The Church criticizes that the commission on abuse only investigates the clergy

One day after the approval in the Congress of Deputies of the investigation commission on pederasty in the Church, the bishops have issued conflicting signals. On the one hand, they have insisted that they want “collaborate & rdquor; with the body, that throughout this year will collect complaints and prepare a report on these crimes, although they have refused to be part of the entity. On the other, they have criticized that the commission only focuses on the Church, when the abuses “unfortunately affect many areas of society & rdquor ;, and at the same time they have warned of the risk that the Ombudsman, who will be the one who will direct the project, can go beyond what the law says about his powers.

“The Church is not a public administration & rdquor ;, the secretary of the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE) pointed out this Friday, Luis Arguello, after the meeting of its standing committee. The rule that regulates the functions of the Ombudsman indicates that “he may supervise the activity & rdquor; of the Management. “You have to see what the approach is. [de la comisión]because maybe overflow what the law says & rdquor ;, Argüello has insisted.

But main reproach It has nothing to do with legal issues, but with the commission’s own approach, which will only scrutinize abuses by the clergy. “We cannot deny that it is an initiative that look only at the church and not to the abuses as a whole & rdquor ;, has criticized the secretary of the EEC.

change of speech

Even so, the Spanish bishops have softened his tone much in recent weeks, aware of the delicate terrain stepping on, after decades minimizing the phenomenon of abuse and denying the possibility, which has already materialized in many other countries around Europe, that external instances investigate these crimes. At the beginning of February, when the proposal in the Congress of Deputies passed through a parliamentary commission to use, with public sessions and subjected to the usual and tense scuffle between the political parties, Argüello himself argued that this represented a “Sadducean trap” for the church. Now, on the other hand, he welcomes the recently approved investigation, which the Ombudsman will carry out discreetly, away from the spotlight, and outside the lower house.

“We want to point out again that all the initiatives that allow us to unmask and put an end to this scourge They always have the support of the Church. The collaboration of the Church in these initiatives wants to be beyond any doubt & rdquor ;, explained the bishop, who does not contemplate being part of the future commission, whose composition is unknown at the moment. “On being part of the commission created by the Ombudsman, our inclination is negative& rdquor ;, he said.

Related news

Three weeks ago, in the clearest example Due to this change in discourse, the CEE signed an agreement with an important law firm, Cremades & Calvo Sotelo, to carry out another similar investigation over the next 12 months. “We want to improve and take a new step. The Church has given turn on the path that he had been doing & rdquor ;, Argüello has acknowledged.

The bishop, in this sense, has given to understand that the EEC, despite not being obliged, will make available to the commission of the Ombudsman the diocese archives that are required. “The church will collaborate by facilitating the available information. I assure you that we are the most interested in the knowledge of the truth –concluded the secretary of the episcopate-. We want to know the truth so that there is no Wolves that they dress up as lambs and be shepherds, but also so that tens of thousands of people who dedicate themselves to education, missions and catechesis are not subjected to permanent suspicion. So that it cannot be said that the Church, because it is a lie, is a unsafe place for children and adolescents & rdquor ;.