood trauma.
The average age of victims who’ve come forwards is 61, Marie Derain de Vaucresson, the top of the body said during a news conference Thursday.
Of them, 66%, are men and 34% are women, she said. The claims process began in 2022.
So far, the reparations authority has approved compensation claims of 489 victims, the report said. Of those, 88 people were granted the utmost of 60,000 euros ($65,000). Last yr, 358 victims’ compensation claims were approved, with each individual granted a median amount of 35,310 euros, the report said.
France’s Catholic bishops’ conference agreed to supply reparations after a 2021 report estimated that some 330,000 children were sexually abused for over 70 years by priests or other church-related figures in France.
The estimates were based on broader research by France’s National Institute of Health and Medical Research into sexual abuse of kids.
The report described a “systemic” coverup by church officials and urged the French Catholic Church to respect the rule of law in France.
Once the reparations authority approves the financial compensation, each case is distributed to a special fund financed by the church for payment.
The majority of those that reached out to the authority in 2023 reported “very serious” crimes, the report said, including being repeatedly raped.
In 39% of the cases, the abuses continued for greater than a yr and in 12% of the cases the abuser psychologically manipulated the victim for as much as five years after the last physical assault, in accordance with the report.
Victims were between 6 and 15 years old once they were abused, the report said.
Reparations also include non-financial support — equivalent to help for victims to put in writing down their stories, meetings with local church representatives or installing a plaque in memory of the victims. Some 780 victims at the moment are being assisted by the authority.
The assistance includes helping write a letter to a long-deceased abuser or mending broken relationships with victims’ adult children, spouses and other relations.
Most often it’s just listening to the victims — now of their 60s, 70s, and even 80s — finally speak out after being silenced for therefore long.
