The Italian church clearly wants to avoid the type of outcome seen in France, where a panel of independent experts estimated that 330,000 children had been sexually abused over 70 years in the country by some 3,000 priests and church personnel, and that the crimes had been covered up “systematically” by the church hierarchy.
Organizers of the #ItalyChurchToo campaign said they doubted any inquiry undertaken by the Italian church would yield true numbers. The current proposal would base the data on a new diocesan program to hear from victims; the program is run by Italian bishops and religious superiors.
“Because they aren’t independent, that can’t be a source of data,” said Paola Lazzarini of Women for the Church, one of the campaign organizers. “We hope that with a change of the presidency (of the bishops’ conference), they come to a different proposal.”
This article originally appeared at APNews.com.
