The Spanish Episcopal Conference has not officially reacted to the report presented to Congress this Friday by the Ombudsman, Ángel Gabilondo, on sexual abuse in the Church. Officially it will do so this coming Monday, when it has called an extraordinary assembly to analyze the text and to decide what to do with its own audit, which should have already been presented.
The Cremades law firm
Child abuse, these sources maintain, does not only occur in the ecclesiastical environment. In fact, the majority takes place in the family, according to the information provided by Ángel Gabilondo. The Ombudsman refused to give exact numbers, although he acknowledged that the institution he directs commissioned a survey from the demographic company GAD3, which interviewed 8,013 adults.
0.6% of those surveyed, that is, about 236,000 people if the percentage is extrapolated to the total Spanish adult population, said they had suffered abuse from a priest or religious. 1.13% of those interviewed (the percentage that caught the Ombudsman's attention the most) stated that the attack occurred “in the religious sphere”, which would raise the figure to more than 445,000 people.
Even though it is a very important figure, three times as many people say they have suffered abuse in the family environment, 3.36%, which would mean 1.3 million people. Perhaps anticipating the controversy over the figures, Ángel Gabilondo insisted in the presentation of the report that “this path would not lead very far.” The misgivings that his name aroused among victims' associations to direct work like this have evaporated.
Gabilondo was a religious and teacher between 1966 and 1979 in two Sacred Heart centers, in Vitoria and Madrid. Former students from that time at both schools have denounced other classmates for alleged abuse, which raised doubts about his suitability. The doubts would disappear yesterday with the forcefulness of the 777-page work that he presented in Congress (and which can be accessed here).
It is not only about the spectacular nature of the numbers, be they 200,000, 400,000 or 4,450,000 people, but also about their explicit reproaches and accusations against the ecclesiastical hierarchy, which has offered, he said, “disparate collaboration.” His collaborators, he said, addressed the 71 Spanish bishops. Some responded evasive. “Others have scolded us.” But there were others who responded well, “which shows the way.”
Never before had such an important body as the Ombudsman so harshly denounced “continued malpractice.” Which? "For years the Catholic Church hid and covered up these behaviors, with the transfer of guilty parties to other countries or parishes." First of all, the victims. Second, the victims. And finally, the victims. That could be the summary of 777 pages that will mark a before and after.
The Ombudsman's text, which pays tribute to the first whistleblowers, insists on the “devastating impact of the abuses” and the re-victimization that the abused have suffered due to years of silence, neglect and indifference. This situation, says Ángel Gabilondo, cannot last another second. The Church, he insisted, is obliged to collaborate, both in the investigation and in the economic and moral compensation for the evil caused.
Nothing “would hurt her more than to remain silent because the biggest scandal today would be not collaborating.” And, despite everything, the final number of people affected by this scourge will never be known, among other things, "due to the inaccessibility of some files." And due to the death or “voluntary silence” of some victims, “a decision that must be respected.” In any case, this is a “very significant” number.
Most of the cases detected happened between the seventies and nineties, although some date back to Spain in 1940. Numbers and percentages, however, do not put a face and eyes to the drama. Nor do they illustrate the real dimension of the problem or “the suffering and loneliness that the victims have experienced for so long.” This helplessness is aggravated “by an unfair silence, that of those who could have done more.”
The responses that the injured parties have received have in many cases been “insufficient and dilatory,” if not even accusatory, “as if they were responsible.” They have rarely been adequately cared for and have been excluded from “the procedures of canon law.” The recent steps of the Episcopal Conference are great improvements, "but they are still insufficient and we must continue moving forward."
Those who expected an undisputed figure were disappointed. Everything indicates that the Episcopal Conference will refute this Friday's numbers. Gabilondo also explained paradoxical facts. His collaborators addressed all the dioceses and congregations. “They gave us figures, which added up to 1,430 victims. But then we turned to the Episcopal Conference, which using the same sources counted 400 fewer victims.”
A total of 487 people (84% men) have gone to the victim care units set up by the Ombudsman and which will remain open for now. Does that mean that those 487 people are all there are? The speaker asked himself rhetorically and then added: “Not at all!” The report (“we are not judges or legislators”) does not say what to do from now on, but it does give advice.
One of the main recommendations consists of the creation of a state compensation fund for victims, which seems complicated if recent events are taken into account: the Government, for example, approved a fund a year ago to compensate those affected by the asbestos in Spain, which not only have not yet seen a cent, but they do not even know when the aid will be implemented.
To prevent this from happening again, Ángel Gabilondo (whom some feared that his past as a religious would make his hand tremble when pointing out those responsible) demands the economic involvement of the Church. The Ombudsman insisted that “the victims are the first, last and central meaning of this report.” And compensation is not enough. A public act of apology is needed and prevention against abuses must be reinforced. The subtitle of the work is revealing: A necessary response.
