By Enyichukwu Enemanna
No fewer than 200,000 minors have been sexually abused by the Roman Catholic clergy in Spain since 1940, findings published by an independent commission said on Friday.
According to the report, in a poll of 8,000 people, it was discovered that 0.6 per cent of around 39 million people living in Spain said that they had been sexually abused by the members of the clergy when they were at a younger age.
At a press conference where the report was presented, Spain’s national ombudsman Angel Gabilondo, said the percentage increased to 1.13 per cent, making it more than 400,000 people when abuses associated with ordinary members are included.
In Spain, which is a traditionally Catholic country and has become highly secular, clerical abuse allegations have started gaining traction now as the survivors continue making accusations.
“Unfortunately, for many years there has been a certain desire to deny abuses or a desire to conceal or protect the abusers,” a former education minister observed.
The report has criticised the Catholic Church’s attitude and asked it to respond to the cases of child abuse which involved the “insufficient” clergy.
The report appealed for the creation of a state fund for paying reparations to victims.
Before the presentation of the report in the parliament, the Spanish bishops conference stated that an extraordinary meeting would be held to discuss its findings on Monday (Oct 30).
In March 2022, Spain’s parliament gave approval for the establishment of an independent commission led by the ombudsman of the country to “shed light” on allegations of sexual abuse of “defenceless boys and girls” which took place inside the Catholic Church.
The Catholic Church of Spain, which clearly refused to carry out its own investigation, did not agree to participate in the independent investigation, although they co-operated by sharing documents on cases of sexual abuse which had been collected by dioceses.
