Portugal: priest convicted on 18 counts of child sexual abuse from parish activities
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Core record
Evidence status
Convicted
Authority role
Catholic priest of the Braga diocese
Organization
Archdiocese of Braga
Archive classification
This is the archive's application of its published inclusion test. The cited record appears below.
The abuse arose from church-organised parish activities and from the trust the defendant built with a family through his pastoral role; that role is what created the access.
- Pastoral or clerical authority
Evidence structure
Proceedings
2025-01-01 · conviction; subsequent canonical penalty
Portuguese criminal court, Braga. Priest Albino Fernando Tristão Meireles was convicted on 18 counts of child sexual abuse and one count of child pornography, involving three children of one family — the eldest aged ten at the time, abused during parish holiday activities — and a minor contacted online. In April 2026 the Archdiocese of Braga dismissed him from the clerical state following the criminal conviction.
Documented coercion mechanisms
- access through church-organised parish holiday activities
- trust built with a family through his pastoral role
Cited record
Sources
- national newspaper court reporting conviction and canonical penalty 'Padre condenado por 18 crimes de abuso sexual em Braga recebeu agora a sentença da Igreja', SOL (Portugal), 26 May 2026.
Portuguese national outlet recording the 18-count criminal conviction and the subsequent dismissal from the clerical state.
Source provenance
Source access and integrity log
This log records source retrieval and file integrity. It does not mean that an automated process independently confirmed every statement in the source.
- Source and tier basis
- https://sol.iol.pt/sociedade/noticias/padre-condenado-por-18-crimes-de-abuso-sexual-em-braga-recebeu-agora-a-sentenca-da-igreja/20260526/6a15a77d0cf2d0ed34b85b00 Corpus classification: national-newspaper-court-reporting; evidentiary role: conviction-and-canonical-penalty. SHA-256 95c3256e6ec9d19bc0b4b06be546625bb518e8b33744ce34f561fccdc4fc9221
- Retrieval
- 2026-07-20 · Preserved
- Bound by Fear automated source-preservation ledger
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Related record
Related cases · Christian institutions & contexts
- 2018 · Harrisburg, PA, USA PA grand jury: 301 priests, 1,000+ child victims documented ('weaponized' faith)
- 2009 · Dublin, Ireland Ryan Commission: abuse 'endemic' in Catholic-run institutions (state inquiry)
- 2021 · Paris, France CIASE/Sauvé Report: est. 216,000 abused by French clergy since 1950
- 2019 · Vatican City McCarrick: ex-cardinal found guilty by Vatican canonical process, laicized
- 2010 · Oregon City, OR, USA Beagley faith-healing death: parents convicted (criminally negligent homicide)
- 2014 · Philadelphia, PA, USA Schaible: 3rd-degree murder, second child dead of untreated pneumonia
- 2001 · London, UK Victoria Climbié: murder convictions; possession belief; Laming Inquiry followed
- 2012 · London, UK Kristy Bamu: kindoki 'deliverance' murder convictions (30/25-yr minimums)