The Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (CIASE) “estimates that the number of victims could reach” at least ten thousand, “it said in a statement released Monday.
The commission said it had so far received 6,500 witnesses, affecting at least 3,000 different victims.
Jean-Marc Sauvé, the president of CIASE, said that it is not known at this stage what percentage of all the victims he has declared to the commission.
“It is very possible that the victims will reach at least 10,000. Work in progress, and in particular the survey of the general population, will make it possible to specify the number,” he said.
The commission was created in 2018 by the hierarchy of the French Catholic Church and religious institutes after the exit from the abuse scandals.
It is funded by the Conference of French Catholic Bishops, but members do not pay or receive instructions from the Church. The archives of dioceses and religious institutions are accessible to the commission.
A final report is expected in the fall of 2021.
The rules require that all Catholic dioceses around the world have a “public and accessible” system in place.
The rules cover the internal procedure of the Catholic Church, not the problem of reporting abuse or concealment to civilian authorities, and must be followed by all dioceses.
Archbishop Charles Scicluna, the Vatican’s top investigator of sexual abuse, told CNN at the time that the new rules added a layer of responsibility for church leaders.
“First of all, that leadership is not above the law,” Scicluna said, “and second that leadership needs to know, we need to know everyone we lead that if people love the Church they will denounce us when we are doing something wrong “.