The Ombudsman has clarified in a resolution dated April 14, 2026—when the system for repairing victims of abuses in the ecclesiastical sphere was beginning to be implemented—that the agreement signed with the Church does not have legally binding character, but rather it is a “general protocol of action without legal effects”.
A clarification after the signing of the agreement
The precision comes after an agreement was signed on March 30 between the Ministry of the Presidency, the Ombudsman, the Spanish Episcopal Conference, and the Spanish Conference of Religious to organize the system for recognition and reparation of victims.
That mechanism came into force in mid-April. It is in that context that the Ombudsman now takes a position on the legal nature of the agreement.
According to the resolution, to which Religión Confidencial has had access, there is no agreement with the Church, but only a protocol that “entails statements of intent” and “does not imply the formalization of specific and enforceable legal commitments”.
Difference between agreement and protocol
The document insists on distinguishing between both figures. While an administrative agreement implies legal obligations between the parties, the protocol—according to Law 40/2015—is limited to expressing a willingness to collaborate without legal effects.
The agreement’s own clause states that it does not generate enforceable obligations, which allows the Ombudsman to emphasize that its institutional independence remains intact.
Reaffirmation of institutional independence
In that same resolution, the institution recalls that article 6.1 of its organic law remains fully in force. This states that the Ombudsman “will not be subject to any imperative mandate” and “will not receive instructions from any authority”.
In this way, the body emphasizes that its participation in the reparation system does not imply subordination or legal linkage with any of the signing parties, including the Church.
Participation in a system already in operation
Despite that clarification, the Ombudsman is part of the system designed for the recognition of victims, in which it intervenes alongside public authorities and ecclesiastical institutions.
The signed protocol outlines a specific mechanism of action, in which the Ombudsman participates in the evaluation of cases, while the ecclesiastical entities assume the execution of the reparation measures.