The audit carried out by the Cremades law firm
According to the EEC, the Cremades report includes 1,383 denunciations, but warns that adding the 305 denunciations received from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to those already communicated by dioceses and congregations "makes us think that very possibly these accusations are duplicated”. However, he warns that the analysis of the cases leads to affirm that the total number of complaints in accordance with the indicated methodology amounts to 1,302, that is to say, 81 less. At the same time, the bishops report, "the fact of adding the 305 complaints received from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to those already communicated by the dioceses and congregations suggests that very possibly those complaints are duplicated because, since 2001, complaints received in dioceses and congregations are communicated to the aforementioned Dicastery. With reference to the number of victims, a minimum of 2,056 victims can be deduced from the complaints".
In the conclusions of the Cremades report, it is assured that the 1,383 complaints that have been verified and the minimum number of 2,056 victims "does not correspond to reality. They are just a part of what happened." "To all these victims - the document states - should be added those who belong to groups that have not been able to report, among which there are, especially, children with intellectual, mental or multiple disabilities and the people who preferred to remain silent or died before the abuses began to be reported". One of the clearest conclusions of the audit is that "these are not isolated cases, of 'a few bad apples'". "If a single abuse was already too much, the analysis tells us of thousands of abuses. We do not know, nor do we believe that it will ever be possible to know, whether it is a few thousand or many thousands. But, without a doubt, there are several thousand".
The document considers that "the Church must offer comprehensive reparation to victims who have suffered abuse in their care, whether they are children or adults in a situation of special vulnerability". "This process includes - he continues - prevention, attention, restitution and reparation of the rights of people who have been victims". It also asks to include "mechanisms to ensure that it will not happen again". The EEC does not see the need to create an economic fund for reparation of victims due to the number of cases, as proposed by the Cremades firm, and the fact that many already have a judgment that has included compensation. The audit calls for the creation of a fund of 50 million and compensations of 6,000 to 100,000 euros for the victims.
To give Llu m admits that abuses "are a serious problem in the life of the Church". "They are considered sins and crimes and must be treated as such," the text of the EEC states. In turn, he points out that "the cases that occur in the scope of the Church in Spain are very few from the strict perspective of the proportion in relation to those that have been registered in society as a whole" .
