NewsEuropeThe Italian Church gives for the first time figures of the abuses committed by the clergy

The Italian Church gives for the first time figures of the abuses committed by the clergy

Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, president of the Italian Episcopal Conference.YARA NARDI (REUTERS)

The Italian Church has slowly begun to address the issue of clergy sexual abuse. After decades of silence and contempt for the victims, the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI) commissioned a study last May from the Catholic University of Piacenza that has provided some interesting data, as explained by the president of the bishops, Matteo Zuppi. in a press conference. The CEI, according to this report, received 89 complaints of alleged sexual abuse committed by 68 people linked to a greater or lesser extent with the Church, according to data collected in 2020 and 2021. In addition, it has been revealed that investigations into open Italian cases in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith since 2000 there have been 613. The report was a commitment made by Zuppi when he was elected last May.

The Italian victims, however, consider that the document is a joke because it only covers two years of counting and is limited to the complaints received by the dioceses. The victims’ associations had requested a report relating to at least the last 60-70 years, as has been done in other European countries. In addition, they asked that the archives of all schools, monasteries, dioceses and other Catholic centers be opened. Something that hasn’t been done.

The report presented includes the data obtained by the territorial network for the protection of minors and vulnerable people launched by the CEI and makes strict reference to those two years. The complaints include cases of “inappropriate language and behavior, touching, sexual harassment, sexual relations, display of pornography, contacts on the Internet and exhibitionism.” The age of the victims confirms that most of them are minors, although they are usually in adolescence. Of all of them, 61 are people included in the age group between 10 and 18 years, while 16 were over 18 and 12 were under 10, according to the document presented.

The robot portrait of the abuser is interesting because it also denies that the majority of cases are framed in religious orders and come from religious (who cannot officiate mass) and not from priests. The majority, in fact, are priests (30 cases); followed by lay people (23) and, lastly, religious (15). Among the laity, the profile, says the report, is that of the religion teacher, the sacristan, animator, catechist or member of associations. The age range of the 68 defendants, in more than half of the cases, ranges from 40 to 60 years. The context in which the alleged crimes occurred was in the parish (33.3%), at the headquarters of a movement or association (21.4%) and in a formation house or seminary (11.9%) .

The other leg of the first document presented has to do with the investigations carried out by the Vatican of the complaints presented in recent years. In this case, it is the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that is in charge of processing, prosecuting and punishing, if applicable, the abusers. This Vatican body has opened 613 files since the year 2000. The Secretary General of the CEI, also in charge of the protection of minors, Giuseppe Baturiel, specified that this figure does not mean that there have been 613 cases of priestly pedophilia since the year 2000 in Italy , since a single abuser may be the author of multiple abuses or it may be that the report has been archived as unfounded, “so we will have to wait for the results of the investigation for a more precise photograph.”

The Italian victims of abuse, channeled mainly through the Rete L’abuso association, were very disappointed with the presentation. In fact, they pointed out that it “borders on ridicule” when limited to a period of time as limited as the two years referred to. “All cases involving Italian priests reported to the judiciary, to our association or directly to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith are excluded from the report,” stressed the association’s president, Francesco Zanardi.

If you know of any case of sexual abuse that has not seen the light of day, write to us with your complaint at [email protected]. If it is in Latin America, you can write to [email protected]

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