ISTANBUL (TURKEY)
TRT News
February 18, 2019
As church sex abuse scandals continue to make headlines in the United States, Ireland or Australia, few complaints were made public in Spain. The man investigating the allegations believe the victims might have faced discouragement.
Santa Maria de Montserrat, a Benedictine abbey, is one churches where priests have been accused of sex abuse. The abbey is located on the mountain of Montserrat, in Monistrol de Montserrat, in Catalonia, Spain.
A trickle of accusations of sexual abuse against priests in schools and seminaries is starting to erode the wall of silence in Catholic Spain, whose Church representatives are set to attend a major Vatican meeting on child protection.
“This is only the tip of the iceberg,” warned Miguel Hurtado, who recently made his case public.
“They’re not ready for the tsunami that is coming,” the 36-year-old said defiantly.
For 20 years, Hurtado stayed quiet, trying to come to terms with the abuse he suffered when he joined a boy scout troop at the Santa Maria de Montserrat Abbey, which sits high up in jagged mountains northwest of Barcelona.
“I was too scared”
His alleged abuser, whom Hurtado accuses of fondling him for a year, was a charismatic monk who founded the group and died in 2008.
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