Catholic Church in Uruguay apologizes for 20-year-old sexual abuse cases

The Roman Catholic Church in Uruguay has issued a public apology on Thursday, April 14, for the sexual abuse committed by priests to three teenagers two decades ago.

The letter issued by the church, as quoted by Christian Today, reads: "We all know how, unfortunately, acts like these have been denounced for years in several countries, but they can never be justified within the church."

The letter reportedly says that the priests should be held responsible before "God and the courts." ABC News further reports that the church feels "pain and shame" because of the "abhorent acts committed by people who had promised to serve God and neighbor."

According to Auxiliary Bishop Milton Troccoli of Montevideo, spokesman for the Episcopal Conference, the incidents happened about 20 years ago but they received complaints only in 2015. They conducted investigations, after which one man was removed from priesthood while another left the service. The third victim reportedly no longer wishes to pursue the case.

However, the cases could no longer be taken to court since the statutes of limitations have already expired.

As the scandal broke, the Episcopal Conference of Uruguay decided to put up a hotline so people can report any abuse from priests that might occur.

The Catholic church has been embroiled in numerous allegations of sexual abuse by priests. In a 2004 survey conducted by the Associated Press, the researchers found out that since the '50s, 1,341 members of the clergy were accused of child molestation. At the time, only 80 of 195 U.S. churches responded to the survey.

In 2009, a report to the United Nations Human Rights Council by Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Holy See's permanent observer to the United Nations in Geneva, said, "From available research we now know that in the last 50 years somewhere between 1.5% and 5% of the Catholic clergy has been involved in sexual abuse cases."

Of the priests who were involved in sexual abuse cases, the report says, 80 to 90 percent were cases ephebophilia or homosexual attraction to adolescent males, and the clergymen reportedly engaged sexually with boys aged between 11 and 17 years.