The cardinal came to the Madrid law office himself.

The Archbishop's short drive through the capital was a big step for the Spanish Bishops' Conference.

Spain is one of the last Catholic churches in Europe to begin dealing with sexual abuse.

Juan José Omella, who is also President of the Spanish Bishops' Conference, first asked for forgiveness on Tuesday "for all the victims who have suffered and are still suffering so much pain".

Hans Christian Roessler

Political correspondent for the Iberian Peninsula and the Maghreb based in Madrid.

  • Follow I follow

It was not easy to commission the investigation, which will also extend to the orders.

The archbishop promised "transparency, support and reparations for the victims".

The bishops' conference commissioned the large law firm "Cremades & Calvo-Sotelo" to deal with cases of sexualized violence over the past 60 years, the extent of which nobody in Spain knows to this day.

After twelve months, their report should be completed.

In initial research, the newspaper "El País" found more than 1,200 victims.

Since the law firm had activated an e-mail address for those affected at the beginning of the week, other affected people have reported there.

The head of the chancellery is an Opus Dei man

The announcement of the Spanish bishops' late initiative was initially met with skepticism, and not just among victims' associations.

Parliament wondered what impact this will have on the independent committee of inquiry that several parties have requested.

At the press conference on Tuesday, chancellery chief Javier Cremades tried to allay the concerns that had also been raised against him in the press.

He confirmed that he belonged to Opus Dei, but he would conduct investigations "as a lawyer and not as a creditor";

the proximity to the Catholic organization raised concerns about a new attempt at a cover-up.

Without imposing limits, you will "go to the end," said Javier Cremades.

Like the archbishop, he made it clear that the chancellery's investigations would not compete with a possible parliamentary investigation, but were intended as a supplement.

The first thing he did was to contact the state ombudsman with whom he wanted to coordinate.

The final report should also be presented to the government.

According to its own statements, the law firm is striving for a “hybrid Spanish model” for its work, which should be inspired by the studies in Germany and France.

For this purpose, the Spanish lawyers also want to keep in regular contact with two colleagues from the Munich law firm Westpfahl Spilker Wastl (WSW), who had submitted an abuse report on behalf of the Archdiocese of Munich-Freising in January and previously for the Diocese of Aachen.

Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki did not have a report prepared by the chancellery for the Archdiocese of Cologne published because of alleged methodological deficiencies.

In Madrid, 18 lawyers, supported by external experts, have started work.

The law firm, which has made a name for itself in prominent class action lawsuits, will not charge a fee and will only bill the bishops' conference for costs incurred.

At the same time, the contact points in the dioceses will continue to care for the victims who contact them and for those who contact the Chancellery.

Archbishop Omella promised that the investigation should be "as comprehensive as possible".

But important details remained open, such as the exact duration, the type of possible compensation and access to the church archives.