A new commission is currently being established in Spain this week in order to investigate child sex abuse cases in the Catholic Church as part of the efforts by Pope Francis to cope with the spread of the sexual abuse crisis plaguing the Church.
The Spanish commission will be made up of church lawyers and will start preparing this week to prepare the materials for the meeting called by the Pope to sort out the issue of sexual abuse cases in the Catholic Church in February. According to the statement of the National Bishops' Conference released on Tuesday, the group would also be looking into updating the protocols on how child sexual abuse cases are handled and create new rules to replace the current one, which was introduced in 2010.
The current rules help bishops, priests, and other religious officials and institutions to handle cases of sexual abuse, aggression towards minors and possession of child pornography material.
In an interview released on Monday at the newspaper El Pais, judicial vicar Gil Jose Saez Martinez said that the church had hushed up so many cases of abuse around the world since the beginning of the 20th century, including in Spain. He also adds that the Spanish diocese do not keep documents showing that priests were moved from their original parishes because of reports and evidences of sexual abuse.
In 2015, 10 Spanish priests were charged with child sexual abuse cases in a case that was filed after Pope Francis contacted the victim to offer the Church's apology.
