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.
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 next week to elect a new president, Zanardi is hoping to see the start of a long-overdue reckoning for the Church, whose leaders will discuss whether to commission an independent investigation of abuse similar to those carried out in France 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.
“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.
Pedro Salinas, Francois Devaux, Francesco Zanardi and Peter Iseley, survivors of sexual abuse, talk to journalists external the Vatican in Rome, Italia Feb 20, 2019In February, Zanardi and 8th other groups formed a consortium titled “Beyond the Noteworthy Silence” and launched the hashtag #ItalyChurchToo to put pressure on Italy’s Church to accept to an detached investigation.
The choice of its next president for a five-year term is crucial because bishops are divided over whether an eventual full-scale investigation should be internal, using existing resources such as diocesan anti-abuse committees, or by an outside group, potentially comprising academics, lawyers and abuse experts.
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.
Italy’s Church, as a group, has not issued a sweeping formal apology for abuse although individual bishops have