For the first time, an Italian diocese, that of Bolzano-Bressanone, to northern Italy, has commissioned an independent legal report on sexual abuse to minors and vulnerable people committed by priests. The 631 pages report, the deepest … promoted so far by the Italian Catholic Church, documented decades of sexual abuse.
Compared to the criticized report of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI) presented in two parts in 2022 and 2023, that of the Diocese of Bolzano covers a much longer period, of 60 years. The result is overwhelming: there are 29 priests with “confirmed” accusations and another 12 with charges not yet demonstrated with certainty.
Chilling cases
It is admitted that there were 67 cases of sexual abuse in the last 60 years, and the victims were 75, mostly women; Of these, 59 minors. Among the 67 investigated cases, some are chilling. A priest who abused girls and adolescents for almost 50 years, being transferred from parish in parish after each complaint.
Another very serious case is that of a young man who suffered abuses and committed suicide; The priest accused of violating him officiated his funeral, given the outrage of numerous parishioners. According to the report, three men committed suicide decades after suffering sexual abuse. Dose’s authors pointed out that their findings probably only discovered a few cases and believe there is a “much greater, perhaps even exorbitant” number of submerged cases.
Shock in Italy
The Bolzano Diocese report, of 530,000 inhabitants, was made by the Westpfahl Spilker Wastl law firm in Munich (Germany) that since 2010 has been involved in other investigations on cases of sexual abuse in the church in Germany, Spain and Portugal . The study has caused a sensation in Italy, because it offers a more real dimension than the one known so far of the problem of sexual abuse in the Church. This dosier reconstructs cases from 1964 until the end of 2023, when the law firm received the order, while the first two parts of the Episcopal Conference report only consider some cases denounced to the Church itself between 2020 and 2022.
It should be noted that with the arrival, in 2022, to the presidency of the Italian Episcopal Conference of a Cardinal near Pope Francis, the archbishop of Bologna Matteo Zuppi, there was a boost to the investigation of the sexual abuse of the clergy. Cardinal Zuppi immediately commissioned a first report, which accounted for 68 accused priests, with 89 victims, in the previous two years, although all the dioceses did not participate. In 2023, another 32 accused priests joined, with 54 victims.
In total, 100 defendants, a figure that contrasts with the result of the study of the Diocese of Bolzano, where the accused priests are 41, almost half of those recognized so far by the Church throughout the transalpine country. Victim associations described the CEI figures as ridiculous. The Rete L’A abuse organization, which denounces cases of pedophilia in Italy, currently accounted for on its 168 convicted priests and 170 accused with complaints pending resolution. In total, 338.
Self -critical attitude
It is no accident that the diocese of Bolzano-Bressanone is the first in Italy to commission such an investigation. In 2010 it was also the first to open a center to meet complaints of sexual abuse committed by priests. The most self -critical attitude of the Diocese of Bolzano is mainly explained by cultural proximity with Germany, where fifteen years ago they began to publish more systematically the first reports of abuse within the Church. It is, however, a notable work, taking into account the enormous resistance that has always existed in the Italian Church towards research of this type.
Bishop Ivo Muser, who took over the Diocese of Bolzano in 2011, has recognized in a press conference that “what we read in the report is only the tip of the iceberg.” “I apologize to the people involved, to the parishes and the faithful,” said Monsignor Muser. Thinking about the future, the bishop was blunt: Monsignor Muser has been blunt: «We cannot afford to look back and believe that this is over. This report is not an arrival point, but a mandate to continue working with determination ». The bishop insisted that “admitting the failures, learning from them and acting with transparency” is essential to prevent similar tragedies from being repeated.
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