The investigation will analyze the allegations of abuse against 251 priests and some laity of religious institutionsEl País noted.
The newspaper has not published all of the findings of a three-year investigation it conducted on the matter, but said its correspondent provided a 385-page dossier to the Pope Francisco on December 2 on a flight from Rome to Cyprus.
The number of victims is at least 1,237, but could reach several thousandsaid the newspaper. The accusations concern 31 religious orders and 31 of the 70 dioceses in the country. The oldest case dates back to 1942 and the most recent to 2018.
The investigation will be carried out by the Spanish Episcopal Conference, headed by Cardinal Juan José Omella, archbishop of Barcelona, according to El País.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said in a statement that the pope received the documentation and passed it on to the “competent bodies so that they could proceed in accordance with current ecclesiastical law.”
This was an apparent reference to the Spanish Episcopal Conference and the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which investigates sexual abuse.
Under current Church law, Spanish bishops would have to report suspected cases of abuse to civil authorities.
In November, Pope Francis, meeting with dozens of abuse victims, thanked journalists for helping uncover clergy sexual abuse scandals.
“The Church has opened a large investigation, unprecedented in Spain, of 251 members of the clergy and some lay people from religious institutions accused of abusing minors and that EL PAÍS has compiled and investigated
Source From: Ambito
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