Legal team that in the diocese of Bolzano-Bressanone in the north of Italy investigated suspicions of sexual abuse by priests for the period 1964-2023, informed on Monday about 60 detected cases. Diocesan bishop Ivo Muser stated in his reaction that “every case is too many”.
According to TASR, this was reported by the AFP agency, which added that this balance is the result of the first independent study on this problem in Italy – the country where the majority of the population applies to the Catholic Church. AFP recalled that the international scandal involving pedophile priests in the Catholic Church has prompted independent investigations in the United States, Europe and Australia, which revealed the extent of this problem. However, Italy did not take such a step. The study in the diocese of Bolzano-Bressanone was carried out by Westpfahl Spilker Wastl.
In her 631-page report – based on approximately 1000 documents studied as well as interviews – it is concluded that since 1964, when the diocese was created, 59 people have been victims of abuse. These are probable or proven cases. In case for another 16 persons, the suspicion of abuse still remains unclear, the report states. AFP added that 51 percent of abused victims are women.
The report shows that 29 clerics are involved in cases of abuse. The charges against them were “demonstrably true or highly probable”. It was discovered as follows 67 cases of sexual assaults. The document states that systemic deficiencies within the Catholic Church as a whole, including the absence of strategies to address clergy sexuality, male alliances, concern about damaging the church’s image and taboos, have contributed to sexual abuse. The report says that given church officials “couldn’t understand the pain”suffered by victims of harassment.
According to the report, it happened in Diocese of Bolzano-Bressanone after 2010 to changewhile the church hierarchy there showed a greater willingness to admit their own mistakes. The Westpfahl Spilker Wastl company also prepared a similar study for the Archdiocese of Munich-Freising in Germany. The document was published in 2022. Investigation revealed that in the years 1945-2019, at least 497 children were abused by clergy in this diocese.
