A survey conducted in Ireland establishes half the population believes one-in-five priests is guilty of child abuse, when in fact the figure is 4%, or one-in-twenty-five.
The survey, commissioned by the pro-religion Iona Institute, showed only a third of those surveyed were closer to the 4% figure and shows a clear majority of the public overestimates the number of pedophile priests in the Catholic Church.
The survey also found 42% of people put the number of abusive priests above 20% of the clergy.
Professor Patricia Casey, consultant psychiatrist at the Mater Hospital and Iona patron, said: “There has been very deep and completely justified public anger over the scandal of child sex abuse by clergy.
“However, only a small minority of priests are guilty of this terrible crime and in the interests of justice, and in fairness to the vast majority of priests, it is essential that this fact becomes universally known among the public at large.”
Prof Casey said the extent of the overestimation was worrying.
“It might be understandable if the public were overestimating the number of guilty priests by a factor of two or so, but the fact that so many members of the public are grossly overestimating the number of guilty priests should be a matter of deep concern to all fair-minded people.”
Source
- Belfast Telegraph
- Image Dalje.com