An independent commission has estimated that 230,000 Spaniards have been sexually abused by priests since 1940.
The commission based its estimate on an extrapolation of a survey of 8,000 people, 0.6% of whom said that had been sexually abused by clergy.
The bishops “expressed their pain for the damage caused by some members of the Church with sexual abuse and reiterate their request for forgiveness from the victims.” At the same time, the bishops said that the estimated number of victims does “not correspond to the truth.”