The Prosecutor’s Office requests information from the Church about clerical pedophilia, while the Episcopal Conference throws balls and avoids sending information related to cases established or convicted in the past. This is clear from the communication that the General Secretariat of the EEC sent to dioceses in November in response to a request made by the State Prosecutor’s Office to send them “information about complaints or testimonies collected from the help office. “Victims related to crimes against sexual freedom against minors in congregations, schools or other religious institutions.” as reported Country.
A letter from the new General Secretary of the Episcopal Conference, Cesar GarcÃa Magán, advises dioceses “that there is no case forwarded to the Prosecutor’s Office that has not previously been submitted to the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office,” and that the response is coordinated by a lawyer representing the Episcopal Conference. To facilitate a unanimous response, the letter was even accompanied by two models, which elDiario.es had access to, illustrating this information.
Thus, each diocese responds individually to the requests of the prosecutor’s office, but in exactly the same way as others. “We have come to inform the prosecutor’s office that, except unintentionally, “complaints or testimonies collected from the victim assistance service about the commission of crimes against sexual freedom against minors” have already been timely reported to the competent prosecutor’s office. [de *]dated [xx de xxx de xxxx]”.
Another draft, intended for dioceses that do not have open canonical processes, says: “We have come to inform the prosecutor’s office that, except involuntarily, there are no “complaints or statements collected from the victim assistance service to the commission. on crimes committed against minors against sexual freedom”. In no case are we talking about cases of abuse with adult victims and which are established, which the prosecutor’s office also required to be a real scenario of the situation of violence in the church. is only legal. And the bishops believe that they are not obliged to report these cases to the judicial authority.
The response model also reveals that, although the EEC internally coordinates information related to pedophilia as well as the Spanish Church’s responses to the prosecutor’s request, the bishops refuse to institutionalize the cooperation they have announced with the Ministry of Justice. . The letter, which will begin to be sent from each diocese to the prosecutor’s office in the coming days, reads: “Regarding your request regarding other religious institutions. [Archidiócesis/Diócesis] It should be noted that the various Institutes of Apostolic Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, together with the Colleges and other institutions dependent on them, are autonomous entities with their own legal personality and distinct from it. [arzobispado/obispado]For this reason, in order to collect the data they refer to, they have to request each of these agencies from the prosecutor’s office. In other words, each institution should be asked individually, even if a similar response is obtained from others.
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Source: El Diario
