Monsignor Giuseppe Baturi, general secretary of the CEI, speaks clearly. At the end of the Permanent Council, in dialogue with journalists, he addresses the issue of child abuse. . «I also put my face to it», he says, explaining that the Episcopal Conference has launched «a pilot study on the abuses committed by clerics in Italy between 2001 and 2021», a pilot because «after this study the investigation will continue to be expanded. Ours is a prevention effort to make our environments safer and to urge a review of security criteria in all other areas of society. Now let’s look at what has emerged, but the intention is to go further, to bring out the hidden and thus contribute to justice and truth.” Speaking about the Bolzano dossier, he underlined that «we will see if other initiatives of this kind can accompany this investigation», i.e. the pilot project of the CEI, «also through collaboration with public institutions. We want to start a path that tends to impact all dioceses.” On the Piazza Armerina case, with the second degree trial against Giuseppe Rugolo, the priest sentenced in the first degree to 4 years and 6 months for sexual violence on a minor, and the indictment of Bishop Rosario Gisana, the secretary of the CEI He turns his first thoughts to the victims: “We cannot help but think of the victims,” he declares. Adding that the bishop of the Sicilian diocese “says he is calm, now there is a need for the process to ascertain the truth and the CEI will collaborate”.
Priority is support for the victims and closeness to them. It is no coincidence, recalls Monsignor Baturi, that on the last Day of Prayer for Victims of Abuse the aid was prepared together with them and their families.
On a political level, the CEI secretary applauds the commitment of Catholics and initiatives such as those in Milan and Orvieto. We look “with confidence at these experiences”, he says. If «there were another twenty we would be happier. It is a ferment that gives us hope.”
In the social sphere, the director of Caritas Don Marco Pagniello presents the social microcredit project, to help the poorest, including prisoners, to reintegrate into society and overcome difficult situations. We are talking about a microcredit fund intended for individuals to deal with unexpected expenses. The goal is to raise 30 million euros for loans of up to 8,000 euros, preventing the funds from fueling bad practices such as gambling.
On international politics, then, while the CEI welcomes the truce in Gaza and is preparing to resume pilgrimages to the Holy Land also to bring its solidarity to the Palestinian Christians who have suffered so much in these months of war and absence of pilgrims, Monsignor Baturi has no hesitations about Trump’s words: «We are interested in the dignity of man, the protection of life which is measured in terms of welcome and accompaniment. Policies, or even words, that could be harmful to the dignity of man will find our dissent. Even talking about men in this way, wherever it comes from, hurts.”
