Catholic Church in Panama releases report on clergy sexual abuse

A report commissioned by the Catholic Church in Panama and conducted by the Villanueva University in Spain and the University of Notre Dame in the United States has documented 37 complaints of sexual abuse against minors and vulnerable individuals by clergy members between 2001 and 2025. The document was officially released on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, following a request by the local Church to evaluate its past handling of these cases.

During the presentation of the report, Archbishop Jose Domingo Ulloa requested forgiveness from the victims, reiterating a similar apology first issued in 2023. He confirmed that five members of the clergy have been laicized as a direct consequence of these allegations. The findings stated that while there was no evidence of a deliberate, systemic policy of cover-up by the Church, the investigation did identify significant procedural failures and shortcomings in how individual complaints were addressed over the two-decade period.

The research aims to address the realities of abuse within the institution. No further legal or administrative actions beyond the mentioned laicizations were specified in the current reports.