The allegations have rocked the Belgian Church The head of Belgium’s Roman Catholic Church is to announce how it will deal with cases of alleged widespread child sexual abuse.
An independent commission set up by the Church to investigate alleged abuse found that it had occurred in every Belgian diocese over decades.
The commission said some victims were infants when the abuse started and that 13 had committed suicide as a result.
The Church is under pressure to prevent further abuse and help the victims.
Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard, the head of the Catholic Church in Belgium, is expected to set out how the Church will deal with cases of alleged child sexual abuse, try to prevent further abuse and help the victims who have suffered at the hands of priests, teachers, lay workers and in at least one case, a bishop.
The level, extent and duration of abuse revealed last week shocked even members of the commission set up by the Church to investigate the allegations, says the BBC’s Jonty Bloom in Brussels.
It found that abuse occurred in every diocese and Church school over decades and totalled some 300 cases.
Although the commission’s investigation said it found no evidence of a systematic cover-up, the Church will now have to find a way of dealing with past abuses and also explain how it is going to prevent further abuse happening in future, our correspondent adds.
Belgian media have accused the Church of seeking to hide abuse despite prosecutions of abusers.
Two-thirds of victims were boys, but 100 girls also suffered, the head of the independent commission, Peter Adriaenssens, said last week.
While the commission he headed had found no indication that the Church had systematically sought to cover up cases, Mr Adriaenssens said its findings were a “body blow” to the Church in Belgium.
Many alleged victims came forward to testify to the commission after the Bishop of Bruges, Roger Vangheluwe, resigned this year, admitting to having sexually abused a boy before and after becoming a bishop.
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