The Church retracts and will pay reparations for cases of pedophilia under the supervision of the State | Policy

EL PAÍS launched an investigation into pedophilia in the Spanish Church in 2018 and has updated with all known cases. If you know of any case that has not seen the light, you can write to us at: If it is a case in Latin America, the address is:

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The Church retracts and accepts an agreement with the Government to collaborate in a mixed reparation system with the State in which it will be responsible for paying compensation to victims of pedophilia in the Spanish clergy. The document states that, “it will prepare a proposal for recognition of the status of victim that includes the pertinent reparation” and, in the event that the parties are not satisfied with the resolution, it will be in charge of “adopting the final resolution.” The agreement, to which this newspaper has had access, was signed this Thursday by the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños; the president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE), Luis Argüello; and the president of the Spanish Conference of Religious (Confer), Jesús Díaz Sariego.

The ecclesiastical leaders undertake to abide by such decision. “The Catholic Church assumes the reparation of [en referencia al equipo que gestiona desde hace un año los casos que llegan a la Iglesia y que se denomina Plan de Reparación Integral de Víctimas de Abusos]”, states the text, which indicates that the agreement “is not based on the unilateral imposition of a legal obligation, but on the mutual agreement of the parties” and that it has “the opinion of the victims.”

Félix Bolaños has described the agreement as follows: “Today we are a better democracy because we settle a historical debt and do justice. We settle the moral debt that we had with the victims of the Church who for decades have encountered a wall of silence, concealment and incomprehension and a moral damage that is impossible to repair. Today we can say that the State complies with the victims.” Luis Argüello, for his part, has said: “We want to assume our own responsibility” although it has disgraced the Government to focus on abuses in the clergy and not address cases in other areas. The president of the Spanish Conference of Religious (Confer), Jesús Díaz Sariego, in fact, wanted to highlight the “moral commitment” of the Church: “What institution in this country takes on crimes that are prescribed?”

The news comes after years of refusal by the bishops to confront the scandal and seven years after EL PAÍS launched an investigation into cases of pedophilia in the clergy. The work of this newspaper caused, among other measures, the Congress of Deputies to entrust the Ombudsman, which included reparation for those affected. The decision was adopted in 2022 by an absolute majority.

The pact between the Church and the State is based on these restorative proposals, as if it were an “independent” and “state” body that would set the standards and procedures for the recognition of crimes and reparation for victims. In fact, the text indicates that this mixed system will pivot on the technical criteria of the Victim Care Unit of the Ombudsman (the team that spoke with those affected during the public body’s investigation), in addition to the evaluation of the PRIVA commission and the participation of the victims. “It is necessary to have a temporary, specialized reparation system with transparent criteria, which guarantees recognition and comprehensive reparation to all victims of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church who can no longer access jurisdictional channels,” the text contemplates.

The document provides for various forms of reparation: “of a restorative and symbolic nature for the damage caused”, “of psychological and/or psychiatric reparation with professionals of the victim’s choice and which could, where appropriate, be extended to his family”, “moral reparation for the damage caused” or “any other forms of reparation that may be proposed within the framework of said agreement.”

The scales have not yet been established, although the Ombudsman has always maintained that European standards that have been used by other countries where these procedures have already been carried out should be used. .

The process will begin after the victims register a request in a Processing Unit created by the Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Courts (in charge of “receiving requests, communicating with the parties, notifying the proposals, collecting reports, etc.).

After registration, the affected person will be sent to the Victims Unit of the Ombudsman, who will listen to their story, study the case and prepare “a proposal for recognition.” All this documentation will be sent to the Church, to the PRIVA commission, and will have a period “for them to express their agreement, or their motivated opposition to the proposal.” At this point, the ecclesiastical hierarchy can send information about said case if it has already been investigated or if it had previously made reparation to the victim “in order to avoid duplication.” Likewise, this documentation (the Ombudsman’s proposal as well as the Church’s reports) will be sent to the person who requested it “so that they can express their agreement or not.”

In the event that there is an agreement between the parties, the Ombudsman will constitute “the declaration of the victim’s condition and its reparation on a definitive basis and it will be transferred to PRIVA for compliance and execution.” The victim will be constantly informed.

But in the event that there is disagreement with any of the parties, the Joint Commission for the Resolution of Disputes will be convened, a team made up of members designated by the Ministry of the Presidency, the Ombudsman and the Catholic Church, which will deliberate “to reach a unanimous agreement.” If they still do not approach positions, there will be one last attempt. In the event that there is no consensus, the Ombudsman will adopt the final resolution.

The ecclesiastical institution responsible for the aggressor (diocese, religious order or congregation) must comply with the reparations established. In the event that it cannot assume them, the EEC and the Confer will be responsible for the payments or executing the measures.

The validity period of the agreement to request reparation will be one year, extendable for another year “if the parties so agree”, although the procedures for the study of each case and its execution do not have an established time. The agreement specifies that the diocese and religious orders may continue to provide internal reparation to victims who decide to take that path.

The ministry also commits in the document to promote “the necessary modifications for the application of tax exemptions to reparations that are recognized for all victims.” This point is of vital importance for victims. This newspaper revealed on November 20 that one of them discovered that after receiving the compensation she had . He told this newspaper, alarmed, to this newspaper. Spanish law establishes that for compensation to be exempt from taxes it must be judicially recognized. In the vast majority of sexual abuses of the Church criminally and, therefore, do not have a judicial path. The Secretary General of the EEC said in the last plenary session that the Church has been aware of the issue of taxation since last June, but that “they have handled it discreetly.”

This victim asked the Ombudsman for help, who, in turn, made a complaint to the Treasury to apply an exemption to the Church’s compensation, as is already the case, for example, with victims of terrorism. The Senate Finance Commission, after the exclusive of this newspaper, approved on December 4 a motion by Esquerra Republicana to guarantee that compensation received by victims of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church are exempt from taxation.

Three years of passivity

The agreement between the Government and the Church has been constantly delayed since the Ombudsman published the results of its 777-page report in October 2023, which found that – some 440,000 people, according to this newspaper’s calculations – have suffered abuse in the religious sphere, as estimated by a large-scale survey that it commissioned to incorporate into the study. The document already detailed a proposal to compensate victims through a state fund to pay compensation “in those cases where due to the statute of limitations of the crime or other causes” it is impossible to file a criminal complaint. The idea was that an “independent” and “state” body would set the standards and procedures for the recognition of crimes and reparation for victims. with the Defender and that they would repair it.

With these data, the Executive approved in April 2024 in the Council of Ministers a reparation plan based on Gabilondo’s guidelines and announced that it would dialogue with the bishops to make compensation and facilitate other elements of symbolic reparation.

At that time a crusade war began between Church and State. The CEE defined the Government’s plan as “part of a condemnatory trial without any type of legal guarantee.” Bolaños built bridges with the Spanish episcopate and got it to agree to create a working group with the State. A first meeting was held two months after the announcement of the Government’s plan and another was scheduled a few weeks later for the Church to communicate whether it would finally participate in the government reparation system. But the appointment never happened.

The sit-in led Bolaños to send several letters to In the first, he urged him to meet to “reach an agreement.” The ecclesiastical leader responded that the work of that group “could be resumed starting next July 10.” [de 2024]”, after the bishops approved his plan. The minister sent a letter warning Argüello that he “will not accept” a plan without “public criteria and guarantees,” as the Ombudsman recommends in his report.

At the same time, the Spanish Church had designed (Comprehensive Reparation Plan for Victims of Abuse). It is coordinated by a commission of specialists that studies each case and makes an economic proposal. That is, it sends each person responsible for the alleged aggressor (diocese or religious order) a payment figure and finally the hierarchy in question decides whether to pay it or not.

This plan, which the bishops launched beginning in 2025, . Bishop César García Magán, secretary general of the EEC, announced at the end of this November that the commission has “treated” 101 cases, of which 58 have already been resolved and “11 will be resolved soon.” The figures presented in September by the PRIVA commission quantify the compensated victims at 39. This means that, of the 2,002 victims recognized by the EEC in the updates of its To Give Light reports, those that have been repaired do not reach 2%, according to a cross-section of data from this newspaper.

There is also no fixed scale of amounts, nor have the bishops announced the method used to set compensation. The difference in payments in similar cases is enormous. For example, in two procedures that EL PAÍS has followed, with abuses of the same severity and similar consequences, but from different aggressors and belonging to different orders, the Church paid 1,000 euros to one victim and more than 60,000 to another.