Madrid archdiocese provided support for 85 abuse victims in 2020

Madrid, Spain, Feb 16, 2021 / 02:56 pm MT (CNA).- The Archdiocese of Madrid provided support services for 85 victims of abuse in 2020, 75 of them direct victims and 10 who were family members.

The 85 victims received free psychological care and listening sessions offered through the Repara Project for the prevention of abuse and care for victims, launched in January 2020.
Altogether, the Repara Project provided free 400 psychological care and listening sessions in its first year of operation.

 “As it’s a project open to anyone who has been a victim of abuse, regardless of who the aggressor was and whether or not (those involved) belong to the Catholic Church, of the 75 likely cases of abuse that have come to the Repara Project, 35 involved domestic abuse,” the archdiocese stated.

The archdiocese said that 13 of the abuse cases took place in a “secular environment - private individuals unrelated to family life -; 13 in a religious environment – connected to consecrated life -; nine involving priests from the diocese of Madrid, and five priests from other dioceses.”

Of the 75 victims of direct abuse that were provided care, “57 are women and 18 are men”; "64 involve sexual abuse and the other 11 abuse of authority and conscience"; "Of the 64 cases of sexual abuse, nine pertain to minors at the time of the complaint, all in a domestic or secular environment."

"Of the cases of sexual abuse, nine are related to the diocesan environment (eight in Madrid and one in another diocese) and nine to the consecrated religious environment, a good part of them referring to events of several decades ago." In addition, "of the eight cases of sexual abuse reported to Repara in relation to diocesan priests in Madrid, one victim was a minor when the events took place, although the person requested help as an adult."

Finally, "within the religious environment, seven victims were minors at the time of the events and asked for help as adults."