Santiago, July 24 (RHC)—Chile’s Episcopal Conference has admitted the gravity of the situation in the face of the number of victims  of sexual abuse committed by Catholic Church ministers.

Jaime Coiro, spokesman of the Conference told reporters that the information given by the Prosecutor's Office 'calls us to reflect on the victims', reports Prensa Latina.

“We have learned that beyond quantity, each of these individuals must have been through an extremely painful process, many of them have had to recount again and again at different timesto describe what happened to them”, said Coiro.

The national prosecutor´s office said Monday that authorities are investigating 36 accusations of sexual abuse against bishops, clerics and lay workers in the Roman Catholic Church.

The investigations are among 144 reports of sexual abuse implicating 158 Church workers made since 2000, it added in a statement.

Corio said that starting next Monday, the Episcopal Conference will hold an extraordinary plenary assembly of bishops to reflect on the current moment of the Church in Chile.