"The President was very receptive to our work, surprised even by its scope, by the fact that it is a national scope, and by the fact that we are working with victims, but also with aggressors," Rute Agulhas told Lusa news agency, minutes after an audience with Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, when the VITA Group completes one year of work. According to the psychologist, in addition to the "positive surprise", the head of state will also have recognized "the need to prevent recidivism" and put the focus "on the area of prevention and on the area of training" of the Church's structures. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa will have stressed, on the other hand, "the importance of pedagogy" and defended that "the VITA Group should think about creating, in the medium term, a structure that allows guaranteeing the continuity of this work", so that this is not a group "with a deadline and an announced end", said Rute Agulhas. "We do indeed have an announced end. We made an estimate of three years, but I understand that a permanent, continuous and, eventually, even expanding structure should be created", added the coordinator of the VITA Group, stressing that the President of the Republic, in this chapter, focused "on the importance of thinking about the extent to which the State can intervene and assume an important role". According to Rute Agulhas, "basically, [pointing to] the creation of this type of more specialized response, both for victims and for aggressors, and in a perspective of primary prevention. But there, naturally, a more transversal response to all contexts of society". On the other hand, the meeting this afternoon at the Palácio de Belém underlined the gap in the fact that there are still no prevalence studies in Portugal "that allow us to understand the reality of this phenomenon" of sexual abuse, as well as a recidivism study, "taking into account people who commit crimes of a sexual nature and then have some type of punishment, whatever it may be". Leaving the meeting with Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, she was satisfied, highlighting the President of the Republic's agreement with the proposal for a "national strategy" to combat domestic violence crimes, as well as to support victims and aggressors. Regarding the work done since it was created, the VITA Group recognizes that "there is still a lot to do", but that the path taken has been positive and "people today trust the diocesan commissions [for the protection of minors and vulnerable people] more than they did a year ago". On the other hand, "some Church structures have told us that they understand that there will always be a need for an independent Group, an autonomous Group of professionals with whom people can share" their problems and make their complaints. On Monday, the VITA Group revealed that there are already 32 requests for compensation filed by victims of sexual abuse suffered over the last decades in the context of the Portuguese Catholic Church. "Thirty-two victims have asked, so far, for financial compensation -- requests that, as already advanced by the Portuguese Episcopal Conference [CEP], may be formalized between June and December 2024, according to criteria to be announced shortly", reads the note sent to the media by the structure coordinated by psychologist Rute Agulhas, when about three months ago (February 17) there were only 12 requests. According to the statement, which marks one year of operation, on May 22, 2023, the VITA Group has already received 98 requests for help from victims of sexual violence, which resulted in 60 appointments (in person or 'online') and in the regular psychological monitoring of 18 people by professionals from the pool of specialists that was created. On June 18, in Fátima, the VITA Group will present its second activity report. Created in April 2023, the VITA Group can be contacted through the telephone helpline (915090000) or the form for signaling on the website www.grupovita.pt. The VITA Group emerged following the work of the Independent Commission for the Study of Child Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church, led by pedopsychiatrist Pedro Strecht, who over almost a year validated 512 testimonies of cases that occurred between 1950 and 2022, pointing, by extrapolation, to a minimum number of 4,815 victims. Read Also: Abusos. Grupo VITA em Belém para "apresentar trabalho" de 1 ano a Marcelo (Portuguese version)