Nearly 5,000 children have been sexually abused by members of the Portuguese Catholic Church over the past 70 years, according to an independent commission’s final report.
The Portuguese inquiry, commissioned by the Church in the staunchly Catholic country, published the shocking findings on Monday after hearing from more than 500 victims abused since 1950.
"These testimonies allow us to reach to a much more extensive victim network, calculated at a minimum number, absolute minimum, of 4815 victims,” commission head Pedro Strecht, a child psychiatrist, told a press conference in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon.
Stressing that most of the perpetrators, 77%, were priests and most of the victims were men, Strecht said the victims were abused in Catholic schools, priests' homes and confessionals, among other locations.
"The majority of victims leave the church as an institution and stop practicing the religion after the abuse and this is passed on to the next generations," the commission head added.
The six-member Portuguese commission initiated the investigation in January last year after a report in France revealed around 3,000 priests and religious officials sexually abused over 200,000 children.......More Below
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2023/02/13/698156/Portuguese-inquiry-Catholic-Church
US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is preparing to leave the Trump administration after what a new report has described as months of tension with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, potentially triggering another change at the army’s top echelons.
According to the Friday report by The Wall Street Journal, Driscoll is expected to step down before the end of the year and could leave his post earlier. The newspaper cited people familiar with discussions over his departure.
The Journal reported that Driscoll and his family vacated the official residence assigned to the army secretary at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall this summer, a move that could indicate he was preparing to leave the position.
The reported departure would come at a time of continuing uncertainty at the top echelons of the army.
Hegseth abruptly removed Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George in April, while Trump has not yet nominated a permanent successo....more below
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The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) warns the enemies that any act of aggression against the Islamic Republic will not go unanswered.
In a statement on Thursday, the IRGC issued a “stern warning” to the enemies after US forces launched strikes against the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas.
Following the US military attack on a point on the outskirts of Bandar Abbas Airport with aerial projectiles, the IRGC carried out new strikes targeting the US air base from which the attack originated in the wee hours of Thursday, it added.
“This response is a serious warning to the enemy that they should know the act of aggression will not go unanswered,” the IRGC emphasized.
The elite military force warned of a “more decisive” response if the enemy repeated any act of aggression.
It also said the responsibility for the consequences of any IRGC response lies with the aggressor.
The statement comes after the IRGC Navy on Thursday forced an American tanker to turn back. The tanker ...
