Abuse in the Italian Catholic Church: Time to investigate?

Various associations have asked the Italian Catholic Church to start an investigation into sexual abuse. Our analyst Ghila Amati asks: isn’t it time to make amends?

This weekly comment was written by Ghila Amati and reflects her personal analyses and opinions, rather than those of EARS.

Victims are asking for justice

In February 2022, various associations gathered to ask the Italian Catholic Church to start an investigation into sexual abuse. Among them were religious and lay organisations, plus alleged victims of sexual abuse. The main goal of the association is to institute an independent commission to investigate sexual abuse within the Church. Their campaign was called ‘Beyond the Great Silence’ and used the hashtag #ItalyChurchToo. The campaigners claim to have documented hundreds of cases of abuse committed by members of the Catholic Church.^[1]

The Italian consortium was initiated after a German study in 2018 revealed that 1,670 clergymen abused 3,677 minors between 1946 and 2014. A similar investigation was recently performed in France and showed that more than 330,000 children had been abused in Catholic institutions.^[2] The association also urges enacting new bills that will help put priests who committed these crimes in jail. According to non-official assessments, the Catholic Church in Italy has the highest number of victims of paedophiles in the world.^{[3] [4] [5] [6] [7]}

The database

In the meantime, this group of associations – with the collaboration of the weekly newspaper Left and the organisation Rete l’Abuso – is mapping the already known abuse in the Italian Catholic Church. The group is gathering, categorising, and classifying all the available material on the topic. The information is all being published online on their website, starting February 18th, 2022. The website is updated whenever more cases of abuse are discovered.^[8] The database exposes the name of the priest who allegedly committed the abuse, whether the priest is under investigation or was already convicted, the type of crime, the number of the victims, the date on which the case became known, and the diocese to which it belongs.^[9]

Resistance to the inquiry

The possibility of setting up an independent commission of inquiry into the sexual abuse committed by priests is putting the Italian Church in crisis. The Catholic Church of Italy is divided between those who want to undertake the investigation and those who do not. In general, the Catholic Church of Italy together with Spain is one of the most resistant to such an inquiry, although Pope Francis has clearly pushed in the direction of having an inquiry.^[10]

For years, the Italian Bishops Conference (CEI) has postponed both a historical analysis and an investigation into sexual abuse in the Catholic Church of Italy. This by forbidding any kind of analysis of the documents found in its diocesan archives. On the other hand, a minority of bishops are in favour of the investigation. For instance, Father Hans Zollner – president of the Institute of Anthropology of the Pontifical Gregorian University – was entrusted by Pope Francis to help the prevention of sexual abuse in the Church. He argued in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Stampa for the need to launch an independent investigation into sexual abuse in the Italian Catholic Church. Zollner underlined the need to find and punish those responsible once and for all.^[11]

Right now, as a consequence of the recent events and pressure, a decision regarding the undertaking of an inquiry is due to be taken in May at a plenary to elect the new president of the Italian CEI. This is because any investigation will be done during his five-year mandate.^[12]

This weekly comment was written by Ghila Amati and reflects her personal analyses and opinions, rather than those of EARS.

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^[1] Pressure on Italian Catholic church to face child sexual abuse reckoning | Italy | The Guardian

^[2] Italy’s Catholic Church faces pressure for independent abuse inquiry | Reuters

^[3] Pressure on Italian Catholic church to face child sexual abuse reckoning | Italy | The Guardian

^[4] Nasce un «Coordinamento anti-abusi nella Chiesa»: ci sia un’indagine indipendente anche in Italia

^[5] Misbruikslachtoffers Italië eisen onafhankelijk onderzoek: ‘Kerk kan dit niet zelf’ | NOS

^[6] Nasce il coordinamento contro gli abusi della Chiesa in Italia | il manifesto

^[7] Abusi sessuali nella Chiesa, “ora una Spotlight italiana”: la campagna delle organizzazioni cattoliche. “Ma non può essere la Cei a indagare” – Il Fatto Quotidiano

^[8] Abusi nella chiesa, Cei frena sulle commissioni d’inchiesta ma le vittime si organizzano: on-line il primo database dei pedofili italiani

^[9] Abusi nella chiesa, Cei frena sulle commissioni d’inchiesta ma le vittime si organizzano: on-line il primo database dei pedofili italiani

^[10] Abusi nella chiesa, Cei frena sulle commissioni d’inchiesta ma le vittime si organizzano: on-line il primo database dei pedofili italiani

^[11]Abusi nella chiesa, Cei frena sulle commissioni d’inchiesta ma le vittime si organizzano: on-line il primo database dei pedofili italiani

^[12]Italy’s Catholic Church faces pressure for independent abuse inquiry | Reuters

^[13] Pedofilia: urge una commissione d’indagine in Italia

^[14] Child abuse scandal: Germany’s Catholic Church fights for its future

^[15] An inquiry exposed sexual abuse within French Catholic Church — now what? | Europe | News and current affairs from around the continent | DW

^[16] Spanish MPs approve investigation into sexual abuse within Catholic Church | Euronews