Cardinal Matteo Zuppi has already made his first decision as the new president of the powerful Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI). Zuppi, a cardinal considered progressive and very close to Francis, today announced an internal investigation into the sexual abuse committed by the Italian clergy against minors, putting an end to long years of silence about this phenomenon.
However, the report will not be as extensive as those that have taken place in other countries such as France or Germany, nor will it be historical, but will only focus on the complaints and convictions of the cases in the last 20 years, a jug of water cold for the associations of victims who were waiting for an investigation relating to at least the last sixty years. Nor will it analyze new complaints, but rather those for which the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith already has data.
"It seems much more serious to us, and it hurts us much more because this period involves us directly," Cardinal Zuppi defended at a press conference. “It is not true that we want to cover anything. It is seriousness. We want to receive the sticks we deserve. But we want fair transparency. Some data may be debatable, as has happened with the report in France”, he added, referring to the report that in France detected at least 300,000 victims of sexual abuse, with a methodology that was criticized by some sectors.
The report, for example, will not address the case of Francesco Zanardi, 51 who was raped by a priest between the ages of 11 and 15, which he considers to be a "scam." “We are very upset because not taking into account people who suffered abuse more than 20 years ago is serious discrimination. In addition, it is not very useful: people take about 30 or 35 years to mature the trauma, "says Zanardi, founder of the Rete L'Abuso victims' association.
The victims also complain that they have been excluded from the investigation, which should present its conclusions before November 18. In fact, the analysis will not be independent, as is the case in other European countries, but will be done in "collaboration" with independent research institutes and will "guarantee high-level scientific and moral profiles," according to the statement, which does not indicate which organisms are involved
The issue of sexual abuse by religious has always been a topic surrounded by a strange omertà in Italy, the European country with the most Catholics, about 75% of its 60 million inhabitants. Until relatively recently, not even the country's media addressed an issue that instead has generated extensive coverage in the international media. The Jesuit Hans Zollner, a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, and one of the Vatican's top experts on this matter, estimates that between 3 and 5% of religious have committed these crimes. In the transalpine country there are 50,000 priests.
The issue of pederasty is the great challenge for Zuppi, Archbishop of Bologna, chosen on Tuesday by Pope Francis among the three names proposed to the Pontiff by the CEI as possible presidents. Zuppi is a very popular figure in Italy, and at 66 years old he appears repeatedly on the list of possible papal candidates in the event of a conclave. He is a member of the Sant'Egidio community and has ideas favorable to the inclusion of migrants and homosexual faithful within the Church.
