Bishops in Spain ask lawyers to audit their sex abuse record

MADRID — A Madrid-based law firm will conduct a year-long inquiry into past and present sexual abuse committed by Spain’s Roman Catholic clergy, members of religious orders, teachers and others associated with the church, the law firm and the head of the country’s bishops’ conference said Tuesday. Cardinal Juan José Omella, the conference’s president, said the goal of the inquiry by law firm Cremades & Calvo Sotelo “is the help and reparation of the victims, establishing new and additional channels to collaborate and denounce in addition to those existing in over 40 offices established by the Church.” The inquiry is intended to cover all abuse and is not limited to investigating only cases in a certain time period, according to Javier Cremades, the law firm’s founder. Cremades said, as a faithful Catholic himself, he was both overwhelmed by the task and “convinced that the Church must go to the end, get to the bottom, investigate, beg for pardon, if it’s needed, and rectify everything that is necessary.” He said his firm would act pro-bono and only seek for the Episcopal Conference to pay logistical costs or the fees of external advisors. Asked by The Associated Press about the change in approach, Omella said that the audit was the result of long reflection and internal debate: “It’s not easy to take a quick decision.” Cremades and Omella presented the law firm’s investigation as an external audit.