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The Archdiocese of Braga announced last week that a canonical process involving Father Albino Meireles, accused of child abuse, had concluded with his dismissal from the clerical state.
The announcement is the latest development in a process that has divided observers over whether the Church has done enough to respond to abuse allegations in the country.
The announcement came three years after members of the Independent Commission created to study sexual abuse within the Catholic Church in Portugal met with diocesan bishops and superiors of religious orders, handing them lists with the names of 114 alleged abusers identified during the period in which they wrote their report.
The outcome was expected, given that Meireles had already been convicted in a civil court for the same crimes. As is standard in such cases, the canonical tribunal awaited the civil ruling before concluding its own proceedings.
Meireles’ case was the last pending canonical case resulting from the lists drawn up by the Independent Commission, thereby closing a cycle.
However, while the Independent Commission presented Church authorities with a total of 114 names, only 10 people were subsequently sentenced to some form of punishment by the dioceses,
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