The worldwide sexual abuse crisis has done the Roman Catholic Church massive damage to its credibility and cost hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements.
General vista of Santa Cristina church is pictured following the authority decree to shut cinemas, schools and advise individuals to job from domestic and not stand closer than one metre to each other, in Turin, Italy, March 5, 2020.
Francesco Zanardi has spent the preceding 12 years documenting sexual abuse of minors by Generic priests in Italy, filling a hoover he says due to the refusal of the country’s Church therefore far to open a main investigation.
When Italian bishops meet then a period of 7 days to elect a new president, Zanardi is hoping to see the beginning of a long-overdue reckoning for the Church, whose leaders will discuss in-case to commission an self-reliant investigation of abuse to same as to those conducted in French republic and Germany.
From his apartment in the center of Savona in northern Italy, Zanardi, 51, runs Rete l’Abuso (The Abuse Network), which has one of the largest digital archives on clerical sexual abuse in the country.
He spends much of his time seeking court documents, tracking the whereabouts of suspected abusers, talking to lawyers who help him with cases, and vetting tips from victims.
“The common thread I have found among victims is that they don’t want it to happen to others because only a victim knows what it does to you inside, even if on the outside they are smiling and look normal,” Zanardi said.
In February, Zanardi and eight other groups formed a consortium called “Beyond the Great Silence” and launched the hashtag #ItalyChurchToo to put pressure on Italy’s Church to agree to an impartial investigation.
The choice of its then chairman for a five-year term is imperative due to bishops are divided more than in-case an eventual full-scale investigation should be internal, utilizing already resources for instance diocesan anti-abuse committees, or by an external group, potentially comprising academics, lawyers and abuse experts.
They are additionally divided more than in-case it should be restricted to the current preceding or go rear decades.
A spokesman for the Italian bishops’ conference said they would discuss how to proceed when they meet.
The worldwide sexual abuse crisis has done the Roman Catholic Church massive damage to its credibility and cost hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements, with some dioceses declaring bankruptcy.