Spokesman for the bishops, in the face of the "execrable" abuses: "It is a social problem and is even more serious in the Church"

He affirms that the Cremades report "is not the report of the Church but is a tool for the Church"

MADRID, 21 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The general secretary and spokesperson of the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE), Francisco César García Magán, has described as "regrettable, execrable and condemnable" the figure of around a thousand cases of sexual abuse of minors in the Church that the bishops calculate after analyze the reports of the Ombudsman, from the Cremades office

"It is very regrettable, it is execrable, it is condemnable," said García Magán in an interview with Europa Press, after receiving the Report from the Cremades office.

Faced with these data, the general secretary of the bishops has warned that sexual abuse of minors is a problem "of society" although he has recognized that in the Church they are "extra serious."

"In the face of this social problem, because it is a problem of society, of other areas, it is more serious in the religious sphere, of the Catholic Church and other confessions, because it requires an extra coherence of life, an extra exemplary", he explained.

He has also pointed out that sexual abuse is also "extra serious in the family environment" which is the "first circle of belonging as human beings."

In any case, the general secretary of the bishops has specified that they do not want to "get into a war of numbers." "It is not a question that because there are a hundred above, a hundred below, it makes the problem less serious. One person would be enough to be a very serious case. So we want to focus on each case, on each person to listen, to welcome, to repair, to prevent," he stressed.

In any case, they have described the figure they estimate, around a thousand cases, as "very regrettable, execrable, condemnable." However, what he considers "totally absurd" are "other figures that have been given outside of these reports, amounting to six figures" or others that, in his opinion, are "fake news."

Beyond the extrapolations of the Ombudsman's survey, according to which 0.6% of the Spanish population had suffered abuse in the Church, García Magán believes that the "disparity" between the numbers of cases recorded by the different investigations about abuses "is not that big."

"Another thing would have been if one report had given a six-figure number and another, a three-figure number. It is not that great and that disparity comes because the methodologies have been different. The methodologies in data reception and tabulation of that data as well," he insisted.

Specifically, regarding the Cremades Report, which was received last weekend by the bishops and which the Episcopal Conference has not made public in its entirety, García Magán has assured that "this is not a full stop" but rather that "it continues a stage" in the work that the Church is doing in the fight against abuse. Now, they will analyze the data provided and integrate it into their work. In fact, they have already integrated some of the firm's contributions into the latest version of their report 'To give light', which they released this Thursday.

"The Cremades report is one more element, it is one more element that is added to this work that has been requested by the Church. So, the report from the Cremades office

In this sense, although he has highlighted that in the Cremades law firm

Furthermore, the Episcopal Conference believes that the Cremades report has fallen into "duplicity" when it comes to counting the number of cases of abuse. Specifically, they consider that, of the more than 1,300 cases mentioned in the Cremades Report, there would be about "300 duplicate cases" since the audit adds up the 305 cases referred by the Vatican dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, which would be the same that the diocese offices have already sent to the Holy See.

In any case, although the EEC estimates that the number of cases does not exceed a thousand, it also warns that it is not a closed figure because the total number of witnessed cases does not represent the total number of victims since there are victims who have died and other victims. who did not want to reveal the facts. He also added that each person must be respected.

"We must respect if a person wants to go to the diocesan office, others have wanted to go to the Ombudsman, others have even wanted to go to a newspaper. Each one manages that trauma, that pain," he stressed.

Regarding the victim compensation fund proposed by the Ombudsman, and in which the bishops said they would only participate if it was extended to the rest of the victims, he insisted that this fund should be for all victims of abuse, also from other areas. .

"If it is only a matter of compensating the victims of the Church, we will manage that fund, as has already happened, there have already been religious congregations that have compensated the victims," ​​he specified. Furthermore, he recalled that compensation has also been paid as a result of court rulings.

Although, García Magán has indicated that they "do not" have quantified the amount that this Church fund could manage because there are compensations that are set by the judge and, furthermore, because "the first responsibility for this reparation is that of the perpetrator" and, then, "subsidiarily, from the institution of the Church to which it belongs."

Another case, as specified, is that of those in which there is no judicial ruling, either because the perpetrator has died, or because the statute of limitations has expired from a civil point of view. In these situations, he has reiterated that they are "willing to analyze each case" and that, if they reach "moral certainty, the conviction" that the abuse has occurred, said reparation will also be made.

García Magán has stressed that what the Church wants is to "eradicate this scourge" of abuse but has insisted that for this to happen, "all of society must get involved, of course also the Church." Likewise, he added that the Church makes available to all institutions, confessions and organizations that wish to do so all the work they have done so far.

"We are willing to collaborate with anyone," remarked the general secretary of the Episcopal Conference, recalling that all the materials are available on its website. "We have offered our experience, our path to other Christian confessions, to other religions, we also said that to other social spheres, if they want, we are also willing," he concluded. He has also assured that his premise is "total collaboration with the judicial authority."