Thirty-seven confirmed cases, 196 surviving victims, 171 of whom were minors at the time of the abuse.
These numbers reveal a dramatic and still largely hidden reality. This is the picture emerging from data published by the Permanent Observatory of the Abuse Network, covering the period between 2020 and 2025 in Sardinia.
The map of the island highlights a widespread diffusion of the phenomenon: 11 cases in Cagliari, 11 in Sassari, 8 in Oristano and 7 in Nuoro.
But the most disturbing figure concerns impunity: out of 37 recorded incidents, 30 fall within the so-called "hidden" category, while out of nearly two hundred known victims, only five have been definitively convicted.
The appeal was launched by the Regional Guarantor for Children and Adolescents, Carla Puligheddu, who openly spoke of an "alarming" situation even within the ecclesiastical sphere.
In a letter addressed to the Archbishop of Cagliari, Giuseppe Baturi, secretary general of the Italian Episcopal Conference, the guarantor urges authoritative intervention by the Sardinian Church to combat a phenomenon that, she emphasizes, is far more widespread than what emerges from the complaints.
"In Sardinia, most cases go unreported," Puligheddu writes, "contributing to the impunity of the perpetrators of horrendous crimes, made even more serious by the fact that they are perpetrated by people who, by wearing clerical garb, should be more trustworthy." This accusation directly implicates ecclesiastical institutions.
The Ombudsman calls on the Sardinian Church to perform an "act of evangelical and civil courage": full and unconditional cooperation with the judiciary, putting an end to internal management practices that, until now, have only led to oblivion and statute of limitations. "The time for silence is over," she states. "The time for protecting minors must begin."
Even more serious, according to Puligheddu, is the void in canonical justice: in 35 out of 37 cases, no proceedings have been initiated . "This means," he concludes, "that almost all victims have received no justice, either in civil or ecclesiastical courts."
