Spain's bishops underestimate the number of abuses

The bishops of Spain have fallen out with the law firm that investigates abuse on their behalf. They claim that the number of cases is too high.

EIt's a painful and slow approach. The Catholic Church in Spain was among the last in the Western world to confront allegations of sexual abuse. Just two years ago, the bishops' conference tried to give the impression that the country was a major exception and that the number of cases was negligibly low. Initially the bishops only wanted to admit about 30. At the end of 2023, the Bishops' Conference itself reported up to 1,302 perpetrators and at least 2,056 victims who were sexually abused in church institutions between 1945 and 2022.

“To give light” is the motto and report that the bishops have been updating since last spring. In June 2023, the church reported 927 victims and 728 perpetrators. Now their numbers hardly differ from those of the daily newspaper “El País”. Despite the bitter resistance of the church leadership, she began researching in 2018 and to this day has the only current database in Spain. Current status: 1,381 perpetrators and 2,516 victims. The bishops also fear that there could be more than 2,000 abused people.