The diocese of Barcelona, Barbastro, Sant Feliu and Vitoria are the only four Spanish dioceses (of the 70 in Spain) that they have sent to the State Attorney General’s Office specific data – such as, for example, the name of the victim – of the cases of sexual abuse reported in their dioceses, according to the data to which Europa Press has had access.
Another 26 dioceses have responded to the Prosecutor’s Office, although only with model letters. Of these, 19 dioceses have sent an acknowledgment of receipt informing the Prosecutor’s Office that “except for inadvertence, there are no complaints or testimonies collected from the victim assistance offices regarding the commission of crimes against sexual freedom against minors. “. Another 7 dioceses have also responded with an acknowledgment stating that “the complaints or testimonies collected from the victim assistance offices regarding the commission of crimes against sexual freedom against minors have already been duly brought to the attention of the competent Prosecutor’s Office”, indicating the date on which it was made.
Thus, in total, a total of 30 dioceses of the 70 in Spain have responded to the Prosecutor’s Office -although most without providing significant data-. According to tax sources to Europa Press, this same Thursday the response from the diocese of Terrassa arrived, assuring that they are not aware of any case, and the diocese of Ciudad Rodrigo replied twice, once stating that they had no record of any complaint and another specifying that they had received a case.
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The same sources add that in all the responses from the dioceses it is stated that they are not competent in relation to other religious institutionssince the different institutes of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life, with the colleges that depend on them, are autonomous entities with their own legal personality and different from that of the bishopric.
The State Attorney General, Alvaro Garcia Ortizadvanced this Thursday, during an appearance in the Senate, that in view of the “very little information received” by the different dioceses on cases of sexual abuse of minors, will send letters to certain entities and religious congregations in the coming days to gather information on cases for which the Prosecutor’s Office still lacks data.