Spain: Government and Church reach joint plan to compensate victims of sexual abuse

The Spanish government and the country's Catholic Church agreed today on a joint plan to compensate victims of sexual abuse committed by deceased priests.

The Spanish Episcopal Conference said the new agreement would allow victims who do not want to seek help directly from the church to turn to the government and the state ombudsman, who has taken a leading role in shedding light on abuse.

Justice Minister Felix Bolaños told a news conference in Madrid that victims whose aggressors have passed away or are now very old could finally receive recognition for abuse and economic reparations paid by the church.

"Today we have paid the debt to the victims. It is true that the state reacted late, but we are acting now. Yesterday the victims could not do anything because these crimes were excluded," he said.

In 2023, the Spanish Ombudsman published an 800-page report that investigated 487 known cases of sexual abuse and included a survey that calculated that the number of possible victims could reach hundreds of thousands.

The bishops strongly disputed that assessment and stated that their own investigation had uncovered 728 sexual abusers within the church since 1945.

It is stated that most of the crimes occurred before 1990 and that 60 percent of the aggressors are now dead.

In 2024, the government announced its intention to force the church to compensate victims, and a few months later, the bishops said they were forming a special committee to hear victims, assess their claims, and ensure their "economic, spiritual, and psychological" reparations.

Archbishop Luis Arguello acknowledged today that some victims did not feel comfortable approaching church offices, and they can now turn to the Ministry of Justice.

The ministry will forward the proposal to the ombudsman, who will study it and propose a compensation package that will then be assessed by the church board.

If no agreement is reached with the church and the victim, the case will be considered before a joint committee with representatives of the church, the ombudsman's office, and the victims' association.

Bolanos thanked the late Pope Francis and the current Pope Leo XIV for exposing abuse in the church.

Arguello said the church has already paid out two million euros in compensation after accepting petitions from more than a hundred victims since its special committee was established in 2024.

The Vatican's advisory committee for child protection said in its report last year that the Catholic Church has a moral obligation to help victims recover and that financial reparations for the abused and stricter sanctions for abusers and their enablers are necessary solutions.