The Spanish Church must compensate victims whose abusers died. Victims say the plan lacks guarantees

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spanish Catholic bishops approved Tuesday a plan to compensate victims of sexual abuse within the Church whose alleged attackers have died or whose possible crimes have been outlawed, an initiative the government and victims’ associations have found wanting. of real guarantees. .

The Spanish Episcopal Conference did not provide an estimate of how many victims it could help. But last year the conference said it had found evidence of 728 sexual abusers within the Church since 1945 as part of its first public report, after years of rejecting a comprehensive approach to investigating sexual abuse.

Seventy-five percent of cases occurred before 1990 and more than 60% of offenders were dead, the conference said.

Last year, a survey carried out by the Spanish public Appointed ombudsman that the total number of victims, including minors, could be much, much higher.

The president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, Luis Argüello, said Tuesday at a press conference in Madrid that “our work does not begin or end today, but today is important.

“Because most cases predate the 1990s, many cannot be prosecuted due to statutes of limitation limiting common law.”

Change in clergy leadership comes later The Spanish government approved a plan last year to force the church to pay economic compensation to victims of abuse.

The Church’s plan includes a platform for “material reparations” for victims, which could include financial compensation and payment for medical or therapeutic services. The Church committed to carrying out “economic, spiritual and psychological” reparation for the victims.

It also includes the Church’s commitment to determining the truth of an alleged case of sexual abuse, even when the alleged perpetrator has died.

“There is always judicial redress, but for those cases that have been prescribed by ordinary and canon law, and it is not possible to reopen them due to prescription, or because the aggressor has died, we believe that the Church has a moral duty towards these people”, said Jesús Díaz Sariego, president of the Spanish Conference of Religious Orders, which together with the bishops supports the plan.

Each case will be handled by a newly created board of experts who will advise each diocese on how best to assist each victim.

The advisory board will be made up of 10 people, four medical experts, four experts in criminal law and a representative of the Episcopal Conference and the Spanish Conference of Religious Orders. The new council could then call on a representative from victims’ associations to work with it, the Bishops’ Conference said.

For abuse cases that can be legally prosecuted, the church said it also has offices to assist victims.

Although Argüello said the church listened to recommendations from the Ombudsman and victims’ associations, the Spanish government and some victims’ associations said the plan fell short.

“We don’t buy the Church’s plan,” Juan Cuatrecases, spokesman for the victims’ association Robbed Childhood, told Spanish National Radio. Cuatrecases said the plan lacked any government oversight.

A day before the Church presented its plan, the Spanish government issued a statement saying it rejected what it called a unilateral and ineffective reparation effort.

The statement said it would not accept the Church’s plan because “its resolutions are not binding, therefore in no way guarantee reparation.”

Arguello said that all 67 bishops who participated in the extraordinary meeting in Madrid supported the plan, with only one abstention in one of the three documents that were approved.

Only one some countries had government or parliamentary-initiated inquiries about clergy sexual abuse, although some independent groups have carried out their own investigations.