A watchdog group on Wednesday accused the Catholic Church in the Philippines of a culture of impunity, saying it had found scores of priests who had been accused of sexually abusing children and that many remain in active ministry.
The group, Bishop Accountability, said it had identified 82 priests and brothers with links to the Philippines who had been accused of abuse in recent decades. It said it compiled the list from reputable media reports, court records, church documents and other public sources.
The men were local priests or those from abroad who were accused of abuse in the Philippines, or Filipino clerics who served at home before facing accusations overseas. But not one priest has been convicted of sexual abuse in the Philippines, the group said, citing Bishop Buenaventura Famadico. The country has the third-highest number of Catholics in the world, about 85 million, after Brazil and Mexico.
It was the latest sign that the Catholic Church’s global abuse scandal is still ricocheting, this time in Asia, a region that the Vatican is eyeing for growth. Pope Francis has ordered clergy to report allegations of abuse and cover-up, saying every diocese must have a system that allows the public to submit reports easily.
“He sent them forth to really change things up,” said Anne Barrett Doyle, the co-director of Bishop Accountability. “None of this is evident in the Philippines.”
She added that her group’s list almost certainly did not cover all abuse because it often goes unreported. The group was established in Boston in 2003, and has compiled similar lists of priests publicly accused of abuse in the United States, Argentina, Chile and Ireland.
