EL PAÍS launched an investigation into pedophilia in the Spanish Church in 2018 and has an updated database of all known cases. If you know of a case that has not yet come to light, you can write to us at:[email protected]. If the case is in Latin America, the address is: [email protected].
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Bolivia takes up again the pedophilia scandal in the Catholic Church. The Senate of the South American country this week approved by an absolute majority a special commission to investigate cases of child sexual abuse by clergymen over the past few decades with the aim of achieving justice and reparations for the victims. “It has no biased aim to attack the church or to pursue it legally or politically,” House of Lords Speaker Andrónico Rodríguez warned Wednesday before voting on the proposal, which he described as a step to “set a precedent and to create clarity”. the facts and guide the objectives of the victims, which are civil, moral and material redress”. The investigative team will consist of five senators who will subpoena victims to “give full legitimacy to the commission.” The investigation will last three months and the investigators will prepare a detailed report with the dates of the collected cases, an assessment of the work that the Bolivian courts are doing in this area and some conclusions on “the comprehensive measures that need to be developed” – repetition of these crimes.”
One of the considerations that motivated the Senate to deal with this issue, according to the proposal document presented by the President of the House of Lords, was an investigative report published on April 30 by this newspaper on the history of the Spanish priest Alfonso Pedrajas. Pedrajas wrote a diary in which he admitted to having abused at least 85 minors in various Society of Jesus schools in Bolivia for decades and how his superiors covered up his crimes. This news has led to more cases of abuse in the Bolivian Church coming to light over the past two months. Five of them feature prominent priests of Spanish descent, such as the late Archbishop of La Paz Alejandro Mestre, who served as secretary of the Bolivian Bishops’ Conference between 1981 and 1982.
The case of Pedrajas also triggered a political and media earthquake in Bolivia. The Attorney General – a public office responsible for representing the state’s interests in and out of court – announced after the news broke that he would launch an investigation into the events, and the Jesuits cautiously removed eight former senior officials in a cover-up, one hitherto unusual decision by religious in matters of pedophilia. A week after the publication, Bolivia’s plurinational legislative assembly passed a bill that would make crimes of sexual abuse of minors non-statute-barred.
The bill provides for the establishment of a truth commission to investigate specific cases, such as those committed in already prescribed church settings but also in public institutions. The composition of this team, intended exclusively for officers, was harshly criticized by the victims, who demanded the presence of survivors and specialists on the ground. Pressure from these victims’ associations forced the Chamber of Deputies to postpone debate and the passage of the bill in order to include victims’ representatives in the working team. The vote to pass the law has not yet been dated.
Social discontent – reflected in street protests and paint attacks on the headquarters of the Bolivian Bishops’ Conference in La Paz – also prompted President Luis Arce to write an official letter to Pope Francis asking for access to all files , files etc. asked for information on spiritual pedophilia cases. The Pope’s response reached Bolivia 20 days later, on June 16, where he promised to work with the Arce government: “I express my pain, my feelings of shame and dismay. I think of the shameful deeds of these priests, and also of the negligence of those who should have looked on. I am moved and impressed because the ministers of the Church must be custodians and guarantors of the good and future of the young generations.” It is not yet known if the Vatican will send all the requested documents.
The Church is accused of erecting “obstacles”.
Bolivian prosecutors confirm that they have so far opened at least 17 investigations into the sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests and clergy. The most relevant and medial work is still that of Alfonso Pedrajas. After the report was published, the Public Ministry – in addition to the Society of Jesus in the South American country and the Bolivian Attorney General’s Office – requested a copy of the newspaper from the Spanish Public Prosecutor’s Office. The Spanish Public Prosecutor’s Office obtained a reproduction thanks to a complaint from a nephew of the pedophile who found the document in Madrid and decided to denounce and bring it to light in court.
But before the Spanish prosecutor’s office could start the transit procedures, a sealed envelope arrived at the Jesuit headquarters in La Paz at the end of June. The Vatican had sent a photocopy of the diary from the Order’s General Curia. Without opening it, the Provincial of the Jesuits in Bolivia, Bernardo Mercado, handed the package to the Ministry of State. The first statements from Daniela Cáceres, prosecutor and head of the department of sex crimes against minors and gender, were disturbing: “It is not the complete newspaper.” According to the numbering [de las páginas] Pages are missing and many sections are crossed out.” This newspaper has unsuccessfully attempted to find out how Pedrajas’ memoirs ended up in the hands of the Vatican.
The full newspaper arrived this Tuesday in the hands of Bolivian Attorney General Juan Lanchipa of the Spanish State Ministry. After analyzing both copies, the complete one and the one with “rivets”, Lanchipa accused the Catholic Church of obstruction of justice. “We have shown that these deletions correspond to names, dates and locations. This means that the church has failed in its obligation to cooperate in the investigation. On the contrary, it builds up such obstacles,” he told the media this Wednesday.
The Jesuits have stressed in a statement that “no deletion, modification or abridgement” has been made by them: “The Society of Jesus in Bolivia does not know how this document ended up in the Department of Doctrine of the Faith or whether it was served in full or be in a fully legible condition”. The Congregation has confirmed that it has not yet been able to read the text written by Pedrajas beyond the fragments published in this newspaper and has asked the Bolivian Public Prosecutor’s Office to provide a copy to include in their canonical investigations.
The Jesuits’ internal investigations are not the only ones. In recent weeks, surrounded by scandals, the Bolivian bishops have taken the first steps in their general investigation into all previous pedophilia cases. To this end, four teams were set up: one to hear victims, another to conduct investigations, another to communicate with the media, and a final one to prevent abuse and train clergy. The Latin American country’s prelates have not indicated whether they will open their files to gather all the information about these crimes and their cover-up. The question most frequently asked by victims is also still circulating: will they be compensated? Neither the bishops nor the Jesuits said a word about it.