Catholic Church Paid $213 Million To 4,445 Children Sexually Abused By Pedophile Priests In Australia

These days, the Roman Catholic Church is synonymous with child sexual abuse. We owe nobody an 

apology for saying this. It's the truth. Cases of child sexual abuse and subsequent cover-ups committed 

during the 20th and 21st centuries by Catholic priests, nuns, and members of the Roman Catholic Order 

have led to numerous allegations, investigations, trials and convictions. 

The abused include boys and girls, some as young as 3 years old, with the majority between the ages of 

11 and 14. It is beyond imagination that these so-called men and women of God have molested innocent 

children in this widespread way. The abuse is a worldwide problem in the church. There aren’t accurate 

statistics to determine the number of children these pedophiles in the church have abused worldwide 

because of the extent. From 2001 to 2010, the Holy See, which serves as the central governing body of 

the Catholic Church, considered sex abuse allegations involving approximately 3,000 priests dating back 

up to fifty years. Cases worldwide reflect patterns of long-term abuse and of the church hierarchy 

regularly covering up reports of alleged abuse.

Diocesan officials and academics knowledgeable about the Roman Catholic Church have revealed that 

sexual abuse by the pedophiles in the church is generally not discussed, and thus is difficult to measure. 

In 2014, the Vatican said 3,420 credible accusations of sexual abuse committed by priests had been 

referred to its institution over the past 10 years, and that 824 clerics were defrocked as a result. However, 

a new investigation carried out in Australia has shed light on the damning practice of Catholic priests and 

nuns in the country. According to the report, the Catholic Church paid US$213 million to victims of sex 

abuse committed by priests in Australia over decades. In 2002, a critical investigation by The Boston 

Globe in the United States led to worldwide media coverage of child sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic 

Church. By 2010, much of the reporting focused on abuse in Europe. In 2012, Australia also announced it 

was to investigate the abuses by the church. By 2013, the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional 

Responses to Child Sexual Abuse commenced hearings on alleged Catholic Church sex abuse of 

children – mostly boys. 

In mid-February 2017, the commission issued a report revealing: “Catholic Church authorities made total 

payments of [AU]$276.1 million [US$213million] in response to claims of child sexual abuse received 

between 1 January 1980 and 28 February 2015, including monetary compensation, treatment, legal and 

other costs.” Of the 4,445 cases the church received between January 1980 and February 2015 in the 

country, the report said the church managed to identify 1,880 alleged perpetrators, who included 597 

(32% ‘religious brothers,’ 572 (30%) priests, 543 (29%) lay people, and 96 (5%) religious sisters or nuns. 

According to the report, 90% of abusers were male while the abused were also mostly boys. According to 

the commission, sex abuse victims received AU$91,000 in compensation. The report by the commission 

also stated that the Christian Brothers group admitted during the hearing that both the highest total 

payment and the largest number of total payments is $48.5 million. It was paid in relation to 763 

payments at an average of approximately $64,000 per payment. The Christian Brothers is a worldwide 

religious community within the Catholic Church. Furthermore, the commission said the Jesuits had the 

highest average total payment at an average of approximately $257,000 per payment (of those Catholic 

Church authorities who made at least 10 payments). The Jesuit is an order of religious men in the Roman 

Catholic Church. Critics, including those in the Catholic Church who want justice for the victims, say the 

system of payments is unfair and not all victims receive the same opportunities or compensation.

The Church's Truth Justice and Healing Council chief executive, Francis Sullivan candidly admitted to 

local media that not all victims have equal opportunities or compensation. “Even though the church has 

paid $270 million and it took a long time to get its act together to do that, there's no doubt the system of 

paying people and compensating them is best done independently of the church through a national 

redress scheme. Some congregations pay far more than others. Some dioceses pay far more than 

others. It's still not a fair system,” he added. “It's a picture of great unfairness and inequity between 

survivors across Australia depending on where they placed their claim,” Helen Last, Chief Executive 

Officer of In Good Faith Foundation, which represents 460 abuse victims also told the Reuters news 

agency in an interview.

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