Over 200,000 minors are estimated to have been sexually abused in Spain by the Roman Catholic clergy since 1940, according to an independent commission published.
The report did not give a specific figure but said a poll of over 8,000 people found that 0.6 percent of Spain’s adult population of around 39 million people said they had suffered sexual abuse by members of the clergy when they were still children.
The percentage rises to 1.13 percent – or over 400,000 people – when including abuse by lay members, Spain’s national ombudsman Angel Gabilondo told a news conference called to present the findings of the report.
The revelations in Spain are the latest to rock the Roman Catholic Church after a series of sexual abuse scandals around the world, often involving children, over the past 20 years.
But unlike in other nations, in Spain – a traditionally Catholic country that has become highly secular – clerical abuse allegations are only now gaining traction, leading to accusations by survivors of stonewalling.
