The Spanish government and the Catholic Church reached a landmark agreement on Thursday to compensate survivors of sexual abuse committed by clergy, in what officials described as an effort to address a long-standing ‘moral debt’.
The deal, signed by Justice Minister Félix Bolaños (centre, main image) and the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE), establishes a mechanism to provide reparations to victims of church-related sexual abuse who are unable to seek justice through the courts because the offences are time-barred or the victim has since died, according to a statement from the justice ministry.
‘For decades there has been silence, concealment, a moral harm often impossible to repair,’ Bolaños said at a press conference. ‘This agreement allows us to settle a historical moral debt we owed to the victims of abuse.’
Victims’ groups, which have for years accused the Church of obstructing accountability, welcomed the accord.
‘This is something we have been fighting for over many years,’ Juan Cuatrecasas, a spokesperson for the Infancia Robada (Stolen Childhood) association, told Spanish media.
‘It is also very important to us that the Church, even if under pressure from the Vatican, is now committing to provide reparations,’ added Cuatrecasas, whose son was sexually abused as a minor by a teacher at a Catholic school.
Under the new framework, the Catholic Church will finance the reparations — a first in Spain, where church authorities had previously resisted taking part in such compensation schemes.
Luis Arguello, president of the CEE, described the agreement as ‘another step along the path we have been pursuing for years’, while noting that the Church already had internal systems in place to compensate victims.
Under the process outlined, victims will submit claims to the state ombudsman’s office, which will propose reparations that could include financial compensation, moral or psychological support, restorative measures, or a combination of these, Bolaños said.
If either the victim or the Church objects to the proposal, it will be reviewed by a joint commission made up of representatives from the Church, the government and victims.
If no agreement is reached at that stage, the ombudsman’s recommendation will stand.
The claims period will remain open for one year, with the possibility of extending it by an additional year if necessary.
In a statement, the Spanish Bishops’ Conference said the agreement ‘is not based on the imposition of a legal obligation, but on the Church’s moral commitment’.
It also welcomed the government’s promise ‘to address comprehensive reparations for victims of abuse in all areas of social life’, a long-standing position of the Church, which has argued that responsibility should not be placed solely on religious institutions.
Bolaños said the Vatican had provided ‘a necessary and essential impetus’ to reach the deal, which he had previously discussed with the late Pope Francis and Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin.
Over 200,000 victims
The agreement follows a 2023 report by Spain’s ombudsman concluding that more than 200,000 minors had been subjected to sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy since 1940.
That figure could rise to 400,000 when cases involving lay staff in religious settings are included. ALSO READ: Up to 440,000 victims of child abuse in Spanish church, Ombudsman reports.
Church leaders initially rejected the report’s conclusions, arguing that a far greater number of abuse cases occurred outside the Church.
According to the Church’s own data, it has identified 1,057 ‘registered cases’, of which 358 have been classified as ‘proven’ or ‘credible’. ALSO READ: Spain’s Catholic Church discloses 101 abuse claims this year, under its new compensation system.
The agreement comes ahead of a planned visit to Spain by Pope Leo XIV in June, the Archbishop of Madrid, José Cobo, told Cope radio — which is owned by the Spanish Episcopal Conference — last month.
In contrast to other countries, Spain — traditionally Catholic but now highly secular — has only recently seen clerical abuse allegations gain wider attention, largely as a result of investigative media reporting. ALSO READ: Catholic bishop in southern Spain denies abuse allegation as Vatican opens investigation.
Efforts by the Church to compensate abuse survivors have historically been uneven, with compensation schemes and payments varying significantly from country to country.
In the United States, where the scandal first erupted in 2002, legal actions and compensation programmes have cost the Church billions of dollars, forcing some dioceses to file for bankruptcy protection.
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Hoy, cumplimos con las víctimas de abusos en el seno de la Iglesia para dejar atrás el dolor y silencio. Tendrán la reparación integral y justa que merecen.
Alcanzamos un acuerdo histórico para crear un sistema de reparación a cargo de la Iglesia. pic.twitter.com/83Rr5yTmUs
— Félix Bolaños (@felixbolanosg) January 8, 2026
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