It was an exciting afternoon. Full of hugs, tears, hope and demands. This Monday, Caixa Fórum hosted the presentation of the ‘Childhood Protection’ awards, presented by the Guido Fluri Foundation and the associations ANIR, AVA and Lulacris. In a week in which all the bishops are in Madrid meeting in a Plenary Assembly, the last award was granted to Pope Francis, who sent a video message encouraging the victims to “continue fighting to avoid all injustice.” The award was received on his behalf by the president of the Spanish religious, Jesús Díaz Sariego, and not a bishop, because the representatives of the Episcopal Conference arrived later.
“They say that an award is recognition. I like to think rather that it is a challenge for one to do what the award says and move forward. Thank you for what you do. And I accompany them. Thank you for continuing to fight to avoid all injustice, all use of people. Keep going, it’s worth fighting because you can see the fruits. May God bless you. Pray for me and I will do it for you.” Francis stressed in his speech.
Also recognized at the ceremony were, among others, the Ombudsman, Ángel Gabilondo; the Chilean Juan Carlos Cruz, victim of abuse and the only lay member of the Vatican Anti-pedophilia Commission. In addition, elDiario.es journalists Iker Rioja – director of the newspaper’s delegation in Euskadi – and Jesús Bastante, responsible for religious information, received the award. Rioja
On behalf of the Government, the Minister of Children and Youth, Sira Rego, intervened, thanking the victims and survivors, “whose gaze pushes us to continue working.” “Violence against children must be removed from the private sphere, and put at the center of public debate, as the problem we know it is.”
Sira Rego: “Your stories are our failure. As a representative of our institutions I ask for your forgiveness. The institutions owe you an apology”
“We want boys and girls to be heard without fear and without reliving their traumas,” claimed the minister, who invited them to work for “friendly justice,” which has the courage to put childhood at the center, and consider it as subject of rights. Rego wanted to especially thank those who told their story, those who were not believed, those who did not find their space to express themselves. “Your stories are our failure. As a representative of our institutions I ask your forgiveness. The institutions owe you an apology.”
For his part, the Ombudsman, also awarded (and who this Thursday will present his anti-pedophilia report before the Plenary Session of Congress), thanked the organizers of the event for holding it, and especially the Cuatrecasas family. “Don’t stop fighting, I have a lot to thank you for.” “Thank you to all the victims without exception. A society shows its true face in the way it listens to children and the most vulnerable.”
Ángel Gabilondo: “A society shows its true face in the way it listens to children and the most vulnerable”
“It goes for the victims, it goes for them,” said Gabilondo, who stressed that “it is important to talk about the victims, to talk to them, but even more so to create the conditions so that they can speak freely. They need concrete actions,” he assured. “Let’s listen to what the victims say,” he concluded, allowing the survivors’ testimonies that appear in the Ombudsman’s report to speak in his speech.
Juan Carlos Cruz, victim of abuse and complainant in the Karadima case, and the only layman present on the Vatican Anti-Abuse Commission, collected his award inviting people to “raise their voices” to break with invisibility. Also those of the families, “who suffer horribly due to the situation of their relatives and friends.” “In Chile we achieved that crimes against minors did not prescribe,” he recalled.
Juan Carlos Cruz: “We will not stop being present until the last victim receives the justice he deserves, without having to beg for justice”
“We will not stop being present until the last victim receives the justice he deserves, without having to beg for justice,” stressed Cruz, who issued a warning “to the bishops of the world, and especially to the Spanish bishops, that they should not We are going to disappear” he cried. “Maybe it won’t be one of us, but others will come. And we will not stop being present until the last victim receives the justice he deserves, without having to beg for justice.”
The Cuatrecasas family opened the fire. Juan, father of the victim of the Gaztelueta case, denounced “the neglect and irresponsibility” that cemented “the impunity, the silenced reality and the concealment” that the victims suffered for decades. Next to him, his son Juan, one of the survivors and an example of the courage of the victims. “We have kilometers of track, although the train has not yet started to start,” Cuatrecasas cried. “We are not heroes or heroines. This complaint is a right,” he concluded.
The cardinal of Madrid, José Cobo, and the archbishop of Pamplona, Florencio Roselló, arrived at the event when the award was presented to Francisco. “Institutional changes are slower than they seem, but if Pope Francis is worthy of anything, it is having initiated processes,” said Cobo. The cardinal thanked Bergoglio for putting himself “at the forefront, so that in the Church we would also learn something. “First, to believe the victims,” he said. “The Pope has made us aware of your pain so that we can make a better Church and world thanks to you,” he assured.
All information in www.religiondigital.org
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