Clerical Child Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church in Spain: A Contemporary or Historical Phenomenon?

Introduction

Studies on clerical child sexual abuse (cCSA) in the Spanish Catholic Church are scarce, as the phenomena have only recently been studied. In contrast, there have been numerous CSA scandals in European and Anglo-Saxon countries appearing in mainstream media and various government-led level inquiries since late twentieth century. The dearth of academic literature and empirical studies is attributable to the silence the Spanish Catholic Church has been able to maintain due to its privileged clerical status in the traditionally Catholic Spain.

Drawing on historical context to trace the roots of cCSA in Spain, this study establishes that there has been widespread cCSA in the country since the sixteenth century, a statement supported by an analysis of Spanish Inquisition trial records from the sixteenth through the nineteenth century. The study concludes that the Spanish Catholic Church has maintained silence to cover up abuse while denying victims help in their quests for justice. Despite changes to the Vatican's cCSA policies in the twenty-first century, the Spanish Episcopal Conference has so far failed to adopt any concrete child protection measures and has opposed a national inquiry into cCSA. As such, the paper recommends empirical studies on the subject and government-led inquiries into cCSA at the national level.

A brief history of cCSA

Literature on clerical child sexual abuse (cCSA) in Spain is scarce.¹ In the absence of concrete evidence, myths have developed about the nature and scope of cCSA which in turn has hindered disclosure by the victims, undermined their credibility when reporting CSA, and limited the development of child protection policies.² This study conducted a systematic review of published literature on cCSA in the Catholic Church in Spain to encourage research on the subject and to compensate for the aforementioned dearth of academic and empirical studies on cCSA and child sexual victimization.³

Clerical CSA in the Spanish Catholic Church has a broader historical context than just the recent scandals in the twenty-first century. The first available reference to cCSA in the Church's formal documents is about the Council of Elvira held at Elliberis in southern Spain near Granada in the years 305 and 306. Out of the eighty-one canons the council passed, thirty-eight pertained to cCSA.⁴ Specifically, canons twelve, eighteen, and seventy-one explicitly forbade communion (i.e., the performing of the service of Christian worship and last rites) at death for those engaged in cCSA.⁵

The Papal Bull, a public decree by the Pope of the Catholic Church, 'Cum Sicut Nuper' issued by Pope Pius IV (1561), which condemned priests engaging in sexual acts during confession, was directly aimed at the Spanish Catholic Church. The papal instructions called for the removal of clerical status and privileges and then handing them over to secular authorities for punishment in accordance with secular law.⁶ Similar instructions were promulgated in 1566 through the Apostolic Constitution 'Romani Pontifices' for crimes against nature.⁷

Since Pope Pius IV's 1561 decree, the crime of solicitation, involving another in the criminal act of CSA, was not only against Christian doctrine but also an abuse of the sanctity of the sacraments and treated as heresy depending upon the nature of cases.⁸ Pius IV's decision also placed the crime of solicitation under the control of the Spanish Inquisition, which operated from 1478 through 1834.⁹

Boswell quoted records of ecclesiastical trials conducted against heresy to have included "sodomy and crimes against nature" and stated that the official terminology regarding heretics included "traitors, heretics and sodomites."¹⁰ Thomsett held that cCSA was treated as heresy by the Spanish Inquisition who inflicted harsh punishments including imprisonments, torture, and executions on the perpetrators, viewing homosexuality, sodomy, and pederasty as gross sins.¹¹

As history demonstrates, policies need to be authoritative. In sixteenth century Spain, Pope Pius V ordered the death penalty for clergy involved in abusive sexual practices or "crimes against nature" through the Apostolic Constitution "Horrendumilludscelus" issued in 1568. Between the sixteenth and eighteenth century or until its disbandment...