At least 2,056 minors have been victims of sexual violence within the Spanish Catholic Church, according to the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE), which cites an estimate made at its request by an audit firm in a document published Thursday. This figure, however, is much lower than other estimates.
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It’s quite a paradox, notes our correspondent in Madrid, Francois Musseau. In February 2022, the Spanish Church commissioned an audit by the law firm Cremades & Calvo-Sotelo, on child crime within it. The conclusions have just fallen, and which nevertheless do not interest the episcopate. According to the EEC, which cites in its document only part of the audit report, which was submitted to it in mid-December, the figure of “ 2 056 victims ” maybe ” deducted » of the number of complaints filed to date against members of the Church.
The EEC has committed to publishing the full report, which focuses on sexual violence committed by both clergy and lay people working for religious institutions, at a later date. But in the eyes of the clergy, this report comes too late. But, above all, it convinces no one, especially those who are trying to establish the truth about the victims of sexual abuse committed in the religious sphere for decades.
In October 2023, a report made public by the Defender of the Spanish People, Ángel Gabilondo, a public institution, estimated at more than 200,000 people the number of minors victims of sexual violence at the hands of the Catholic clergy, or 0.6% of the adult Spanish population. This figure rises to 400,000 people concerning those who have suffered such abuse from religious or lay people in religious spaces (1.13% of the Spanish adult population).
Scandalous and false, said Juan José Omella, the president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference. The Church has only just asked for forgiveness from the victims, but refuses to recognize the extent of this scourge. Which is not the case in France, Portugal, Belgium and in most Catholic hierarchies in Western countries. The Spanish episcopate continues to minimize the scale of this tragedy, provoking the anger of victims’ associations.
Read alsoHello Europe – In Spain, the Church practices silence regarding pedophilia (2019 broadcast)