The Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (CIASE) “estimates that the number of victims could reach ‘at least 10,000’,” the agency said in a statement released on Monday.
The commission said it had received 6,500 statements so far, which concern at least 3,000 different victims.
Jean-Marc Sauvé, president of CIASE, said that it is not known at this stage what percentage of all victims have testified before the commission.
“It is very possible that the victims will reach at least 10,000. The 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 abuse scandals emerged.
It is funded by the French Catholic Bishops’ Conference, but members are not paid and receive no instructions from the Church. The archives of dioceses and religious institutions are accessible to the commission.
The delivery of a final report is scheduled for 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 procedures of the Catholic Church, not the issue of reporting abuses or cover-ups to civil authorities, and must be followed by all dioceses.
Archbishop Charles Scicluna, the Vatican’s chief sexual abuse investigator, told CNN at the time that the new rules added a layer of responsibility to Church leaders.
“Firstly, that leadership is not above the law,” said Scicluna, “and secondly, that leadership needs to know, all of us in leadership need to know that if people love the Church, they will report us when we do something wrong. “