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Heart and Soul: Hidden children of the Church

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Hidden Children of the Church

30/07/2021 GMT

Hidden children of the Church

BBC World Service - Heart and Soul, Hidden children of the Church

The secret children of supposedly celibate priests

The secret children of supposedly celibate priests.

For decades, the Catholic Church rarely acknowledged the fact that supposedly ‘celibate’ priests were fathering children. The scale and impact of these secretive births is only now coming to light. The Vatican does not deny that there could be as many as 10,000 children of Catholic priests living around the world. Many who are now adults describe childhoods separated from their fathers, shrouded in secrecy and shame. For this Heart and Soul, three of them – Vincent Doyle, Michael McGuirk and Sarah Thomas – tell their stories.

Produced by Dan Tierney

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