There is no other choice but to live with the frustration of knowing that we are members of a species with a significant number of demented and sick people in our ranks. Whatever time you read these lines, be assured that at this very moment someone is sexually abusing a third party. Without leaving Spain, the statistics show two sexual crimes per hour. And despite everything, it is a natural requirement that recognizing the impossibility of ending this epidemic, we do everything we can so that the number of victims is as low as possible, the abusers pay the bill for the harm caused and ease the pain of those who have suffered and suffer these vexations
The Ombudsman’s report on sexual abuse in the area of the Catholic Church was therefore necessary, as would any other specifically referring to other areas of social interaction. In particular the family, ground zero for sexual abuse with 34.1% of cases, according to the cited work. They follow the public road (17.7%), the non-religious educational field (9.6%), the non-familial social (9.5%), work (7.5%), the internet (7.3% ), religious education (4.6%), leisure (4%), sports (3%) and healthcare (2.6%).
What has been a shame is that the transfer to public opinion of the report has pivoted on an absurdity. The figure of 440,000 Spaniards abused directly by priests or in religious settings has no value. It is not an opinion to label this quantitative projection based on a survey as bullshit. It is a fact, as testified by the statistics professionals who have given their opinion on the projection that hastily, either out of innocent ignorance, or maliciously and interestedly, was spread through the media and many institutional managers made it their own to remove ‘n political revenue.
The seriousness of a matter is not reinforced by exaggerating it with fanciful numbers, but by treating it with rigor and severe deontology, also journalistic. And it is true that we are dealing with a very serious matter. Because the substantial thing is that regardless of the exact figure, the extent of sexual abuse in the church – which was the specific task that Congress had carried out – is not anecdotal or circumstantial. This is so, apart from the fact that the investigation – also hasty in its execution and with methodological shortcomings – figures only in 487 cases tested directly by the Ombudsman, together with another 1,430 communicated directly to said institution by the ecclesiastical authorities . Beyond the numbers, we agree that the church cannot be surprised that socially, using its own language, a penance that will necessarily be long is imposed on it. Its main mistakes for too long were the cover-up of the abuses and, even more serious, the neglect of duties when it came to removing from circulation the abusers who were part of it and those it knew about. In this way, he encouraged the number of victims to grow unnecessarily, over time he added pain and more abuse by covering them with a cloak of silence and complicity with the executioner. That is why, in the background, the most worrying thing about the report is that at this point the Ombudsman states that the collaboration of some bishops with his work has been very poor and that silence continues to reign in some ecclesiastical areas and the opacity about abuses.
As is normal, the church tries to defend itself and justify itself. Pointing out that it is not in their sinuses where the majority of abuses occur or attributing a political intention to according to which indications are two of the most recurring arguments. But both of these things being true, it is also true that his attitude can still clearly be improved. And so it will be as long as sex continues to be experienced as a dirty and sinful matter in its framework. There is no way to deal transparently with what can only be discussed in a confessional.
Examination of conscience, restraint, confession and penance. The church continues to fail, despite the efforts it has been leading for some time, in most phases of this sequence. That is why it is impossible to determine when his penance will end. Let’s say she deserved it. With or without a report from the Ombudsman
