The Spanish Catholic Church will financially compensate all victims of sexual abuse. The Spanish Bishops’ Association (CEE) announced this on Friday. With this decision, the bishops return to a previous position regarding compensation.
The Church investigates on a case-by-case basis whether the victim will be paid. This can also happen if the offender dies or is not convicted.
“Moral condemnation” is sufficient compensation. Exactly what this includes has not been revealed. It is also unknown how high the compensation will be. Previously, the church saw no point in paying a sum of money if there was no conviction.
“In principle, the amount should be transferred by the perpetrators of the crimes,” the Secretary-General for Central and Eastern Europe said. “If the perpetrator dies, the institutions have to pay.”
In the Spanish Catholic Church, more than 200,000 minors are said to have been victims of sexual abuse since 1940. An independent research committee reached this estimate last month after a poll in which eight thousand people participated.
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200.000 kinderen hadden te maken met misbruik door Spaanse katholieke kerk
