The Belgian Catholic Church's second independent commission into clergy sexual abuse, formed in 2009 and chaired by child psychiatrist Peter Adriaenssens, published its 200-page report on 10 September 2010. Both contemporaneous accounts agree the commission documented some 300 cases of abuse drawn from 507 people who came forward, describing abuse so widespread it occurred in almost every diocese and at nearly every Church-run boarding school, concentrated in the 1960s and 1970s. Victims ranged in age down to two years old; about two-thirds were boys, with roughly 100 girls also affected. At least 13 victims died by suicide and 6 more attempted it. Adriaenssens himself resigned the commission on 24 June 2010, after a large-scale police raid on Church offices seized internal files, three months before his own report was released; he said the true scale was likely worse than the report could show, since not every witness comes forward on first contact.
Facts
Inquiry Profile
Kind of RecordChurch-Commissioned Report 1 JurisdictionBelgium (Belgian Catholic Church, national commission) 1 Commissioned ByThe Roman Catholic Church in Belgium, through a commission chaired by Peter Adriaenssens 2 Publication Year Period Covered, FromBoth accounts describe the abuse as concentrated in the 1960s and 1970s without a single exact start year; 1960 is used as the round decade figure both sources give. Period Covered, ToBoth cited accounts describe the abuse the commission documented as concentrated in the 1960s and 1970s; 1979 is recorded as the close of that stated span rather than the 2010 publication year. Documented Findings
Allegations DocumentedBoth sources agree 507 people came forward with accounts of abuse, formally documented by the commission as roughly 300 distinct cases; both figures come from the report's own release. Key FindingBoth contemporaneous accounts single out the same finding: abuse reported to the commission was linked to at least 13 confirmed victim suicides and 6 further attempts, the first time a Belgian church report had connected clergy abuse to specific loss of life at that scale, which both outlets treated as the report's most consequential figure. 3 Connections
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Source Belgium Church Abuse Detailed by Adriaenssens Report
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Source Belgium Church Abuse Detailed by Adriaenssens Report
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Sources
1. Belgium Church Abuse Detailed by Adriaenssens Report
2. Day of Repent for Sexual Abuse at Vienna Cathedral
Austrian Independent (mirrored by bishop-accountability.org), 2010View the Source 3. Belgian Report: Suicides Tied to Priest Abuse
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