A nearly 800 page report by Spain's Defensor del Pueblo (the national Ombudsman, a constitutional office reporting to Parliament), presented to the Speaker of the Congress of Deputies on 23 October 2023 after an eighteen month independent investigation ordered by Congress. The Ombudsman's own team directly investigated 487 cases brought to it by alleged victims between July 2022 and October 2023. Separately, the office commissioned a population survey of 8,000 people (a nationally representative sample with a margin of error of about 1.1 percentage points), which extrapolated that as many as 440,000 people in Spain may have experienced sexual abuse connected to the Catholic Church across recent decades; the Ombudsman's own report is explicit that this is a survey based estimate, not a count of individually verified cases, and states the two figures separately rather than combining them. Ombudsman Angel Gabilondo's report criticized the church's historical response as minimizing rather than confronting the problem.
Facts
Citation
AuthorAngel Gabilondo, Defensor del Pueblo (Spanish Ombudsman)
PublisherDefensor del Pueblo, presented to the Spanish Congress of Deputies
Publication Year2023
URLhttps://www.defensordelpueblo.es/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/INFORME_abusos_Iglesia_catolica.pdf
Source TypeGovernment report
Assessment
Reliability Tier1
Tier 1: a constitutional state oversight office reporting directly to the national parliament, hosted on its own current government domain. NotesTier 1: a constitutional state oversight office reporting directly to the national parliament, hosted on its own current government domain.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Pueblo directly: "page report by Spain's Defensor del Pueblo (the national Ombudsman, a constitutional office reporting to Parliament), presented to the Speaker of the Congress of Deputies on 23 October 2023 after an..."
This source names Spain directly: "A nearly 800 page report by Spain's Defensor del Pueblo (the national Ombudsman, a constitutional office reporting to Parliament), presented to the Speaker of the Congress of Deputies on 23 October..."
Claims Backed By This Source (27 claims)
This source backs 27 claims across the atlas. As facts: 18 well-attested, 1 scholarly debate. As cited relationships: 4 holds, 2 connected. Plus 2 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
Disposition By Topic
- Abuse Inquiries and Response Policies, 11 claims: 7 well-attested, 1 scholarly debate, 2 holds, 1 general references.
- Sources, 10 claims: 8 well-attested, 2 holds.
- Articles, 5 claims: 3 well-attested, 1 connected, 1 general references.
- Denominations, 1 claims: 1 connected.
Well-attested
18Abuse Inquiries and Response Policies
Scholarly debate
1Abuse Inquiries and Response Policies
Holds
4Abuse Inquiries and Response Policies
General References
2Abuse Inquiries and Response Policies
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