Spain's Catholic church probe reveals 728 priests abused children over eight decades
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The issue of sexual abuse scandals in Catholic Churches continues to make headlines. Thelatest probe by the Spanish Catholic Church into such cases has unearthed even more grim details, reported Reuters. The investigation report identified as many as 728 alleged abusers, clergy and non-clerical staff, and 927 victims, over eight decades since the 1940s.
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The spokesman for the Spanish Bishops' Conference, Jose Gabriel Vera, said, "We acknowledge the harm caused" and added, "we want to help all victims...to accompany them in their healing."
El Pais newspaper reports into child abuse by priests
Spain's Catholic Church came under fire after El Pais newspaper unravelled disturbing details of the institution's abuse of hundreds of children by members of the clergy.
As per the report, there were at least 1,237 victims who suffered sexual abuse by the Church priests. However, it suggested that the number could run into thousands. According to the paper, the earliest case of ongoing paedophilia in the Catholic church is from 1942 and the most recent one is from 2018.
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The allegations concern 31 religious orders and 31 of the country's some 70 dioceses.
Spain's ombudsman launched inquiry
In order to tackle the ongoing malice that plagued the Church, Spain’s ombudsman last year set up an independent commission to look into the sexual abuses by the Catholic church. It included the collected testimonies from 445 victims.
After the probe by the newspaper that exposed the ugly face of Spain's catholic church, the country's parliament on 10 March 2022 opened the first official investigation headed by Ombudsman Angel Gabilondo.
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"We want to know what went wrong in the selection of candidates for the priesthood, what went wrong during their training...what has led a person who decided to give himself to God, to give himself to sexual abuse," Vera said, reported Reuters.
Many European countries are suffering from the menace of child sexual abuse at the hands of the Catholic clergy for decades now. Many lawsuits have been filed pertaining to these cases, and many investigations also involve the horrifying testimonies of the survivors which then become the ground for further investigations.
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