MUMBAI (INDIA)
Crux
Oct. 10, 2019
By Nirmala Carvalho
Bangladesh’s bishops’ conference has decided to have each diocese appoint a designated priest to handle sex abuse accusations, and not establish a central office at the bishops’ conference for child protection.
Bangladesh has two archdioceses and six dioceses for the country’s fewer than 400,000 Catholics, approximately 0.5 percent of the predominantly Muslim population. Most of the Catholics come from the country’s most marginalized communities, and the Church is relatively poor.
“At our CBCB [Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Bangladesh] meeting, it was unanimously agreed, that since there has not been a single reported case of abuse of a minor by a clergyman, it was decided that to start an office was not a requirement,” Cardinal Patrick D’Rozario, Archbishop of Dhaka, told Crux.
“However, in every diocese, the bishop will appoint a designated priest who will immediately investigate any reported instance of abuse of minor by a clergy, when and if it arises,” the cardinal said.
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