Though the empty pews of many parishes suggest that much of Italy’s population is Catholic in name only, cultural ties to the church are still strong.

Festivities for a city’s patron saint sweep up citizens, churchgoers or not, and some 8,000 church-run oratories throughout Italy offer after-school programs and other activities for children. The heroes of two of the most popular shows on Italy’s national broadcaster are a priest and a nun.

“Italians tend to know their parish priest, so if they hear of an abuse case somewhere they say, ‘Yes, it’s horrendous, but our priest is not like that,’” Monsignor Lorenzo Ghizzoni, the Italian church’s top official responsible for protecting minors, said in an interview in his office in Ravenna.

Such denial often seems to be echoed in secular institutions.

Survivors accuse the government and the judiciary, which has been slow to investigate clerical abuse cases, of silence on the issue. Prosecutors have often said that their hands are tied by expired statutes of limitations.

Italian politicians vie to stay on the good side of the Vatican. Same-sex civil unions were approved only in 2016, and the final draft was watered down. Italy still has one of the most restrictive laws in Europe on medically assisted fertility.

There are no reliable statistics on the number of victims of clerical abuse in Italy. But tracking cases through confidential tips and news reports, usually in local papers, Mr. Zanardi’s group, Rete L’Abuso — whose name means the Abuse Network — has created a map of alleged offenses.