The Catholic Church in Spain is facing controversy on many fronts. The most recent to open up is centred on over 1,000 properties whose control it has acquired without actually owning them. But there is also the pedophilia issue, which has shaken the world in recent years. After the holding of investigations into sexual abuse of children in the Church in several European countries, there are now growing calls for Spain to do the same. This Wednesday, three political parties, the left-wing Unidas Podemos, the Catalan Republican Left and the Basque party EH Bildu registered a joint proposal for a commission of inquiry in the Congress of Deputies aimed at "investigating sexual assaults on children and adolescents committed by members of the Catholic Church." This would be the first step to then "be able to plan public policies for reparations, prevention and care for the victims of this scourge." The proposal meets the requirements of the chamber, but, as always, to go forward it will require support from the Socialists (PSOE) as well.
The document registered states that "the political responsibilities are evident given that the public authorities are ultimately responsible for guaranteeing full protection to minors in all areas of their lives, especially in public schools and those institutions concerted with the administration".
If the proposal prospers, it would be the first time that a Spanish public institution has opened an investigation of this nature. This initiative has already taken place in some neighbouring countries, in particular, France. Last October, an independent French commission published its report after two and a half years' work, and concluded that at least 216,000 minors had been abused in the last 70 years within the French Church. A figure that increases to 330,000 if the abuses committed by lay people are taken into account. As a result of the study, the French Episcopal Conference acknowledged "institutional responsibility" and the "systemic dimension" of the problem and pledged to sell assets to compensate victims. The closest thing to this in Spain is in Catalonia - where Catalan Ombudsman has proposed a commission of inquiry.
The Spanish government, through minister Felix Bolaños, has transferred its "concern" on the issue to the Episcopal Conference, following a report on abuses in the Spanish church sent to the Vatican by the newspaper El País. After a visit to Rome, Spanish cardinal Joan Josep Omella said that the dioceses themselves would investigate the cases documented by the newspaper, but refused to set up an independent commission like the French one.
Now everything is in the hands of Pedro Sánchez's PSOE in Congress. A few days ago, in a statement to Europa Press, the president of the Unidas Podem group, Jaume Asens, warned that it would be "strange" for parties such as the PSOE to "remain outside" a initiative that is "common-sense, reasonable and in the direction requested by Pope Francis”.