More Montserrat sexual abuse allegations emerge

The number of allegations of sexual abuse continue to grow. Five men and a woman have so far alleged they were victims of abuse as children by a Montserrat monk, Andreu Soler, who died in 2008. The victims were all former members of the Montserrat scouts, which was founded and headed by Soler for 40 years. The Montserrat authorities are aware that more allegations could surface and have set up an independent committee made up of a lawyer, a doctor, a psychologist and a monk to study each case, including any that may yet emerge. For this purpose, the Montserrat authorities have provided the email address: transparencia.montserrat@gmail, so that any former scouts who were victims of Soler can get in touch with them.

The first person to make an allegation was Miguel Ángel Hurtado, who told El Periódico and El País newspapers that he suffered abuse by Soler in 1998. In fact, Hurtado accuses the Montserrat authorities of trying to cover up the abuse, and while they say this is the only case of abuse by Soler they were aware of, their version of how it was dealt with differs from that of Hurtado.

With other sexual abuse allegations made against a priest in Girona this week, Catalonia’s religious community have scheduled a meeting on February 19 to discuss how to go about preventing abuse and protecting children.