Spain's Roman Catholic Church has reached an agreement with the government to compensate victims of sexual abuse by members of the clergy.
The accord follows complaints that religious leaders had failed to tackle the issue adequately.
It means the government will manage possible compensation in co-ordination with the Church, handling cases where other legal avenues are no longer available because the alleged crime took place too long ago or the individual accused has passed away.
Hundreds of thousands of Spaniards are estimated by the government to have suffered sexual abuse at the hands of Church figures. The move follows similar redress schemes in other nations where abuse has been uncovered.
Justice Minister Félix Bolaños stated, 'A democracy should not allow the existence of victims who have never been compensated [and] whose situation, on the contrary, had been covered up.'
The agreement reflects a commitment to address a historic, moral debt to victims of abuse within the Church.
A 2023 study estimated that 1.1% of the population, roughly 440,000 people, had suffered sexual abuse linked to the Church.
This new initiative provides a framework for victims to file cases before a newly established agency by the Justice Ministry, which will then liaise with the ombudsman's office to propose compensation measures. The Church is responsible for executing the reparations.
Victims' organizations welcomed the agreement, emphasizing that the Church should have confronted the issue much earlier instead of covering up the abuses.
