Spain's Catholic Church commissions an external enquiry into sexual abuse of children

The Episcopal Conference has appointed one of the biggest law firms in Spain, Cremades & Calvo-Sotelo, to carry out an external enquiry into allegations of sexual abuse at the heart of the Spanish Catholic Church.

At a press conference the president of the Conference, cardinal Juan José Omella, and the head of the legal firm, Javier Cremades, explained that the investigation will open a process whereby people can register their accusations of abuse, review legal procedures through which criminal practices are sanctioned and will offer to collaborate with the authorities to clarify facts and set up a system of prevention which satisfies social demands for action to be taken about the problem.

This is generally seen as a positive step by the Church and it is following the example of its counterpart in France, which has also submitted to an external investigation, in that case by a former judge, Jean Marc Sauvé, honorary vice-president of the French Council of State. The Sauvé Commission, as it was known, discovered that 2,600 children were abused by bishops and priests in France from 1950 onwards, and the publication of its report last October sent shock waves through the country. The French Episcopal Conference has promised to compensate victims of sexual abuse by the clergy.

This change of attitude by the Spanish Episcopal Conference is in strong contrast to the resistance so far by the ecclesiastical hierarchy to any type of investigation into paedophilia within the Church. Some bishops were in favour of parliamentary or independent commissions analysing what had happened, while others have minimised the matter, claiming that there had been very few cases of abuse.

Last week, however, the State General Prosecutors’ Office asked the 17 regional prosecutors to send details of any cases which are still open regarding sexual assault or abuse of children by members of the clergy, and it received 68 reports. The Public Prosecutor’s Office wants an overall view of the situation and believes this will encourage other victims to come forward.