Across the Channel, this final report of just over 450 pages was eagerly awaited, after seven years of in-depth investigations with 7,300 victims in England and Wales. Created in 2015 to shed light on complaints against local authorities, religious organisations, the military and UK public and private institutions – in the wake of accusations, later denied, about an alleged pedophile ring in highest in power – the Independent Commission of Inquiry into Sexual Assault Against Minors (IICSA) released its findings on Thursday, October 20.
Advocating the introduction of a ” legal obligation “ to denounce the facts of which adults in a position of trust with children could become aware – including priests during confessions – and the creation of a compensation fund for abused persons, it devotes important sections to breaches of the Christian Churches, between 1970 and 2015, in the management of these abuses.
Latent faults
Culture of secrecy, movement of pedophile priests from one parish to another to cover up a scandal, accusations against Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster who allegedly failed to “take personal responsibility” in the case of the two victims… Pointing to latent flaws in the mechanisms for supporting victims and preventing these crimes – while acknowledging, however, certain recent improvements –, the investigation underlines that more than 3,000 complaints have thus been filed on the period against the Catholic Church, targeting a total of 936 priests, religious or lay volunteers.
It indicates that 177 prosecutions have been initiated, resulting in 133 convictions, and further believes that the number of offenses recorded is probably far below reality, whereas “more than 100 allegations of recent and older child sexual abuse have been reported each year since 2016”.
On Thursday, October 20, the Catholic Council for the Independent Investigation of Child Sexual Abuse – also created in 2015, to coincide with the start of IICSA’s work – released a statement renewing the “regret of the Church” concerning his past faults, and hammering home his commitment to do in the future “Church a safe place” for the “children and vulnerable people”. He also indicates that he is preparing to study “carefully” the content and recommendations of the national report.
Excuses
Concerning the Anglican Church, very majority in the ecclesial landscape, the latter also condemned “deference to Church authority and priests, taboos surrounding sexuality, and an environment where the alleged perpetrators were more supported than the victims, (which has) been barriers to disclosure (of the assaults) that many victims could not overcome”. In all, he points out that 390 people linked to the Church of England (Church of England) – which has more than a million regular followers – have been convicted of sexual offenses, between 1940 and 2018. In 2018, 449 reports have again been issued on the subject of child abuse, more than half of which concern religious people.
After the publication, in October 2020, of a first version of the survey dedicated to this institution, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, Primate of the Anglican Church, and his right-hand man the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell , had published a joint letter, presenting “(their) sincere apologies, from the bottom of my heart, to those who were mistreated and to (their) relatives “ for the way “shameful” which the institution has acted in recent decades. According to Telegraph, the Anglican bishops should soon discuss, in a dedicated working group, the recommendation of the IICSA calling for breaking the “confession seal” subject to a “duty of absolute confidentiality”… Which would therefore imply a modification of ecclesiastical law.
In the wake of this report, the new Home Secretary, Grant Shapps, promised that he “would use all available levers to protect children, improve law enforcement and criminal justice response, provide victims with the support they deserve and ensure that all institutions and their leaders are truly accountable ».