Explained: Catholic church sex scandal: Pope is in Portugal, and so are the controversies

Pope Francis on Wednesday (August 2) arrived in Lisbon, the capital city of Portugal, to attend a gathering of a million young people from across the world for a major Catholic festival. The plane carrying the 86-year-old pontiff landed at a military airport in the Portuguese capital at 9:45 am (0845 GMT). But there's anger...there's anguish.

Pope has not come alone, a streak of controversies has also followed as this visit has been shadowed by the Church's sexual abuse scandalwhich was uncovered six months ago.

Sex abuse scandal

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A 500-page report in February revealed that at least 4,815 children were sexually abused by members of the Portuguese Catholic Church over the past 70 years.

The accused members were mostly priests and the commission investigating the issue said in a report that the findings are the "tip of the iceberg".

At the time of the release of the report, child psychiatrist Pedro Strecht, who headed the commission, said that the probing authorities want to pay a "sincere tribute to those who were abuse victims during their childhood and dared to give a voice to silence" and he said that the data is heartbreaking and "much more than a statistic".

According to the child psychiatrist, the 4,815 cases were the "absolute minimum" number of victims of sexual abuse by clergy members in Portugal since 1950. He said that "these numbers are just the tip of the iceberg".

The report has mentioned that most perpetrators (around 77 per cent) were priests and 57 per cent of the victims were men.

Strecht said that they were abused in Catholic schools, churches, priests' homes, and confessionals, among other locations.

The majority of the sexual abuses took place when the children were aged 10-14, with the youngest victim being just two-years-old.

While Pope is visiting the Portuguese city for World Youth Day, which is a global gathering of young Catholics, the world is talking about the sex scandal.

Details about the scandal impacted the image of the institution and forced the Portuguese Roman Catholic Church to apologise to the victims.

In fact, a poll in July by Lisbon's Catholic University of Portugal found that 68 per cent of all Portuguese felt the Church's image had deteriorated in the aftermath of the sex scandal.

When the report was published, Jose Ornelas, the head of the Bishops' Conference, said that Portuguese bishops would look into implementing "more efficient and appropriate mechanisms" to prevent future abuses.

The investigating committee recommended that the Church should denounce all alleged abuses, provide psychosocial support to victims and continue the investigation into the issue.

Pope says 'anguished cry' must be heard

After arriving in Lisbon, the Popesaid that the "anguished cry" of victims of clerical sexual abuse must be heard.

While addressing the clergy at Lisbon's vast Jeronimos Monastery, he said some people viewed the Church "with disappointment and anger" due to "the scandals that have marred her face".

He added that these scandals "call us to a humble and ongoing purification, starting with the anguished cry of the victims, who must always be accepted and listened to".

The Portuguese Bishops' Conference and a local organising committee said that Pope will meet abuse victims privately.However, this is not a part of his official programme but is believed to be highly significant.

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World Youth Day

World Youth Day is an event for young people organised by the Catholic Church. It was initiated by Pope John Paul II in 1985 and this is the fourth such event Francis will preside over since he became Pope.

Along with the Pope, a sea of young Catholics have also arrived in Lisbon from around the World for this festival, which is held every two or three years in a different city.

Local reports have mentioned that the place where Pope is staying - the Vatican embassy - was surrounded by young believers, who jumped, sang and waved their country's flag. Young Catholics from nearly every country in the world have registered for the event.

As quoted by the news agency Reuters, 20-year-old Carlos Hernandezsaid that World Youth Day "is a sign of faith and union in which all of us get together for a cause. It's very emotional".

Francis has implemented several changes in the Church since his election in 2013 and has been pushing forward with a series of reforms that he hopes will leave a lasting legacy.

However, experts have said that he must strike a fine balance between appealing to more liberal believers and offending conservatives by empowering women and making the church more accepting and less judgmental of some groups, especially the LGBTQ+ community.

(With inputs from agencies)

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