Spain Approves Reparations for Church Abuse Victims Ahead of Papal Visit
The plan covers cases where accused clergy have died or crimes are too old to prosecute, after a 2023 report estimated hundreds of thousands of possible victims.
- Spain launched a reparations program this year for victims of Catholic Church sexual abuse, specifically targeting cases involving deceased clergy, ahead of Pope Leo XIV's scheduled visit starting Saturday to the nation of 50 million people.
- A 2023 report estimated hundreds of thousands of potential victims based on a survey of 8,000 people, with most crimes occurring before 1990 and 60% of alleged perpetrators now deceased.
- Paula Alonso-Pimentel seeks reparations for abuse in Valladolid during the 1970s, while Hurtado alleges sexual molestation by Andreu Soler at The Montserrat Abbey, which acknowledged multiple abuse cases committed by Soler over decades.
- So far, 420 people have applied for the program; the Church reported paying $2.3 million to victims earlier this year, which Josetxo Vera, the conference's communications director, said is "opening a new door for the process."
- Clergy sexual abuse and cover-up scandals have rocked Catholic dioceses across the West for more than three decades, continuing to damage the Church's reputation and challenge papal popularity globally.
37 Articles
37 Articles
The Daily Advance
Spain's reckoning with clergy abuse enters a new chapter as Pope Leo visits
Spain is addressing sexual abuse within the Catholic Church with a new reparations program. Victims like Paula Alonso-Pimentel, who was abused by a priest over 50 years ago, can now seek compensation. The program, launched this year, offers a one-year…
Victims of abuse have criticized Thursday's management of the Pope's visit: 'They treat us like a dispossession'.
Associated Press News
Ahead of papal visit, Spain pushes forward with reparations for church sex abuse victims
Spain is addressing sexual abuse within the Catholic Church with a new reparations program. Victims like Paula Alonso-Pimentel, who was abused by a priest over 50 years ago, can now seek compensation.
Ahead of papal visit, Spain pushes forward with reparations for church sex abuse victims – BishopAccountability.org
In the 1970s, in a devoutly Catholic Spain still ruled by dictator Francisco Franco, Paula Alonso-Pimentel was sent for catechism at age 8 to a religious school in the northern city of Valladolid. There, she says, a Marist priest sexually abused her for a year in the school’s vestibule, placing her on his knees and lifting her skirt as students passed in and out. More than 50 years later, she is seeking reparations. Spain’s long-delayed reckonin…
Proceso
Independent EspañolThe scandals of clergy sexual abuse and cover-ups have shaken Catholic dioceses around the world, damaging the reputation of the Church and testing the popularity of popes more than three decades after the crisis erupted publicly.
The Ombudsman's Office's Victims of Church Abuse Unit is analyzing 317 cases out of the 377 requests submitted by the Ministry of the Presidency, according to the Ombudsman's office, following a meeting of the unit's fifteen members. According to the protocol signed on March 30 by the Church, the Government, and the Ombudsman, this Victims Unit, comprised of 15 experts, is responsible for individually evaluating each request and preparing a prop…
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 61% of the sources lean Left
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
