Pedophilia: pressure against the denial of the Spanish Episcopal Conference

According to the daily El Pais, which has been leading its own investigation into this scourge for years, the reason for this omerta is a question of money;

the Spanish episcopate would be afraid of having to pay astronomical sums (photo illustration).

© OSCAR DEL POZO / AFP

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1 min

In the field of pedophilia, the Spanish Church is distinguished by its refusal to follow the example of the Churches which have accepted the investigations into the extent of the scourge (France, Germany, Portugal, United States, etc.).

The Episcopal Conference here refuses to recognize the phenomenon, to investigate, and only accepts complaints on a case-by-case basis.

However, the fire of rebellion began: a group of prelates denounced this omerta.

They are officially pushing to end this taboo.

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With our correspondent in Madrid,

Carry out an analysis of independent experts in order to investigate and find out what has been and what is the extent of child crime within the Church of Spain: this is the demand of eight bishops exasperated by the silence of the episcopate.

All the more exasperated after a recent report in France indicating 300,000 victims.

Here, the ecclesiastical authorities refuse to be interested in it, affirm that the cases are rare without providing details, and encourage the 70 bishoprics not to collaborate in this direction.

According to the daily

, which for years has been carrying out its own investigation into this scourge, the reason for this omerta would be a question of money;

the Spanish episcopate would be afraid of having to pay astronomical sums.

According to the same newspaper, the Church has already secretly compensated 173 victims, for a total of two million euros.

For comparison, the German Church spent 45 million euros.

It is not certain that the silence of the Spanish episcopate can last forever.

In addition to pressure from the eight bishops, pressure would also increase from the Vatican.

► To reread: Pedophilia in the Church, a report will lift the veil on the extent of sexual abuse in France

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• Spain

• Rights of the child

• Criminality