Following the generalised disbelief over the attitude by bishops tasked with dealing with the scourge of child sex abuse within the Portuguese Catholic Church, the prelates have all been ‘rethinking’ and to a large extent backtracking. Even the Bishop of Braga has apologised for his comments of only a few days ago, that pedophile priests should be forgiven. According to reports, a new meeting today is due to announce ‘concrete measures’ more likely to win public support – and the issue of ‘suspension’ of priests under suspicion who are still working is most certainly ‘back on’. The Church likes to call it “removed from practising the ministry in public”, but agrees that in common parlance it will be ‘suspension’ until investigations establish ‘the truth’.
