Over 200,000 children in Spain sexually abused by Roman Catholic clergy

An estimated 200,000 minors in Spain have experienced sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy since 1940, according to an independent commission’s report published on Friday.

The report, based on a poll of over 8,000 people, found that 0.6 percent of Spain’s adult population (approximately 39 million people) reported suffering sexual abuse by clergy members during their childhood.

When including abuse by lay members, the percentage increases to 1.13 percent, or more than 400,000 individuals, according to Spain’s national ombudsman, Angel Gabilondo, who presented the report’s findings during a news conference.

These revelations in Spain are the latest in a series of scandals that have affected the Roman Catholic Church worldwide over the past two decades, often involving children. In Spain, however, where the population has become increasingly secular, allegations of clerical abuse are only now gaining momentum, leading to accusations by survivors of institutional resistance.

“Unfortunately, for many years there has been a certain desire to deny abuses or a desire to conceal or protect the abusers,” said Gabilondo, a former education minister.

The report labels the Catholic Church’s response to child abuse cases involving clergy as “insufficient,” criticizing the church’s attitude. It suggested setting up a state fund to compensate the victims.

Child protection offices

The Spanish Bishops Conference announced that it would hold an extraordinary meeting on Monday to discuss the report’s findings, just prior to it being presented in parliament.

In March 2022, Spain’s parliament overwhelmingly approved the establishment of an independent commission, led by the country’s ombudsman, to investigate allegations of sexual abuse involving “vulnerable boys and girls” within the Catholic Church.

While Spain’s Catholic Church had long resisted conducting its own investigation, it chose not to participate in the independent inquiry. However, it cooperated by providing documents related to cases of sexual abuse gathered by dioceses.

Under mounting political pressure, the Church commissioned a private law firm in February 2022 to conduct an “audit” of historical and ongoing cases of sexual abuse involving clergy, teachers, and other individuals associated with the Church. This audit is expected to conclude by the end of the year.

In June, the Spanish Church announced the discovery of 927 cases of child abuse through a complaints procedure initiated in 2020. The Church asserts that it has established protocols for addressing sexual abuse and has created “child protection” offices within dioceses.

‘Tip of iceberg’

However, an investigation initiated by the widely circulated newspaper El Pais back in 2018 has revealed a staggering 2,206 victims and 1,036 alleged abusers with cases dating as far back as 1927.

“According to experts, this is just the beginning,” the newspaper noted on Friday before the report’s release.

The Church’s abuse crisis gained international prominence in 2002 when the Boston Globe newspaper exposed decades of child sexual abuse by priests and subsequent cover-ups by church leaders.

Subsequently, reports of widespread child abuse emerged in the United States, Europe, Chile, and Australia, eroding the moral authority of the Church with its 1.3 billion members and leading to a decline in its membership.

In neighboring France, an independent commission determined in 2021 that approximately 216,000 children, mostly boys, had suffered sexual abuse by clergy since 1950.

In Germany, a study uncovered 3,677 abuse cases between 1946 and 2014, while in Ireland, over 14,500 individuals received compensation through a government program for those who had experienced abuse at Catholic Church-run juvenile facilities.