Nausėda condemns alleged priest abuse and promises talks with Church leaders

President Gitanas Nausėda has condemned the alleged sexual abuse of children by priests and said the state must investigate both the clergy and the Church’s actions, LRT reported. He also said he plans to hold a candid discussion with Church leaders about the scandal.

The General Prosecutor’s Office announced a week ago that priests were suspected of sexual offences against children. In an interview with LRT television programme Dienos tema, Nausėda was asked how one priest could have abused 11 children over more than 20 years in six Lithuanian parishes without being stopped.

“As a person, as a father, as a member of the community and as president, I find this an extraordinarily disgusting and depraved act,” Nausėda said. “There must be no place for such an act in our country.”

He said it was a major mystery how nobody had noticed or suspected what was happening for two decades. Nausėda said the Church and the state were equally interested in drawing conclusions from the situation and achieving real change.

The president said the state should investigate everything critically, including who might have known about the abuse and remained silent. He called for preventive measures within the Church, as well as action involving the legal framework and criminal penalties.

“We cannot simply believe in prayers,” Nausėda said, while adding that prayer was important but had to be accompanied by action. He said those responsible would have to answer under the law “in the strictest possible form.”

Nausėda said the alleged crimes were equally horrifying regardless of whether they were committed by a member of parliament, a priest or an excavator operator. He added that such cases undermined the foundations of the Church’s mission and damaged trust in the vast majority of priests.