“It is time for Parliament,” the Ombudsman, Ángel Gabilondo, told the members of the Congress of Deputies – a little less than half were present and not a single member of the Government occupied his seat – when presenting his Report. on sexual abuse of minors within the Catholic Church. Almost a year and a month after, on October 27 of last year, he delivered the text to the president of the Chamber, Francina Armengol, Gabilondo has completed the final process of the assignment that he had received before a Congress that has received the report in a cold and distant manner.
Gabilondo began his words by justifying the work that has taken his institution more than two years since the need to “provide a response to the situation of suffering and loneliness that the victims have experienced.” “We needed to hear their word and their voice,” he explained, to insist that they have to “be listened to, attended to and reciprocated. “They are the first, last and central meaning of this report, and now they await a final decision.” “Don’t postpone it!” Gabilondo insisted to some deputies more focused on looking at their cell phones and talking to their neighbors than on listening to their words.
In practice, the data presented by Gabilondo had already been known for more than a year, when he made the report public. He has still insisted so much on the work carried out by the victims unit created by the institution and on the survey commissioned by GAD3 on the prevalence of abuse in Spanish society. In this sense, it has added a nuance by pointing out that “the objective of the survey was to prepare a historical study of prevalence and impact not only referring to the religious sphere.”
Thus, he reminded the deputies that this demographic study indicated that 11.7% of those surveyed stated that they had been victims before they came of age and that 3.36% indicated that this abuse occurred in the family environment. . The survey also concludes that 0.6% of the representative sample of the population surveyed has been sexually assaulted by a Catholic priest or religious, and that in 1.13% the assault was recorded in the religious sphere, including other confessions. By introducing the nuance, Gabilondo has seemed to suggest, although without explicitly stating it, that the problem of sexual abuse of minors goes far beyond those produced in the scope of the Catholic Church, the only institution that has been the object of study. in his report.
He @DefensorPuebloE claim in @Congreso_Es coordination and collaboration between Church and State to apply the measures of the Report on sexual abuse in the area of the Catholic Church
⁰“For the sake of the victims, it is essential that they adopt joint commitments” pic.twitter.com/MPaGIHSIHN— Ombudsman (@DefensorPuebloE) November 21, 2024
Along these lines, Gabilondo has also recalled that the task entrusted to him by Congress “deals with abuses in the Catholic Church with the addition of the role of the public powers” and has denounced that “the public powers have not taken charge of the problem.” until recently. “They have not assumed their responsibility, of a different nature to that of the Catholic Church, but it is also their responsibility.”
Among the recommendations, the Ombudsman has called for “coordination and collaboration between Church and State for the implementation of the measures.” These include the celebration of a public act of recognition and symbolic reparation to the victims for the prolonged period of time of neglect and inactivity. Another measure is the creation of a state fund (with the participation of Church and State) for the payment of compensation to victims of child sexual assault or abuse within the scope of the Catholic Church. “I consider it essential that, for the good of the victims, Church and State adopt joint commitments,” stated Gabilondo.
#time #Parliament #Gabilondo #claims #Congress #presenting #report #abuses #Church
