:''This article refers to the institution. For the child abuse scandal, see

Casa Pia child sexual abuse scandal The Casa Pia child sexual abuse scandal was a case of child sexual abuses involving a number of children and employees at Casa Pia, a Portuguese state-run institution for the education and support of poor children and under-age orphans.Giles Treml ...

.''

The Casa Pia is a

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

institution founded by

Maria I , succession = Queen of Portugal , image = Maria I, Queen of Portugal - Giuseppe Troni, atribuído (Turim, 1739-Lisboa, 1810) - Google Cultural Institute.jpg , caption = Portrait attributed to Giuseppe Troni, , reign ...

, known as ''A Pia'' ("Mary the Pious"), and organized by Police Intendant

Pina Manique Dr. Diogo Inácio de Pina Manique (3 October 1733 – 1 July 1805) was a Portuguese magistrate. Early life He was the son and heir of Pedro Damião de Pina Manique (Baptised Lisbon, Sé, 12 October 1704 - Lisbon, Santa Engrácia, 13 December 175 ...

in 1780, following the social disarray of the

1755 Lisbon earthquake The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, also known as the Great Lisbon earthquake, impacted Portugal, the Iberian Peninsula, and Northwest Africa on the morning of Saturday, 1 November, Feast of All Saints, at around 09:40 local time. In combination with ...

. For almost three centuries, thousands of young boys and girls were raised by Casa Pia, including many public personalities, called casapianos. Casa Pia is Portugal's largest educational institution dedicated to helping youngsters in risk of social exclusion or without parental support. The organisation is composed of ten schools and enrolls approximately 4700 students. In addition to standard schooling, the organisation also provides boarding for children in need. It strives to enable these youngsters to become healthy and successful members of society, by developing intellectual, manual, and physical traits, in an environment promoting spiritual, moral, and religious values. The institution is proud to have had amongst its students many outstanding Portuguese personalities, including politicians, journalists, and artists. The first location was in

Castle of São Jorge Saint George's Castle ( pt, Castelo de São Jorge; ) is a historic castle in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon, located in the ''freguesia'' of Santa Maria Maior. Human occupation of the castle hill dates to at least the 8th century BC while the ...

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

, an important center of production for the Portuguese Royal Navy and Army, and also for

vocational education Vocational education is education that prepares people to work as a technician or to take up employment in a skilled craft or trade as a tradesperson or artisan. Vocational Education can also be seen as that type of education given to an ind ...

: masters trained at Casa Pia, when returned to their home, instruct others in the same profession. More advanced alumni may advance to professional careers. Next level course studies at

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

(for medicine), the Portuguese Royal Navy academy,

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, and the Portuguese Academy. Two years after the death of Pina Manique, the Casa Pia closed due to the occupation of the

by the French troops of Junot. The school reopened in 1812 at ''Convento do Desterro'', and then the government moved the institution to Jerónimos Monastery, Lisbon at 1833. In 1942, it created a network of

home A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. H ...

s for children. At this time it is formed by: * Colégio de Pina Manique * Colégio de D. Maria Pia * Colégio de D. Nuno Álvares Pereira * Colégio de Santa Clara * Colégio de Santo Christo * Colégio de Nossa Senhora da Conceição * Colégio de Santa Catarina * Colégio de António Aurélio da Costa Ferreira * Escola Agrícola de Francisco Margiochi - polo do Arrife e polo da Paiã * Centro Educativo e de Apoio Social do Monte da Caparica And also as complementary services: * Provedoria * Centro Cultural Casapiano * Colónia Balnear da Areia Branca (Lourinhã) * Centro de Educação Ambiental e Cultural de Colares * Equipamento de férias do Arrife * Equipamento de férias da Matela

Sports

Casa Pia Atlético Clube Casa Pia Atlético Clube is a Portuguese multi-sports founded in 1920 and based in Lisbon, Portugal, best-known for its football team, that competes in the Primeira Liga. The club is named after Casa Pia, a Portuguese children's Charitable organi ...

(CPAC) is Casa Pia's multisports club founded in 1920 and based in Lisbon, Portugal. Its professional men's football team plays in

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

. Besides football, Casa Pia Atlético Clube has competitive futsal, gymnastics, handball, hockey, karate, sport fishing, table tennis, weightlifting and wrestling departments.

Scandal

Casa Pia de Lisboa made world headlines because of a major

child sexual abuse Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child (whet ...

scandal. Incidents reportedly began occurring starting in the 1970s, but were only revealed in 2002. Many prominent people were arrested, including

Paulo Pedroso Paulo Pedroso (born 28 April 1965 in Aveiro, Portugal) is a Portuguese professor, politician, member of the Portuguese Parliament, and former Secretary of State and Minister for Labor and Training from 1999 to 2001. Pedroso graduated from ISCTE i ...

, (former

Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

minister, with charges later dropped), Portuguese TV host

Carlos Cruz Carlos Cruz may refer to: *Carlos Cruz (boxer) (1937–1970), Dominican lightweight world champion *Carlos Cruz (television presenter) (born 1942), Portuguese presenter and convicted paedophile *Juan-Carlos Cruz (born 1962), celebrity chef on Food ...

and former ambassador

Jorge Ritto Jorge is a Spanish and Portuguese given name. It is derived from the Greek name Γεώργιος (''Georgios'') via Latin ''Georgius''; the former is derived from (''georgos''), meaning "farmer" or "earth-worker". The Latin form ''Georgius'' ...

, among others. As a result, the scandal and the

trial inundated public life with sordid child abuse stories, leading to a

media circus Media circus is a colloquial metaphor, or idiom, describing a news event for which the level of media coverage—measured by such factors as the number of reporters at the scene and the amount of material broadcast or published—is perceived to ...

from 2003 to 2005. On September 3, 2010, after one of the longest trials in Portuguese history Carlos Cruz (seven years), Carlos Silvino (eighteen years), Hugo Marçal (six years, two months), Manuel Abrantes (five years, nine months), Ferreira Diniz (seven years) and Jorge Ritto (six years, eight months) were convicted on charges of pedophilia and other crimes that had occurred in the late 1990s and early 2000s. This was the first time an institutional sex abuse scandal was taken to court in Portugal.

External links

Casa Pia
The Independent, 16 June 2003
PORTUGAL: New High-Profile Arrest in Paedophilia Scandal
Inter Press Service, May 22 2003 Children's charities based in Portugal Education in Lisbon

Sports

Scandal

See also

External links