The Italian Church announces an investigation into sexual abuse

The Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI) has just elected Cardinal Matteo Zuppi as the new president of the bishops.

The prelate is a man close to the Pope and to his ideological and ecclesial line.

A street priest, simple and close to the social peripheries that Francis cites so much.

And one of the first decisions he had to make is whether the CIS would open an independent investigation into cases of sexual abuse in the Italian Church in recent decades.

The response, at the first press conference he held, was bittersweet for the victims.

An independent report will be produced, he said, but it will only cover the last 20 years.

A fact that disappoints the victims and that, clearly, will not serve to repair the pain, lies and cover-ups of recent decades.

The statement issued by the CEI indicates that the data in the hands of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the dicastery that is in charge of the processes in the second instance of this type of case (normally the first instance corresponds to the diocese of turn).

Said report, they announced, will be carried out with the collaboration of independent organizations, which will seek high-level profiles, according to the CEI itself, and "will allow a deeper and more objective knowledge and improve prevention and measures to accompany victims and survivors and perfect the criteria of the investigation”, reads the note.

The victims' associations, however, had requested a report covering at least the last 60-70 years.

In addition, it was requested that the archives of all schools, monasteries, dioceses and other Catholic centers be opened.

The new president of the CEI assured that the report will be published on November 18 and that he has chosen to leave since 2000 because "it was much more serious".

“It is not true that we want to cover anything.

It is seriousness.

We want to receive the sticks we deserve.

But we want fair transparency.

Some data may be debatable, as has happened with the report in France,” said Zuppi, referring to the methodology used in the analysis of the French church, discussed in some Church circles.

Estimates of the possible number of victims in Italy are by far among the highest in Europe.

Francesco Zanardi, abused as a child by a Savona priest and president of the association, which has just launched the #ItalyChurchToo (Italian Church too) initiative to try to shake the static board, believes that they could be around one million cases in the last 70 years.

On the association's website there is a map designed with the cases registered in the last 17 years: 360, of which 163 are finally convicted.

All others are still open or have been archived.

Therefore, it is necessary in an investigation of this type that the files be opened to review all those cases.

Zanardi was deeply disappointed with the decision on Friday.

“Italy is the first Episcopal Conference in the world that goes beyond the lines of action used by the rest.

It is a very discriminating view.

Imagine the disappointment and pain of the victims whose case is more than 20 years old.

Think how they feel knowing that their suffering and the violations they suffered are not recognized, ”he denounces.

Zanardi also believes that this study "is not independent."

“There is no talk of access to the cases of the magistracies either.

What cases are they?

Those of the diocese, of course.

But the victims almost never go to the priests to denounce them.

And that's a step backwards.

They have done something because they had to, because of the pressure.

And here who must be judged is the Church,

an institution that has raped thousands and thousands of children and is investigating itself.

And only for the last 20 years!”

The main problem with the investigation announced by the CEI is that the period of time it intends to cover is not, by far, the one with the most victims.

The majority of cases, in all countries, occurred between 1960 and 1990. The culture of abuse, silence and cover-up greatly diminished into the 21st century.

It is also strange that the Italian Church has decided to announce this study without even speaking to the victims.

Lucetta Scaraffia, Church historian and co-author of

(Solferino, 2022) co-author of the book “What they have done is terrible.

They won't get anything.

It is just a way to confuse the waters and prevent the truth from being known, ”she criticizes.

Italy has lived with its back to this phenomenon in recent decades.

The proximity of the Vatican and the Church's involvement in the country's political and social customs have made this battle marginal.

The only parliamentary interpellation, proposed by Senator Matteo Mantero in 2017, today a parliamentarian of the left-wing group Potere al popolo!, fell on deaf ears.

The election of Cardinal Zuppi as the new head of the Italian bishops gave hope to the victims.

Some, like Zanardi himself, went to his press conference to see if it could be a real breakthrough.