BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (BNO NEWS) – A new report on Friday revealed that 475 cases of child abuse were committed in Belgian churches since 1950 in nearly every diocese.

The investigation was made by church investigator Peter Adriaenssens and also indicates that from that amount of cases, 13 individuals committed suicide after being abused by the Roman Catholic clergy in Belgium.

According to the 200-page report, no congregation escapes sexual abuse of minors by one or several of its members. Two-thirds of victims were boys, most of them aged below 15, but 100 girls also suffered abuses. Most of the assaults began at the age of 12.

“None of us was prepared for the severity of some of the accounts of abuse that we were given. All of us at one time questioned our faith in God, the Church and humanity,” Adriaenssens said.

During the research, no evidence of a systematic church cover-up was found. The investigation began in April, after the Bishop of Bruges, Roger Vangheluwe, admitted to have sexually abused his nephew between 1973 and 1986.

Ten weeks ago, police investigating sexual abuse by the clergy seized the report’s files and documents. On Thursday, an appeals court ruled that the police raids were illegal and documents seized could not be used by prosecutors.

This represents a major blow to the investigation, which has been running for several years. The court ruled that the raids on the Church headquarters and the home of the former Archbishop of Belgium, Cardinal Godfried Danneels, were disproportionate to the suspicions.

The court also ordered that all seized documents, which includes just fewer than 500 files and a computer form the offices of a Church commission investigating the allegations of sex abuse, must be returned.

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