THE Catholic Church in Spain has offered an apology to victims of child abuse and the church’s failure to investigate and punish the culprits, after the launch of an anonymous email service where victims can report incidents of abuse.
Carlos Osoro, the cardinal archbishop in Madrid and vice president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference said that reports of abuse were ‘very serious’ and apologised for the abuse suffered by children and adults over recent decades. “We say sorry. We ask for public forgiveness.”
After pledging to act on any accusations submitted to the church, Osoro said: “This is very serious. It doesn’t matter if there are two, five or 90,000, what matters is the person who has been the victim of abuse by someone who has a responsibility in the Church.
“I also publicly ask for forgiveness from here because it is serious, it is dramatic.”
An anonymous email service atencionrepara@archimadrid.es which allows victims of abuse to report mistreatment was set up by the Church of Madrid.
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