Lithuanian Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevicius urged the Catholic Church to cooperate in an investigation into child sexual abuse by two local priests, BNS reported. He called for answers on whether the Church had taken sufficient measures to detect, prevent, and report such abuse. “Moral authority mandates the highest standards of responsibility,” he stated. In the meantime, the government will assess whether existing legal and institutional mechanisms were sufficient to protect children, he said. Earlier, two Lithuanian Catholic priests were charged with sexual crimes against children. One of the priests, Tadas Svedavicius, was accused of sexual crimes against 11 minors over 2002-2025, while the other priest, Rysardas Peciunas, was charged with possession of child pornography, BNS and LRT reported. The Archdiocese of Vilnius announced that both clerics had been suspended and that canonical investigations had been initiated. Meanwhile, Justice Minister Rita Tamasuniene called for the establishment of a public registry of sex offenders against children, BNS reported.
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