Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

The new head of Belgium’s Catholic Church has pledged to focus on the victims of alleged sexual abuse in a first attempt to rebuild public trust. Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard said that although the Church would not be able to offer immediate solutions, it would set up a victims’ support center. An independent body to investigate the alleged abuse found it had occurred in every diocese over decades. This commission said some victims were infants when the abuse started. The World’s Clark Boyd reports from Brussels. Download MP3

• BBC coverage
• Crisis for Pope Benedict

Read the Transcript
This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

LISA MULLINS: I’m Lisa Mullins and this is The World. An independent commission set up by the Belgian Catholic Church has issued a report and it’s not easy reading. It details widespread sexual abuse of children by Belgian priests. More than 500 men and women gave testimony about the abuse they suffered. Some were younger than seven years old at the time. More than a dozen victims are thought to have committed suicide because of what they went through. From Brussels, The World’s Clark Boyd reports that the head of the Belgian Catholic Church has responded to last week’s report.

CLARK BOYD:  Andre-Mutien Leonard told a news conference today that the Belgian Catholic Church wants to cooperate more closely with the police. That it does want the abusers to be punished. The Archbishop acknowledged of Friday’s report, that the record of sexual abuse stretches back decades, and that it happened in every diocese in Belgium. Archbishop Leonard said Church officials want to help the victims.

SPEAKING FRENCH

ANDRE-MUTIEN LEONARD: In the wake of this report, the first thing we will do is look at individual cases. We want to be as receptive as possible to the wishes of the victims. We must listen to their questions to restore their dignity and help heal the suffering they have endured.

BOYD: To do that, the Archbishop proposed the creation of a Center for Recognition, Reconciliation and Healing. But, he gave no details. San Duerinck was eleven when he says he was molested at a Catholic boarding school. That was more than 50 years ago, but he still remembers what happened when he went to people in authority with his story.

SAN DUERINCK: When I was at that boarding school, I told it to one priest in the confessional, and he didn’t react. He was like a block of stone. And then I told to the superior of the school, and he said oh, it’s the past now, you shouldn’t think about it any more. You should get over it and go on with your life.

BOYD: Duerinck now works with an organization that helps victims of abuse come forward. He says that a Chuch-run center of reconciliation isn’t enough.

DUERINCK: The Church is a private organization, and they should give all of what they have, the material, archive, documents, they should hand it over to the state authorities.

BOYD: At his news conference today, Archbishop Leonard did not spell out how the Church would work with police. He did warn, though, that those found responsible for abuse would face sanctions, including possible lifelong exclusion from the Church. In April, the Bishop of Bruges resigned after he admitting abusing his nephew years ago. The Church has yet to defrock or sanction him. But most of the people who stepped forward to testify for the report did so after the Bishop resigned. Austin Ivereigh of the British-based group Catholic voices says the Belgian church is now on the right track.

AUSTIN IVEREIGH: Clearly now the Church is saying we want to hear from victims more than we have.

BOYD:  That applies to victims not only of the Catholic Church, but of all institutions that care for children. Ellen Stassart is with Child Focus, a Belgian group that works with abuse victims.

ELLEN STASSART: I think what we have seen now is abuse and misuse of authority. I think this was misuse of authority of the church, and of priests and other Catholic persons. I think we can’t tolerate this kind of abuse from no institution whatsoever. Not an educational system, not another system and not in the church. I think really in general we cannot tolerate it.

BOYD: For its part, the Vatican has been silent on the abuse revelations in Belgium. For The world, this is Clark Boyd in Brussels.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.