Will all the light be shed? Spanish deputies voted Thursday, March 10, the creation of a commission of experts responsible for conducting the first official investigation in the country on pedocrime in the Catholic Church. Unlike other countries such as Germany, Australia, the United States, France or Ireland, no large-scale investigation has been carried out so far on sexual violence against minors in the workplace. of the Spanish Church.
This unprecedented initiative, proposed by the ruling Socialists and the Basque party PNV, was approved by a very large majority of 286 votes for, 51 against and two abstentions in a Chamber of Deputies which has 350 elected members. The deputies of the far-right Vox party were the only ones to oppose the text, the People’s Party (conservative right) finally voted in favor.
The text provides that this independent commission will be chaired by the Defender of the People (equivalent to the Defender of Rights in France) and made up of representatives of the administration, the victims and the clergy. It will be loaded “to investigate the appalling personal acts committed against defenseless children” and D’“identify the people who committed these abuses, as well as those who covered or protected them”before drafting a report which will be submitted to parliament for its approval.
In the absence of official data, the daily El País (in Spanish) had launched its own investigation in 2018, identifying 1,246 victims since the 1930s. For its part, the Church has only recognized 220 cases since 2001.
Often criticized for its attitude, the Spanish Church took a first step at the end of February by announcing the launch of an external audit by a law firm which claimed to want to go “until the end” to shed light on this sexual violence. “It seems to us that we must take a further step in helping and supporting victims”said Cardinal Juan José Omella, President of the EEC.
The president of the law firm retained by the Church (Cremades & Calvo Sotelo), Javier Cremades, assured that his mission, which will last in principle one year, would be based on the work already carried out by the dioceses in Spain, but would also be inspired by “positive experience” of France and the “German methodology”.