A 74-year-old Dutchman has made a formal complaint against the pope and the Catholic church for the sexual abuse he suffered as a boy in a seminary in Helmond, describing the institution as a criminal organisation.

Theo Bruyns has received financial compensation from the church because of the abuse but says he still believes justice has not been done.  ‘If you want to start something against this church, you have to make sure it is branded a criminal organisation,’ Bruyns told RTL Nieuws.

In his formal police complaint, Bruyns alleges that the pope and other church leaders are members of a criminal organisation which aims to ‘make it difficult to hinder or trace sexual abuse, as well as the rape of minors’.

‘They hindered police complaints, kept things quiet, and it was organised,’ Bruyns said. ‘I have read all the files and seen how well organised this organisation is and how they have managed to keep everything secret.’

Cover up

The NRC reported last year that more than half of the Netherlands Catholic bishops and cardinals were aware of cases of sexual abuse between 1945 and 2010 and actively covered it up.

In total, 3,712 people have reported being victims of sexual abuse within the Catholic church to a special hotline set up in 2010.

At least 800 Catholic priests and monks were involved in abusing children in their care between 1945 and 1985, according to a comprehensive report into the church sexual abuse scandal published on December 16, 2011.

Radboud University professor Peter Tak told RTL that the plaintiff faces a difficult job. ‘The pope is not covered by Dutch law… you would have to make a complaint in Italy and I do not know if the pope, as head of state, has immunity.’