Portugal’s president feels heat from church sex abuse remark

By BARRY HATTON
Associated Press

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Portugal’s president is scrambling to quell an outcry over his comments appearing to make light of revelations that more than 400 people were victims of child sex abuse by members of the Portuguese Catholic Church. A lay committee looking into historic child sex abuse in the church said Tuesday it has so far compiled a list of 424 alleged victims dating back to 1950. Hundreds of priests, some deceased, are under suspicion. President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa commented that “having 400 cases doesn’t seem to me to be a lot because in other countries investigating shorter time periods there were thousands of cases.” Portugal has 10.3 million people. The president later walked back his comments, urging any other victims to come forward.