* Some figures are estimated. See references for details.
| Country | Victims | Victims per 100,000 Population | Victims per 100,000 Catholic Population | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇫🇷 France | 200,000 | 306.40 | 512.82 | ciase.fr, nytimes.com |
| 🇮🇪 Ireland | 15,000 | 303.78 | 402.25 | aljazeera.com |
| 🇳🇱 Netherlands | 10,000 | 58.36 | 253.61 | ncronline.org |
| 🇵🇹 Portugal | 4,800 | 47.07 | 53.81 | euronews.com |
| 🇪🇸 Spain | 4,000 | 8.56 | 13.02 | eldiario.es |
| 🇩🇪 Germany | 3,677 | 4.39 | 15.99 | apnews.com |
| 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | 3,000 | 4.42 | 52.63 | reuters.com |
| 🇨🇭 Switzerland | 1,000 | 11.55 | 32.77 | swissinfo.ch |
| 🇮🇹 Italy | 600 | 0.99 | 1.19 | religionnews.com |
| 🇧🇪 Belgium | 470 | 4.06 | 7.23 | maklu-online.eu |
| 🇦🇹 Austria | 448 | 4.97 | 8.87 | sciencedirect.com |
| 🇵🇱 Poland | 368 | 0.97 | 1.11 | euronews.com |
| 🇱🇺 Luxembourg | 60 | 9.59 | 16.23 | today.rtl.lu |
| 🇭🇺 Hungary | 32 | 0.33 | 0.87 | emerging-europe.com |
| 🇭🇷 Croatia | 13 | 0.32 | 0.35 | balkaninsight.com |
| 🇸🇮 Slovenia | 12 | 0.58 | 0.79 | total-slovenia-news.com |
| 🇮🇸 Iceland | 8 | 2.34 | 57.98 | grapevine.is |
| 🇺🇸 United States of America | 4,228 | 1.27 | 6.10 | abuselawsuit.com |
| 🇨🇦 Canada | 105 | 0.28 | 0.76 | en.m.wikipedia.org |
| 🇲🇽 Mexico | 170 | 0.13 | 0.17 | ticotimes.net |
| 🇧🇷 Brazil | 148 | 0.07 | 0.12 | cruxnow.com |
| 🇨🇱 Chile | 123 | 0.64 | 1.37 | ticotimes.net |
| 🇨🇴 Colombia | 100 | 0.20 | 0.29 | ticotimes.net |
| 🇧🇴 Bolivia | 85 | 0.73 | 1.07 | apnews.com |
| 🇦🇷 Argentina | 69 | 0.15 | 0.24 | en.m.wikipedia.org |
| 🇵🇪 Peru | 19 | 0.06 | 0.08 | reuters.com |
| 🇳🇮 Nicaragua | 13 | 0.20 | 0.48 | ticotimes.net |
| 🇪🇨 Ecuador | 4 | 0.02 | 0.04 | ticotimes.net |
| 🇻🇪 Venezuela | 2 | 0.01 | 0.01 | ticotimes.net |
| 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | 1 | 0.02 | 0.04 | ticotimes.net |
| 🇸🇻 El Salvador | 1 | 0.02 | 0.04 | ticotimes.net |
| 🇬🇹 Guatemala | 1 | 0.01 | 0.01 | ticotimes.net |
| 🇮🇩 Indonesia | 50 | 0.02 | 0.68 | thejakartapost.com |
| 🇯🇵 Japan | 16 | 0.01 | 4.19 | cbcj.catholic.jp |
| 🇦🇺 Australia | 2,489 | 9.65 | 47.03 | bravehearts.org.au |
| 🇳🇿 New Zealand | 1,122 | 23.27 | 228.05 | catholic.org.nz |
| 🇿🇦 South Africa | 35 | 0.06 | 1.23 | cruxnow.com |
| Catholic population data sourced from World Population Review | ||||
Hey there, thanks for stopping by. If you're wondering why this website exists, it's simple: I'm deeply concerned about the issue of child abuse within the Catholic Church. We can't afford to look the other way any longer.
Let's be honest, the numbers you see here are likely not 100% accurate. Child abuse is often underreported, so there are many untold stories. But we have to start somewhere, and the data we do have is eye-opening enough to warrant serious attention and action.
And just so you know, I'm Catholic myself. Creating this site isn't about attacking my own faith. It's about facing a significant issue within our Church. We can't keep ignoring it. This is a call for awareness, dialogue, and meaningful change.
The data is collected from various credible sources including governmental reports, academic studies, and reputable news outlets. Every data point is carefully verified before being included.
We do our best to gather accurate information, but sometimes the data for a specific country might be missing or not quite right. This could happen for a variety of reasons, such as limited public information or inconsistencies in the sources we have. If you know of better or more current data for a country, we'd really appreciate it if you could share it with us on our GitHub repository.
The project is open-source and hosted on GitHub. Anyone can open an issue, express concerns, or ask questions about the data. Contributions in the form of code or data are also welcome. You can access the GitHub repository.
If you'd like to conduct your own analysis, you can download the data in the following formats:
We want to be upfront: the data on this website isn't flawless. There are gaps, and a lot of countries are missing simply because no one has spoken up. That's where you come in.
We need precise, well-sourced information. This topic is too sensitive to rely on hearsay or rumors. If you have access to credible sources or verifiable statistics, we'd love to include them.
This project lives on GitHub and is entirely open-source. This is a community effort, and you're officially invited to be a part of it. You can contribute by opening an issue or a pull request on the GitHub page.
Remember, this isn't an attack on faith; it's a call to action. We've got a problem on our hands, and together, we can take the first steps toward a solution. Let's get to work.
Feel free to reach out on GitHub.
We're using what's known as the UNLICENSE for this project. That basically means you can do whatever you want with the data and code—use it, change it, share it, you name it. For the nitty-gritty details, check out the UNLICENSE.txt file.