Royal Commission into Child Sex Abuse: Catholic Church Spent $275 Compensating Victims

By Shannon Deery
Herald Sun
February 16, 2017

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THE Catholic Church has spent more than $275 million compensating victims of child sexual abuse since 1980, new figures have revealed.

For the first time data published by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse today has exposed the financial cost of the church’s sexual abuse crisis.

Between 1980 and 2015 it paid $276.1 million to victims of abuse, or nearly $8 million a year.

That sum includes amounts for compensation, treatment, legal and other costs.

Of the total amount, $258.8 million was monetary compensation, at an average of about $91,000 per claim.

The highest number of payments, $48.5 million, was paid to 763 victims of the Christian Brothers.