Juan Cuatrecasas, Miguel Hurtado y Peter Staunders, esta mañana en el Monasterio de Montserrat. En vídeo, declaraciones del abad de Montserrat, Josep Maria Soler. CARLES RIBAS | efe

El abad de Montserrat, Josep Maria Soler, ha pedido en la homilía de este domingo por la mañana perdón a las víctimas de abusos sexuales cometidos por un monje de la congregación benedictina, el hermano Andreu Soler, que han sido denunciados en las últimas semanas. "Estos hechos han conmovido a todo el mundo y de una manera muy especial a nuestra comunidad", ha asegurado Soler.

"Pedimos humildemente perdón a las víctimas, nos solidarizamos con su dolor y les ofrecemos todo nuestro apoyo. Los abusos sexuales a menores por parte de personas consagradas a Dios nos duelen profundamente porque hieren la parte más vulnerable de las víctimas y traicionan la confianza que habían depositado en ellos", ha seguido el abad.

La declaración se ha producido poco después de que algunas víctimas de presuntos abusos sexuales por sacerdotes hayan llevado a cabo en el monasterio el primer acto de protesta por la catarata de casos que están aflorando en los últimos meses en España. La concentración ha estado protagonizada por Miguel Hurtado, el primer denunciante de las agresiones infligidas durante los años 70 por el hermano Andreu, que durante cuatro décadas dirigió el grupo de scouts de la abadía benedictina.

"El abad debe dimitir inmediatamente por encubrir durante 18 años los abusos del hermano Andreu", ha declarado Hurtado, quien el pasado 19 de enero destapó el caso a través de las páginas de EL PAÍS. Desde entonces, otras cuatro personas han denunciado públicamente haber sufrido abusos del mismo monje.

ampliar foto El abad de Montserrat, Josep Maria Soler, durante la homilía. CARLES RIBAS

"No los conozco, son de otras edades. Pero esto corrobora aún más que nos encontramos ante un auténtico depredador que durante décadas abusó de los niños que pasaban por el monasterio sin que sus responsables hicieran nada", ha añadido Hurtado. Este ha recordado que "al menos ya en 1978 hubo las primeras quejas de una familia contra Soler, por lo que los abades encubridores son tres".

Al acto también han asistido Juan Cuatrecasas, presidente de Infancias Robadas —primera asociación española de apoyo a las víctimas de la pederastia en la Iglesia— y padre de un menor que sufrió abusos en el colegio vizcaíno del Opus Dei Gaztelueta, y Peter Saunders, víctima de abusos que fue miembro de la comisión antipederastia del Vaticano.

"Es hora de que la ley, la Iglesia y las autoridades empiecen a adaptarse a las víctimas, y no al revés", ha defendido Cuatrecasas. "Esto incluye el fin de la prescripción de estos delitos, pero también otros aspectos de la vida diaria de las víctimas. Muchas van a necesitar apoyo durante años, quizá durante toda la vida, y todas las instituciones deberían poner de su parte. Sigue habiendo muchas resistencias para afrontar el problema en toda su magnitud", ha añadido.

Cuatrecasas ha puesto un ejemplo reciente de su hijo: "Pagamos la matrícula universitaria de este curso, pero no ha podido ni empezar porque ha tenido un bajón emocional fuerte. Universidades, servicios públicos... todos ellos deben sumar en el apoyo a las víctimas".

Todos los participantes han sido muy críticos con el papel desempeñado hasta la fecha por la Iglesia, incluso con el Papa. "Lo que debería hacer no es solo reunirse con sus obispos, muchos de los cuales son encubridores. Debería reunirse con expertos en la materia y también con las víctimas", ha defendido Saunders.

La gestión que Montserrat está haciendo de las denuncias, por las que ha abierto una comisión interna, también ha sido blanco de los reproches. "La comisión se creó hace dos semanas, aún no se ha reunido y ni siquiera sabemos si nos van a llamar", ha lamentado Hurtado, que considera que "no tiene ningún sentido es que en ella no participen expertos independientes ni víctimas".

Para los asistentes es necesario que "la Iglesia acepte el problema en toda su dimensión y empiece a actuar en consecuencia". "Debe abrirse a escuchar a las víctimas, ofrecerles consuelo y pedir perdón, y adoptar todas las medidas necesarias para reparar el daño infligido con total transparencia", han coincidido los concentrados.

El acto de esta mañana ha contado con poca asistencia, apenas una decena de personas. Pese a ello, los promotores consideran que solo es el principio de una larga lucha hasta conseguir que la Iglesia y las autoridades asuman las responsabilidades que les corresponden", según Cuatrecasas. Las víctimas también recuerdan que en Estados Unidos cuando los grandes escándalos de los abusos estallaron, las víctimas llevaban mucho tiempo celebrando miles de pequeños actos de protesta.</s>BARCELONA, Spain — FC Barcelona has sent Canadian international Ballou Tabla out on loan to Albacete in the Spanish second division until the end of the season.

The 19-year-old attacking midfielder from Montreal had been playing for Barcelona's B team in the second tier.

Tabla's move to Barcelona from the Montreal Impact was completed in January 2018.

Ballou, who was born in Ivory Coast but raised in Montreal, joined the Impact academy in August 2012. He joined the Impact first team in October 2016.

At 17 years, 338 days, he became the youngest Impact player to take part in an MLS game when he took the field in San Jose on March 4, 2017. Tabla played in 21 games (11 starts) for the Impact in 2017, recording two goals and two assists with 1,146 minutes played.

Tabla has been in Canada camps from under-15 to under-20 and played five games for Canada at the CONCACAF U-17 Championship in 2015. He was named Canada's under-17 player of the year in 2014 and won under-20 honours in 2016.

He has two caps at the senior level.</s>BARCELONA are set to make bid for Liverpool's third-choice goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, according to reports in Spain.

Marca claim the Nou Camp giants are set to bid for the out-of-favour Belgian as a replacement for Jasper Cillessen.

Mignolet is now unlikely to play for the Reds again after Alisson completed his £68million move to Anfield.

Despite his numerous recent blunders - including two in the Champions League final - Loris Karius is also above Mignolet in the pecking order.

The Belgian stopper would not be signed as first-choice at Barca though - with Marc-Andre ter Stegen holding that mantle.

However, Barcelona see him as a fine understudy to the German with Cillessen on the way out.

The Dutch keeper is tipped to leave the Nou Camp this window after growing frustrated with his lack of first-team action - playing just twice last term in La Liga.

Marca now claim Mignolet tops Barcelona's list of back-up goalkeepers - with Wolfsburg's Koen Casteels and Borussia Monchengladbach's Yann Sommer also featuring.

Should the deal go ahead Liverpool's goalkeeping revolution will be well underway.

As well as signing Alisson for a world-record fee for a No1, the Reds have sold Danny Ward to Leicester in a £12.5m deal.</s>GIRONA, Spain (AP) — Barcelona won its eighth straight Spanish league game as Lionel Messi scored in a 2-0 win at 10-man Girona on Sunday.

Barcelona kept its five-point lead over Atletico Madrid with Messi grabbing his 10th goal in a seven-game scoring streak in the league. He was left all alone to chip the ball over goalkeeper Yassine Bounou in the 69th minute.

The Spanish league had originally wanted to play the match in the United States, but the plan fell through. Instead of traveling 7,500 kilometers (4,600 miles) to Miami, Barcelona went 100 kilometers (60 miles) to Girona’s Montilivi Stadium.

Right back Nelson Semedo gave Barcelona the ninth-minute lead when a loose ball fell to him in the area, and he used his left leg to rifle it inside the post. It was only his second goal in his second season with the Catalan club.

But Girona stifled Barcelona’s attack and threatened to equalize on several occasions through striker Cristian Stuani.

Stuani’s best chance came late in the first half when Marc-Andre ter Stegen got low to block his shot. Teammate Pere Pons came close to finishing off the rebound, only for Gerard Pique to clear his shot from the line.

The hosts lost defender Bernardo Espinosa to a second yellow card in the 52nd after he fouled Luis Suarez. But Girona still gave Barcelona trouble until coach Ernesto Valverde sent on Arthur for Arturo Vidal.

With Arthur helping in the midfield, Barcelona took control. Suarez then played Jordi Alba clear down the left, where the defender found Messi at the top of the box with only Bounou to beat.

Messi’s goal was his competition-leading 19th of the season.

Messi was back in Barcelona’s starting 11 after getting some rest in the previous two matches. He scored as a substitute in a 3-1 win over Leganes last weekend, and then was left off the squad in a 2-0 loss at Sevilla in the Copa del Rey.

Barcelona hosts Sevilla in the return leg of their cup quarterfinal on Wednesday.

Copyright © 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.</s>Spain today became the latest European country to kick back against popular ride-hailing firm Uber.

Authorities told the company and Spanish counterpart Cabify they could only pick up passengers in Catalonia 15 minutes after being booked.

The move strikes at the heart of their unique selling point: being able to immediately book a ride from anywhere in the city or region.

It comes after protests by Barcelona taxi drivers who claimed they were not operating on a level playing field.

There have been similar protests in the Spanish capital Madrid.

Uber said in a statement to Euronews that it was suspending its services in Barcelona but would continue elsewhere in Spain.

“The new restrictions approved by the Catalan Government leave us with no choice but to suspend UberX while we assess our future in Barcelona," a spokesman said.

“We are committed to being a long-term partner to Spanish cities and hope to work with the Catalan government and the city council on fair regulation for all."

Cabify and Unauto VTC, an association of transport companies in Spain, said Barcelona's decision to adopt the new regulation could put 3,000 jobs at risk in Barcelona.

Authorities in London, Bulgaria and Denmark have cracked down on Uber, while France, Germany and Italy have banned its cheapest service, UberPop.</s>Despite possessing one of the best football academies in the world, Barcelona has spent a lot of money on high-profile players in recent years. While some of them have gone on to become key first team players, a few others have faded into obscurity.

Barcelona has a strong affinity towards players from Arsenal and in 2012, they spent £15 million to sign Alex Song. The amount may seem insignificant and small at the moment, but back then, it was a big fee for a defensive midfielder.

Song arrived at Barcelona to compete with the established Sergio Busquets for the defensive midfield position. Needless to say, he spent most of his time on the bench and sometimes out of position in defence. Whenever he got the rare chance to impress in midfield, he looked like a fish out of the pond.

He was sent on loan to West Ham for two seasons and that was followed by the termination of his Barcelona contract. A forgettable stint in Russia with Rubin Kazan followed and now he plays for Swiss Super League side FC Sion.

The Cameroonian’s most memorable moment for Barcelona was awkwardly stepping up to receive the La Liga trophy from Carles Puyol when the Barcelona captain was presenting the trophy to the cancer-beating Eric Abidal who stood next to him.

In the summer of 2016, Barcelona was keen on bolstering their squad in order to reclaim the UEFA Champions League from their archrivals Real Madrid.

The Catalan club beat Real Madrid to sign Andre Gomes from Valencia for €35 million with an additional €20 million as possible add-ons. Gomes was Barcelona’s marquee signing of the summer even though Samuel Umtiti arrived from Olympique Lyon around the same time.

He played 47 times in his debut season for Barcelona but only started 27 of those games. The following season, he fell out of favour under Ernesto Valverde and started just 12 games.

The Portuguese international is currently on loan at Everton and has an outside chance of making it at Barcelona. However, chances are that Barcelona will happily cut their losses and sell him as soon as they can.

If you were the manager of Barcelona in 2009 and had Carles Puyol, Gerard Pique, Raphael Marquez and Gabriel Milito as your centre-back options, would you sign another centre-back? Well, Pep Guardiola is not unlike every other manager and he decided that signing a centre-back was a priority in the summer of 2009.

Dmytro Chygrynskiy arrived from Shakhtar Donetsk for €25 million and was sold back to the same club for €15 million a year later. He played 14 games for Barcelona in all competitions and totalled 851 minutes on the pitch in the league in the club’s colours.

Thierry Henry recently said that the Ukrainian’s fate was sealed when he played the ball long to Zlatan Ibrahimovic twice in a league game which eventually led to him being taken off early in the second half.

Arda Turan is still a Barcelona player and is only playing for İstanbul Başakşehir on loan. However, his football career could be over soon as he is facing 12 years in prison. The Turk is being accused of sexual harassment, inflicting intentional injuries, shooting a firearm in a way to cause panic and carrying weapons without a license.

Turan was a key figure of the Atletico Madrid side that won the La Liga in 2013/14 but in 2015, he signed for Barcelona for €34 million, plus €7 million in variables. At the time of his transfer, Barcelona was ineligible to register new players because of a transfer ban. Hence, he spent the first half of the season on the sidelines and only made his debut halfway into the 2015/16.

He was sporadically used by Luis Enrique, the manager who signed him, and Ernesto Valverde ignored the player completely. In fact, he was loaned out to Başakşehir without making a single appearance in the first half of the 2017/18 season.

In addition to the recent off the field controversies, he was given a 16-match suspension in Turkey for pushing an assistant referee.

A return of 22 goals in 46 games is a good one for any striker and that was Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s tally for Barcelona. However, he will forever remain one of Barcelona’s worst transfers of recent years and it has little to do with the player.

Ibrahimovic arrived from Inter Milan for £59 million but he soon found himself on the bench as Pep Guardiola preferred to use Lionel Messi as a false-nine. The relationship between the manager and the player turned sour which eventually led to his departure a year later on loan to AC Milan.

Since his departure, Zlatan has hit out at his former manager and some of his Barcelona teammates in his autobiography and in several interviews. Barcelona incurred a huge loss when he was sold as Milan only had to pay €24 million for his services.
The Abbott of the Montserrat Abbey, in Barcelona, Spain, apologizes for the sexual abuses that a monk did and that came to light two weeks ago.