Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Catholic dioceses abuse probe to be finished soon

A PROBE into how three more Catholic Church dioceses dealt with allegations of child abuse will be completed within weeks. 

The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church has confirmed three audits will be finished by the end of this month.

The examinations of all 26 dioceses resumed in April after the board agreed a procedure to overcome data protection concerns which had stalled the process.

The audit was ordered to establish if all the allegations of abuse within the Church had been brought to the civil authorities' attention.

Earlier this year, the board revealed bishops and religious congregations had withheld 219 abuse complaints.

The number of complaints about sexual, physical or emotion abuse between April 1, 2010 until March 31, 2011 totalled 272.