Catholic Church admits to Atleast 200 Pedophile Priests in Philippines
Thursday, January 26, 2012
In Philippines, about 200 of the 7,000 Catholic priests in that country committed some kind of "sexual misconduct." This conduct can include child abuse, homosexuality and affairs. This is a count of the last 20 years.
In their first official response, the Catholic Church in Philippines has apologized for their clergy's conduct. The Catholic Bishops Conference stated they have now drafted guidelines on how to deal with these offenses. A protocol is being drafted by the bishops on dealing with sexual abuse cases. The guidelines will include encouraging victims of assaults to file criminal charges, said the president of the Catholic Bishops Conference, Archbishop Orlando Quevedo.
Once sexual scandals in the US by Catholic priests came to light, the media in Philippines began reporting abuses by local priests. Atleast 85 % of the country
is Catholic.
"To the various crises in society, we must now, with great sorrow and shame, add problems in the Church", said a statement by the bishops read to a news conference on Monday.
"Sexual misconduct on the part of shepherds of the flock betrays the holy priesthood that Christ has shared."
The Philippines is one of several Asian countries which have been wracked by sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church in the past few months.
Bishops in Australia and New Zealand have apologized to dozens of victims of sexual abuse carried out by priests and police are investigating several priests in Hong Kong for alleged indecent assault.
