Alfredo Fernández sits in a church in Pozuelo de Alarcón.
EL PAÍS launched an investigation into pedophilia in the Spanish church in 2018 and has an updated database of all known cases. If you know of a case that has not yet come to light, you can write to us at: [email protected]. If it concerns a case in Latin America, the address is: [email protected].
─────────
A member of Opus Dei, journalist and official in the press office of the city council of Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, has fabricated a case of pedophilia in the church, which he sent to the email opened by EL PAÍS to investigate this scourge also to the Ombudsman Victim Support Unit. His name is Alfredo Fernández and he himself admitted it in an interview with this newspaper. He explains that he was trying to discredit this newspaper’s investigation because it “denigrates” the church. “As a journalist, it didn’t raise any ethical doubts in my mind,” he says. This newspaper’s work, which began in 2018, has uncovered hundreds of cases and led last year to Congress ordering an ombudsman investigation and the church itself requesting a law firm audit. Currently, this newspaper’s database, which brings together all known cases of abuse in the church in Spain and is the only one that exists, counts 1,378 defendants and 2,504 victims.
Fernández appeared last week in the Abc newspaper with a photo in which he concealed his identity and told how, in his opinion, he had deceived both this newspaper and the institution headed by Ángel Gabilondo. EL PAÍS received a message from him in July 2022 in which the sender warned that he did not want to speak on the phone or in person because it was too painful for him to tell his case. The newspaper exchanged messages with him for six months and eventually included his highly detailed, five-page story in the third case report that this newspaper submitted to the church in December 2022 so that it could investigate the case. Another six months later, in July 2023, the newspaper published an article about 44 cases the Piarists were investigating, including this one, and questioned the Order about all of them. The municipality said it had not yet been able to determine anything about this specific case. It was mentioned in the text in the tenth paragraph. The ombudsman, for his part, added the testimonies of all the people collected, a total of 487. Two weeks after presenting Gabilondo’s report, Fernández boasted on ABC that he had made his lie “secretly.”
Fernández assures that he did not act alone, but with “a group of Catholics.” He specifies that it is not an Opus Dei group or a parish, but “a group of friends”. He claims that he did it individually and that he did not inform the factory about it either. “Opus Dei has nothing to do with it and knows nothing about it, none of the other people are from Opus Dei. It is a purely personal initiative.” When asked if he believes that the plant supports and supports these types of initiatives, he replied: “I don’t know. “I didn’t ask because we have enough freedom to make our own decisions.”
When informed about the case by this newspaper, La Obra issued the following statement: “We learned from EL PAÍS who was the author of this fiction. We do not know the origins or management of this initiative. In Opus Dei people act freely and on their own responsibility. From the communications department of Opus Dei, we would like to emphasize that we reject any action that could increase the pain of the real victims or question their credibility.” When asked if he believes that he has done it well and respectfully towards the victims Fernández replied: “Yes, if he hadn’t, he wouldn’t have done it.”
The false victim points out that the city council where she works in the press office didn’t know anything about her initiative either: “I don’t know, but I don’t care, there are no incompatibilities, not even thematically.” not based on salary, because I did it for free, I’m a normal citizen who can do whatever he wants outside of his job.” He claims that he didn’t send the emails during working hours: “Maybe yes, Maybe not, but in any case we all have the right to half an hour of breakfast and can therefore do whatever we want.” The Pozuelo city council, governed by the PP, did not want to make any assessments because these are private activities of an official who is not personally appointed by the mayor’s office.
Three municipal sources from Pozuelo agree that the entire scam against Fernández, who has been on the city council for many years, “is very much his style,” as they confirm that he has carried out smear campaigns against his opponents through local media for years worked. . Fernández admits that he founded the Diario de Pozuelo, but assures that he no longer writes for it and that there is no incompatibility with his position in the municipal press office.
Many victims this newspaper spoke to are outraged by what happened. Miguel Hurtado, who exposed the abuses at the Montserrat Abbey in EL PAÍS, believes that “this case confirms what has been said many times, that the number of false reports of abuse in the Church is very limited.” “Studies say that victims are sometimes difficult to remember and can be confused with a person. “What happened strengthens the investigation because if we have more than a thousand victims and there is one who invented it, it is one in a thousand,” he emphasizes.
Hurtado also emphasizes that the fraud insults the victims in another aspect: “This person’s behavior shows bad faith and seeks to disqualify those of us who did it in good faith.” He knowingly makes a false report, and there When he accuses someone who doesn’t exist, he’s careful not to commit a crime, and that’s important. Because? Because when I denounced my attacker in Montserrat for abuse and the abbot for cover-up, I risked that they would denounce me for insults and slander, and the same goes for EL PAÍS, which published it. “This man doesn’t report a person’s first and last name because he risks being sued.” For Hurtado, it’s another argument that these crimes don’t have a statute of limitations: “If that were the case, this could all be resolved in court.” “This person would not have dared to go to court.”
Juan Cuatrecasas, president of Infancia Robada, considers it a “disgusting” story. “It is a lack of respect for the work of EL PAÍS and the victims,” he accuses. “You are trying to cause damage to a company and a public institution through a false report. And that is very serious. They attack the victims. If someone has the audacity to falsify an abuse case in order to deceive, it should almost be a crime and the prosecution should take note because falsifying a statement is fraud. And the joke is over. It is once again the strategy to question the credibility of the victims.” Cuatrecasas is the father of a minor who was abused at the Opus Dei Gaztelueta school in Leioa, Bizkaia, and whose complaint ended in the conviction of a teacher. He is very critical of the work: “This is another example of how he reacts, denies, distorts.”
In fact, the issue of possible false testimony regarding the abuse of minors in the church, especially when it comes to claiming reparations, is an outdated expert debate: “There is complete consensus on one idea: it is better to make reparations . “mistake.” for someone who is not a victim than leaving a single victim without redress. “You cannot distrust any statement, quite the opposite,” said Jorge Cardona, professor of international law at the University of Valencia and member of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
_