Associations of victims of sexual assaults committed by clerics in Italy launched a campaign on Tuesday (15) to call for an independent investigation into abuses against children and adolescents carried out by clerics a few kilometers from the Vatican.
Victims’ associations are calling for more willingness on the part of the Italian Church to bring to light decades of abuse and suffering. Nine organizations joined the campaign called “Beyond silence” to request the installation of a commission to investigate the cases, as happened in France, Germany and Portugal.
“The government must act, it must take advantage of the momentum created by impartial investigations in other countries,” Francesco Zanardi, founder of one of the main victims’ associations, Rete l’Abuso (Network of Abuse), told AFP.
“If Italy doesn’t do it now, I fear it never will,” said Zanardi, who was abused by a priest as a teenager.
According to Rete L’Abuso, more than 300 priests have been accused, or convicted, of sexual abuse in Italy in the last 15 years, out of a total of 50,000 religious across the peninsula. The figures are imprecise due to the absence of independent reports and investigations.
Investigations carried out in the United States, Europe and Australia have revealed the magnitude of the phenomenon, as well as the culture of cover-up that has prevailed for decades.
In January of this year, an independent report accused Pope Emeritus Benedict of covering up cases of sexual abuse against children when he was archbishop of Munich and Freising from 1977 to 1982. According to the complaint, he did not prevent a priest from abusing four boys. .
On the 8th, Joseph Ratzinger —Benedict 16’s name— acknowledged in a letter that mistakes were made in the way the Church dealt with the issue, but did not admit to having practiced irregularities or having knowledge of the cases at the time they occurred.
Data base
In response, the Italian weekly Left announced that, as of February 18, it will create a database with the names of convicted and investigated religious, with information sent by the associations.
“We want to fill a void. So much lack of attention is unacceptable,” said Federico Tulli of the magazine.
Some victims denounced the indifference of the Italian church hierarchy and the judiciary in the face of this drama. “Even among the magistrates there is reluctance,” Zanardi said.
The young Sicilian Antonio Messina, who suffered abuse between 2009 and 2013, denounced not only the pedophile priest, but also the bishop of his region who covered up his case and transferred the aggressor to another headquarters, where he continued to maintain contact with young people.
“I don’t want what happened to me to happen to other young people. It’s my goal,” he told an online press conference.
A member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, director of the Institute of Anthropology for the Prevention of Abuse and one of Pope Francis’ closest advisers, Jesuit Hans Zollner admitted, in a recent interview with AFP, the need for an investigation.
“There are probably priests who have committed abuses and continue to live without anyone bothering them,” he said.
Pope Francis, who has expressed shame over the sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy, changed the law to toughen the punishment and on Monday streamlined the Vatican’s procedures for investigating the allegations.
The reform divides the powerful Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith into two sections, which will deal separately with doctrinal and disciplinary issues.
Today, the institution is responsible for judging priests who have been accused of sexual abuse of children and adolescents and has about 20 members dedicated almost exclusively to this task.
Zanardi believes, however, that all investigations should be independent: “I would have little faith” in an internal investigation, he acknowledged.
The Italian Catholic Church retains great influence, and two-thirds of the population are faithful, according to a 2019 survey.
“There is total silence in the Italian media and in the government in Rome,” lamented Zanardi. “With no one demanding action, the Italian Bishops’ Conference does what it wants,” he added.
