Spain’s Roman Catholic Church reached an agreement with the government to compensate victims of sexual abuse by members of the clergy. The government will manage compensation in co-ordination with the Church, including cases where other legal avenues are unavailable because the alleged crime is too old or the accused has died. Victims will file cases with a new justice ministry agency, which will send them to the ombudsman’s office to draft a reparation proposal that the Church must accept or have reviewed again by the ombudsman. A 2023 ombudsman study estimated 1.1% of Spain’s population, about 440,000 people, suffered sexual abuse by clergy or people linked to the Church, and the Church contested the findings.