Agreement to compensate victims of Church pedophilia: "The State will decide on the compensation and the Church will pay it"

"It has been a complex, arduous, tough, and long negotiation, but we have reached the point we wanted, and we are more than satisfied." This is how the Spanish Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, described the negotiations with the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE) and the Spanish Conference of Religious to reach an agreement for the "reparation and recognition" of victims of abuse within the Church. "Today, an indisputable step has been taken that brings justice," the minister emphasized during the presentation of the agreement's details this Thursday morning. Bolaños explained that the pact "meets all the requirements set forth by the Ombudsman" and establishes a joint system, between the State and the Church, to define how these compensations should be provided. Thus, a commission will be created to which victims can submit their requests for reparations, and these requests will be forwarded to a victims' unit, led by the Ombudsman, who will decide what reparations are appropriate in each case. "It can be economic, moral, psychological, or restorative reparation, or even all four at once," the minister explained. Once the compensation is defined, developed on a case-by-case basis, the proposal will be presented to both the victim and the Catholic Church, who will have to decide whether to accept it or not. If the parties agree, the proposal will be binding. Bolaños also emphasized that "of course" all reparations will be "paid for by the Catholic Church": "The State will not pay a single cent," he stressed. A prominent role for the Ombudsman

Conversely, if the Ombudsman's proposal does not satisfy either party, a new joint commission will be formed, which will also include victims' associations. This commission will work together to reach a consensus agreement that all parties consider fair. "If there is still no agreement in this second instance, then the Ombudsman's decision will prevail," the minister explained. "Thus, it is clear that the compensation will be decided by the State [the Ombudsman] and the Church will be the one to pay," he emphasized. Furthermore, the financial compensation will be tax-exempt, both for amounts agreed upon from now on and for those already received.

The agreement comes after decades of silence and represents—according to both Bolaños and the Episcopal and Religious Conferences—"an undeniable step towards achieving justice." The agreement, which gives a "central" role to the Ombudsman, provides a one-year period (with the possibility of extensions) for victims to contact the administration and present their case. It is intended for victims for whom "legal recourse is no longer possible," either because the incident occurred many years ago or has already passed. The signing took place early Thursday morning, and in addition to the Spanish government, those in attendance included the president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE), Luis Argüello, and the president of the Spanish Conference of Religious, Jesús Díaz Sariego.

Argüello: "It is the recognition of a moral obligation"

Argüello, in turn, emphasized that the Church wants to "assume responsibilities" and "broaden its perspective." "This agreement is the recognition of a moral obligation," he said. "It represents a step forward for the Church, from which we learn by listening to people and by the desire for truth and justice to shine forth," added the president of the Episcopal Conference. This religious institution also explained that the intention of the agreement is to extend it to "other areas," outside the Church, where abuses have also occurred, "such as in sports or in juvenile detention centers." For this reason, Argüello asked the Spanish government to incorporate the pact into the law on the protection of minors and to use it as a general protocol for reparations. "Despite the pain this situation represents for the Church, perpetrated against our very will and by people who should have inspired trust, we hope that this step, this experience, will also serve all other areas," said the president of the Episcopal Conference. Bolaños also pointed out that the agreement "comes late," but argued that it is retroactive. "There are victims who yesterday had nothing; who couldn't initiate legal action because everything had expired: this agreement is for them," he concluded. The minister also took the opportunity to thank both the Church and the victims' associations for their willingness to negotiate. He also explained that, throughout this process, he had met several times with Pope Francis and considered the Vatican—now also with Leo XIV as pontiff—to have been a key figure in promoting the agreement. According to the report on pedophilia in the Church Prepared by the Ombudsman in 20231.13% of the adult population in Spain has suffered sexual abuse within religious settings, and 0.6% directly at the hands of priests and religious figures. Extrapolating these figures, this would represent approximately 440,000 victims in the first case and 234,000 in the second, out of a total of around 39 million adults nationwide. The agreement comes at a time of tension between the Spanish government and the Church. It is worth recalling that Argüello expressed his opinion in December. in an interview The Vanguard that in Spain "you have to go to a vote of confidence, a motion of censure or elections", and thus challenged Pedro Sánchez's desire to serve out his term until 2027.