El Pais Investigation Documents Over 3,000 Child Sexual Abuse Cases in Spanish Catholic Church
El Pais newspaper's eight-year investigation has documented 3,084 victims of sexual abuse as minors within the Spanish Catholic Church, with 1,613 accused clerics representing 1.46% of all priests and laypeople who served in Spain over 80 years. The investigation, which began in 2018 with only 34 known cases, reveals a pattern of transferring accused priests between parishes or abroad, often to Latin America, without canonical or civil consequences. The Spanish Episcopal Conference has been accused of prioritizing "opacity and denial" while the Vatican has delegated responsibility to Spanish bishops.