A few days ago the Ombudsman made public the ‘Report on sexual abuse in the Catholic Church and the role of public powers’, much discussed methodologically, which revealed the high number of people who had suffered sexual abuse within institutions linked to the Catholic Church, a sad reality that until very recently remained silent.
The role of some media outlets such as EL PERIÓDICO DE CATALUNYA and the bravery of many victims have allowed this reality to emerge, as well as the connivance with which the religious authorities faced the situation, while embarking on a path of restoration for the victims, when less from the symbolic point of view, since justice from a criminal point of view, in many cases, is not possible due to the statute of limitations on crimes.
The Episcopal Conferencewhich remains awaiting the results of the internal audit which he commissioned the Cremades & Calvo-Sotelo firm in this regard more than a year ago, assumed many of the conclusions of the study and reiterated the demand for forgiveness, although denounced the survey projection as misleading which would bring the number of people affected in the area of religious institutions to over 400,000 people. In this episcopal reply, the existence in the same Ombudsman survey of other very revealing figures about abuse that have deserved less attention was recalled. Because if of the total number of abuses, those that occur in the religious or religious educational sphere are 10.5%, the abuses in the family sphere rise to the scandalous figure of 34.01%.
And we are not talking about a remote or near past (although even when this is the case, its consequences are still carried by the victims today). Real cases, today and here, indicate that More than half of child abuse occurs at home. This is the devastating balance of the annual activity report of the Team Emma, the Violence Against Children and Adolescents Care Unit of the Vall d’Hebron Hospital. The family environment, where children must be loved, respected and protected, is where they are most abused, in most cases by the father or some male figure with whom they live, since 97% of These abuses are committed by men. This situation of closeness, trust and hierarchy favors the manipulation and silence of the victims and leaves them in a clear situation of defenselessness and vulnerability.
To insist, therefore, on the need for a emotional-sexual education from a very early age (not only within the family) and in teaching children which behaviors are acceptable and which are not, as well as in need to report abuse when it occurs, transferring the situation to the closest people, is essential to prevent and combat abuse when it occurs. The impact on the physical and mental health of these children is enormous, so the early detection is of vital importance to ensure your recovery. Otherwise, trauma, and an unfair sense of stigma and guilt can accompany them throughout their lives and in the long run reproduce the behaviors of which they have been victims.