The committee on pederasty in the Church of Parliament received a hand-me-down yesterday. A victim, Josep Roqueta, stabbed her. This man, who as a child was raped “more than 50 times by a teacher of the Marists of Sants”, asked the parliamentarians: “Put down your mobile phone and listen to us”. This witness denounced the silence that still surrounds this problem and acknowledged that they know friends from his promotion, “including colleagues from this house (referring to politicians he did not name) victims of the pederast who abused me and who have been silent”. The difficulties in taking the step “should make it necessary that these abuses, as in many countries, never expire”.
There were five deputies in the room: from the PSC, ERC, Junts, Commons and the CUP (which had to be absent in the middle of the session, although it said it would follow the debate on the Parliament’s online channel). A deputy from Vox initially attended, but said she had entered the wrong room and excused herself before going elsewhere. The representatives of Ciutadans and PP did not appear.
The investigation commission on pederasty in the Church is called that, despite the fact that it addresses other abuses, such as those in the family, “the most numerous”, according to Alexandra Membrive and Aurora MartÃn, victims of intra-familial abuse. The accounts of the victims of sexual predators in the Church, however, won the prize. Josep Roqueta, who presented himself with Manuel Barbero, father of a son raped by another Marist teacher, managed to record a confession from his executioner. His story was published in 2016. “The next day, and without my knowing how he got my number, a high official of the congregation called me: ‘After so long, the institution did not deserve this.’ This hurts more than the 50 violationsâ€. And it was not his only reproach. Even the president of the commission, Susanna Segovia Sánchez, of En Comú Podem, apologized “if we gave the impression that we were not waiting for it”.
The writer Alejandro Palomas, another victim, also criticized the lack of empathy of the parliamentarians. “Who are you? What’s your name? Why aren’t you all in the room? Why don’t you look me in the eyes? please do it That this is not like going to the doctor and talking to a machine”. His latest work, This is not said should be required reading.
