“Los niños todavía corren peligro dentro de la Iglesia Católica chilena”. Ese es el contundente diagnóstico que realiza Anne Barrett-Doyle, investigadora católica estadounidense y codirectora de BishopAccountability.org, una organización internacional que documenta casos de abusos en la Iglesia.
Barrett-Doyle está en Chile y durante la jornada de este miércoles encabezó el lanzamiento del primer archivo público detallado sobre los abusos sexuales imputados al clero en Chile. Específicamente, el documento proporciona resúmenes extensos y cientos de fuentes electrónicas que detallan los casos de cerca de 70 sacerdotes, diáconos, hermanos religiosos y una monja, acusados de abuso sexual en nuestro país.
Sobre el rol que ha tenido el cardenal Ricardo Ezzati, la representante se mostró muy crítica y lo acusó de “no hacer nada” para que se investiguen los abusos a menores al interior de la institución. “Él es el líder más poderoso de la Iglesia chilena. Si él como líder no le da importancia al mensaje cero tolerancia, ¿qué podemos esperar para los demás miembros de la Iglesia?, reflexiona.
Esto se demuestra -según sostuvo- en que recientemente el cardenal Ezzati comunicó que Cristián Precht y Julio Dutilh vuelven al sacerdocio, a pesar de haber sido condenados por la justicia canónica. Precht fue suspendido del sacerdocio por cinco años por conductivas abusivas con menores y mayores de edad, mientras Dutilh fue removido de su parroquia por abuso sexual contra una mujer.
| Name | Diocese | Dio/Order | Notes | Sources |
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Temuco diocese | Diocesan/Diocesano | Suspended in November 2017 due to an accusation that he had sexually abused a boy 26 or 27 years previously. Héctor Eduardo Vargas Bastidas, S.D.B., the bishop of San José de Temuco, sent the case to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. As of January 2018, the church’s investigation apparently was ongoing.
Bishop Vargas announced Mendez’s suspensionone month after the alleged victim presented a complaint to the diocese. Méndez had ministeredat San Enrique de Purén parish since April 2012. The alleged abuse occurred in the early 1990s in the town of Galvarino, also in the Temuco diocese. At the time, the boy’s family filed a complaint with civil authorities, and then-bishop Sergio Contreras Navia suspended Méndez from ministry. Méndez reportedly had been placed under house arrest during the ensuing civil investigation but ultimately was acquitted. |
Emotiva Eucaristía de despedida en Victoria al párroco Carlos Aedo del Sagrado Corazón, Iglesia.cl, 04.16.2012
Suspenden a sacerdote de Purén por denuncia de abuseo sexual ocurrido hace 27 años, biobiochile, 11.12.2017 Sacerdote de Purén fue suspendido tras acusación de abuso sexual a menor, Cooperativa.cl, 11.13.2017 |
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San Bernardo diocese | Diocesan/Diocesano | Vicar of education of San Bernardo diocese until 2007. Chaplain of several schools. Committed suicide in September 2010 after admitting to church officials that he had grabbed the buttocks of a 14-year-old schoolboy and tried to kiss him during confession.
A report by CIPER, a Chilean center for investigative journalism, found that the school’s primary concern was to report the abuse to the diocese before informing civil authorities or the victim’s family. Four days after the priest’s suicide, the victim’s mother filed a complaint. The school, in a statement published by the diocese of San Bernardo, admitted it had not reported within the 24-hour period mandated by law (see Chile’s Code of Criminal Procedure articles 175 and 176). Instead, the school informed the parish’s “advisory team,” which included lawyers who eventually formalized a complaint to civil authorities. Not included on the Chilean bishops’ public list of guilty clerics. |
Corte Suprema Rechazó Recurso a Favor de Profesora Lesbiana, lanación.cl, 04.20.2008
Investigan muerte de sacerdote al interior de una parroquia en San Bernardo, Emol.com, 09.09.2010 Cura que se Suicidó Tras Confesar Abuso a Menor Fue Vicario de Educación y Exoneró a Profesora Lesbiana, by Pedro Ramirez, CIPER (Centro de Investigación Periodística), 11.22.2010 Suicidas pedófilos, by Teresa Gurzaa, etcetera.com, 05.20.2011 Iglesia Catolica De Chile Entrego Listado Oficial De Los Sacerdotes Condenados Por Abusos a Menores, by Ana Maria Guerra, La Segunda, 11.11.2011 |
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Rev. Richard Joey Aguinaldo Apóstol, S.V.D.
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Santa María de Los Ángeles diocese | Society of Divine Word/Congregación del Verbo Divino |
Filipino. Transferred to Chile in 1991. Worked in schools. Convicted December 2011 of sexually abusing two four-year-olds at the Liceo Alemán del Verbo Divino (German School of the Divine Word) in Chicureo [Chacabuco Province]. At the time, Aguinaldo headed the department of missions for the Congregación del Verbo Divino (Society of the Divine Word), served as the Society’s vice-provincial (second-in-command) and worked at the Liceo’s sister school in Los Ángeles [Bío Bío Province]. Following the arrest warrant, the Society refused to disclose his whereabouts, «sheltered him in various branches and buildings of the congregation,» and invested resources to defend him. Aguinaldo was sentenced January 2012 to a 4-year, 200-day probation rather than the eight yearsin prison requested by the prosecutor. The Provincial Superior of the Society of the Divine Word immediately announced the Society’s “full support” of another trial for Aguinaldo, so that he could “demonstrate his complete innocence.” In February 2012, the Supreme Court upheld the priest’s conviction and sentence, rejecting a mistrial motion by the defense. [See the court’s ruling.] The family of one of the victims filed a civil suit in September 2012 for 700 million pesos against the school. A year later, civil authorities told Aguinaldo that he would have to leave Chile upon completion of his sentence in 2017. In late 2015, the victim’s family dropped the lawsuit in exchange for a public apology and unspecified reparations by the Society. In apologizing for its «errors and omissions» in handling the case, the Society finally admitted that Aguinaldo indeed had abused the two children and had been rightfully convicted. Not named in the Chilean bishops’ original list of 18 guilty clerics, published November 11, 2011, but named in all subsequent iterations of the list, from 2012 to 2016. In August 2016, the bishops unpublished the list of names, replacing it with a list of tallies. |
Sacerdote filipino acusado de abusos sexuales seguirá en prisión preventiva, cooperative.cl, 11.26.2009
Denuncia de abuso en el Liceo Alemán: La promesa incumplida del cardenal y el ocultamiento del acusado, por Pedro Ramirez y Juan Pablo Figueroa en Actualidad y Entrevistas, CIPER (Centro de Investigación Periodística), 05.09.2010 Iglesia Catolica De Chile Entrego Listado Oficial De Los Sacerdotes Condenados Por Abusos a Menores, by Ana Maria Guerra, La Segunda, Declaran culpable a sacerdote filipino por abusos sexuales contra menores de 4 años en Chicureo, by Mario Rosende, biobiochile, 12.29.2011 Carta de Padres de niño abusado en Liceo Alemán del Verbo Divino, CIPER (Centro de Investigación Periodística), 01.05.2012 Comunicado de la Congregación del Verbo Divino, Iglesia.cl, 01.08.2012 Tribunal sentenció a sacerdote filipino a cuatro años de libertad vigilada por abusos sexuales, cooperativa.cl, 01.09.2012 Congregacion del Verbo Divino dio «todo su apoyo» a sacerdote condenado por abusos sexuales, cooperativa.cl, 01.09.2012 Priest Charged with Child Abuse in Chile Gets Four Years Parole, by Juan Francisco Veloso, OlguinSantiago Times, 01.10.2012 José Andrés Murillo Llamó a LA Iglesia a Ser » Más Solidaria» Con Las Víctimas De Abuso, The Cooperativa, 01.10.2012 Verbo Divino Senalo “Apoyo” a Sacerdote Conendado por Abusos en Chicureo, lanacion.cl, 01.09.2012 Corte Suprema rechazo nulidad del juicio a sacerdote del Verbo Divino condenado por abusos, por Juan Pablo Figuero en Actualidad y Entrevistas, CIPER (Centro de Investigación Periodística), 02.29.2012 Supreme Court Ruling, CIPER (Centro de Investigación Periodística), 02.29.2012 Congregación de colegios del Verbo Divino reconoce caso de abuso sexual de cura y pide perdón por «errores y omisiones»,The Clinic Online, 11.06.2015 Comunicado Misioneros del Verbo Divino, Iglesia.cl, 11.06.2015 Facebook, 04.13.2016 Iglesia retira de su web lista con nombres de sacerdotes condenados por abusos, by Camila Mardones, La Tercera, 09.28.2016 |
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Rev. José Andrés «Fr. Tato» Aguirre Ovalle
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Santiago archdiocese | Diocesan/Diocesano | Arrested October 2002 after a mother filed a criminal complaint that he had sexually assaulted her two daughters, ages 11 and 14. The girls were members of the parish where Aguirre worked, in the Santiago municipality of Quilicura [Santiago Province]. The abuse of the two children lasted from 1999 to 2002.
Aguirre was known as «Fr. Tato.» He worked at a number of Catholic girls’ schools, including in Honduras, where he had been sent in 1994 by Cardinal Carlos Oviedo (Santiago archbishop 1990-1998) following earlier reports of child sexual abuse. In September 2002, the day after a mother accused Aguirre of abusing her two daughters, Aguirre again was allowed by Santiago archdiocesan leaders to flee Chile for Honduras. He was soon summoned back to stand trial. After the priest’s arrest, more victims came forward. One girl said she had revealed Aguirre’s crimes to other priests during confession and was told merely to pray about it. Her confessors included Archbishop Cox, who was suspected at the time of sexual abuse. In June 2003, a Chilean court sentenced Aguirre to 12 years in prison for the crime of “abuso deshonesto” against nine girls and statutory rape against a tenth victim. (He reportedly had raped and impregnated at least one girl when she was age 13.) Aguirre thus became the first Chilean priest to be convicted of sexually abusing children. Although the criminal trial considered only crimes committed by the priest between 1998 and 2002, the judge ruled that the Church had had prior notice of Aguirre’s criminal tendencies and so was jointly responsible for reparations to the victims. The Church was guilty of failing to act with care to prevent future crimes, the judge said. Aguirre was released from prison in November 2012, 24 months early, sparking concern among residents of the Santo Domingo district where he decided to locate. He died in November 2013 at age 56 from complications of muscular myotonic dystrophy. Included on Chilean bishops’ public list of guilty clerics. |
Declaración del Arzobispo de Santiago, Cardenal Francisco Javier Errázuriz Ossa, Iglesia.cl, 10.24.2002
Caso del «cura Tato»: Octavo procesamiento por abuso sexual, El Mercurio de Valparaiso, 10.31.2002 Rights-Chile: Bishop Suspected of Sex Abuse Retires to En el Nombre de Tato, by Víctor Gutiérrez, La Nación, 04.27.2003 Cura Tato condenado a 12 años de prisión, El Mercurio, 06.25.2003 Yo, Pecadora, by Juan Manuel Ugalde R., La Nación, 06.29.2003 Corte Suprema confirmo condena a 12 anos para el cura «Tato», cooperativa.cl, 01.05.2005 Top Cardinal, Tarcisio Bertone, Blames Paedophile Crisis on Homosexuals, by Ruth Gledhill, The Times, 04.13.2010 Snapshots of Catholic Priests Accused of Abuse, Associated Press, 04.14.2010 Las Sotanas Sucias se Lavan en Casa, elciudadano.cl, 01.23.2011 La condena del «cura Tato» llega a su fin, by E. González y L. Concha, Latercera, 11.23.2012 Cura Tato Desata Preocupación Entre Vecinos de Santo Domingo, biobiochile.cl, by Erasmo Tauran, 11.28.2012 Vecinos organizan un funa contra el cura Tato en Santo Domingo, by Rodrigo Ogalde, soychile.cl [San Antonio], 11.28.2012 Cura Tato: su vida lejos de la cárcel José Andrés Aguirre, chileinforma.com, 12.09.2012 El cura Tato: uno de los casos de abuso sexual que remeció a la iglesia chilena, La Tercera, 11.12.2013 José Andrés Aguirre, el cura “Tato”, fallece a los 56 años en el Hospital del Salvador, El Dinamo, 11.12.2013 Murió el cura Tato, el ex sacerdote condenado por abusos deshonestos a menores, Soy Chile [San Antonio], 11.12.2013 El juicio del «cura Tato», Iglesia.cl, 11.15.2013 |
| Brother Armando Segundo Alegría Moscoso, S.M.
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San Felipe diocese
Valparaíso diocese Santiago archdiocese |
Congregation of Marist Brothers (Marists) | Teacher at a number of Marists schools, including the Chacabuco Institute of the Andes. In 2017 a former Chacabuco Institute student told a reporter that Alegría sexually abused him beginning when he was 13 years old in 1977. He disclosed the abuse in 1981 to Marist brother Mariano Varona, who stated in a 2018 interview that he informed his provincial at the time. Varona said the provincial did nothing. There had been rumors of Alegría’s proclivities with boys; in 1977 two students had found a polaroid of Alegría masturbating with a boy in a tent during a camping trip. Alegria’s most recent assignment was in computer services at the Marists’ general house in Rome, 2011-2017. | Exseminarista denunció abusos a la congregación Marista hace 35 años, by Claudio Pizarro and Jonás Romero, The Clinic, 11.26.2017
El escándalo de pederastia de los Maristas se reproduce en Chile, by Guillem Sánchez, El Periódico, 01.06.2018 Los Maristas de Chile admiten que silenciaron abusos sexuales a menores, by Guillem Sánchez, El Periódico, 01.07.2018 |
| Rev. Aquiles Altamirano Herrera | ||||
| Rev. Gerardo Araujo Sarabia, O.F.M. | Temuco diocese
Concepción archdiocese |
Order of Friars Minor/Orden de los Frailes Menores (Franciscans) | Peruvian. One of the first clerics investigated criminally for child sexual abuse in Chile. In February 2001 a parishioner in the southern town of Carahue [Cautín Province, Araucanía Region] accused Araujo of sexually abusing her young son (whose age was reported variously as 12 years old and younger than 12). A prosecutor investigated. He escaped without criminal charges: judicial proceedings were suspended provided the priest leave the country for at least three years. Araujo reportedly relocated to Lima but a journalist who sought to interview him there couldn’t determine his whereabouts.
According to one news report, Araujo also worked in the Chilean town of Cañete [Arauco Province, Biobío Region]. Included in the Chilean bishops’ original list of 18 guilty clerics, released November 2011. |
Sacerdote Abandona el País, El Mercurio, 04.15.2001
Chile/Pederastia: Procesan a Sacerdote, by Gilberto Villarroel, BBCMundo.com, 10.18.2002 Abogada Magina Zegpi Pons: “La Iglesia ya entendió que no puede ocultar a pedófilos”, by Sonnia Mendoza, revistanos.cl, 03.2011 Iglesia reveló listado de sacerdotes condenados por abusos contra menores en Chile, cooperativa.cl, 11.11.2011 |
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Rev. Audín Osvaldo Araya Alarcón, S.D.B.
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Concepción archdiocese | Salesians of Don Bosco/Salesianos de Don Bosco (Salesians) | Arrested in May 2011 on charges he sexually abused three high school students at Colegio Salesiano in Concepción [Bío Bío Region] between March and November 2008. Araya was the high school’s rector. One of the students committed suicide just before the start of the investigation.
Days after Araya’s arrest, attorneys for the victims filed a canonical complaint before the ecclesiastical tribunal of the Concepción archdiocese, requesting that Araya be removed permanently from the priesthood. According to the prosecutor, the congregation learned of the abuse in December 2008 and transferred Araya to Puerto Montt, where he became director of another Salesian school. He later was relocated to a Salesian retirement home in Santiago. In January 2014, he was sentenced to two years of prison on two counts of sexual abuse of one of the students. Araya maintained his innocence throughout and was absolved of three other counts of sexual abuse. The two-and-a-half years he had already spent under house arrest were applied to his sentence, and he was therefore released. The sentence also banned the priest for life from working in education, prohibited him for a period of three years from any employment that might bring him in contact with minors, and required him to inform the police of his residence every three months for 10 years In a March 2014 communiqué, the Salesians announced that Araya’s defense would not appeal. They said they were awaiting the outcome of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s investigation of Araya, who in the meantime would be prohibited from exercising ministry. In the Salesians’ five previous statements about Araya, dating back to May 2011, there had been no mention that he had been suspended from ministry. By July 2014, Araya’s name had been added to the Chilean bishops’ list of clerics found guilty under canon or civil law. He remained on the list until 2016, when the bishops removed it from their website. |
Concepción: Ex alumno de Salesiano relata presuntos abusos sexuales de cura que fue rector de colegio, by Denisse Charpentier, biobiochile.cl, 06.22.2010
Fiscalía de Concepción formalizará a sacerdote por supuestos abusos sexuales, by Joaquín Peñailillo, La Tercera, 02.22.2011 Formalizan por abuso sexual a ex rector de Colegio Salesiano de Concepción, elmostrador.cl, 05.13.2011 Sacerdote salesiano de Concepción acusado de abusos quedó en prisión preventiva, Cooperativa.cl, 05.13.2011 Priest in Chile Accused of Sexually Abusing Minors, AFP, 05.13. 2011 Indagaran Complicidad De Congregacion Salesiana En Denuncia De Abuso Sexual Contra Ex Rector, The Publimetro, 05.13.2011 Presentan acusación canónica en contra de sacerdote por abusos sexuales en Concepción, by Alvaro Guerrero, La Tercera, 05.24.2011 El Escandaloso Clóset de los Salesianos,The Clinic Online, 06.07.2011 Justicia Chilena Prepara Juicio Oral Contra Sacerdote Pederasta, noticiaaldia.com, 11.27.2012 Denunciante del Ex Obispo de Iquique Declarará Acusando Abusos de Audín Araya en Concepción, biobiochile.cl, by Erasmo Tauran, 05.31.2013 Condenan a sacerdote de Concepción por abuso sexual reiterado de un menor, emol.com, 01.09.2014 Ex director del colegio Salesianos de Concepción fue declarado culpable por abusos sexuales, cnnchile, 01.10.2014 La Deuda que Deió El Cardenal Ezzati como Arzobispo de Concepción en Caso de Abuso de Menores, by Pedro Cid, biobiochile, 01.13.2014 Tribunal condena a dos años de cárcel a sacerdote Audín Araya por abusos sexuales, emol.com, 01.19.2014 Sacerdote condenado por abuso sexual contra menor no irá a prisión, Cooperativa.cl, 01.19.2014 Sacerdote Fue Sentenciado a Dos Años de Cárcel, recortes.iglesia.cl, 01.20.2014 Comunicado de la Congregación Salesiana sobre el caso del P. Audín Araya, Iglesia.cl, 03.03.2014 |
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Rev. José Ángel Arregui Eraña, C.S.V.
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Santiago archdiocese | Clerics of St. Viator/Clérigos de San Viator (Viatorians) | Spanish. Arrested by Chilean police in August 2009 for downloading child pornography at Liceo Politécnico El Señor, a school that enrolled 500 children in the municipality of Renca [Santiago Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region]. Arregui had been living in Renca since January 2008 while working as a professor at Universidad Santo Tomás, also in Santiago.
The Chilean police confiscated thousands of hardcore images of naked children and 400 hours of pornographic videos, including dozens containing explicit pedophilic content filmed by Arregui. He had filmed the children in Spain between 1992 and 2005, when he worked in seven schools as a clergy member of the Viatorians, or Clerics of Saint Viator, a teaching order. The videos showed at least 15 children, ages 12-14, from at least three of the schools, where Arregui is said to have sexually abused as well as filmed them — touching them, engaging in mutual masturbation, and penetrating them with objects. Only after his arrest in Chile was it revealed that he had gained personal access to the 15 Spanish children to «measure» them under the pretext of his doctoral thesis on physical growth during adolescence. He also installed hidden cameras in the schools’ gymnasiums, locker rooms, and showers. In 2004, he was institutionalized for depression and attempted suicide. Two years later, still in Spain, he defended his doctoral thesis. The Viatorians assigned him in January 2008 to a teaching position at Universidad Santo Tomás in Santiago. The provincial superior of the Clerics of Saint Viator in Madrid said that the congregation never knew about Arregui’s actions, and that there had been no similar accusations against him in the past. Chilean prosecutors, however, reportedly suspected that the congregation was protecting the priest. The Viatorians were believed to have paid for Arregui’s lawyer, one of the most expensive in the country. In March 2010, Arregui was sentenced by a Chilean court in March 2010 to 817 days in jail for possession of child pornography. A few days later in Spain, a Spanish victim filed the first criminal complaint against Arregui in that country. A former student of the San Viator school in Huesca, the complainant said that he had been molested by Arregui when he was 7 or 8 years old. Arregui was extradited to Spain. In November 2011, he was convicted by a Madrid court of child pornography possession, and sentenced to eight months in jail and a four-year prohibition from any employment that might bring him in contact with minors. The statute of limitations had been reached for the allegations of child sexual abuse and molestation. Victims of Arregui during his various assignments in Spain continue to come forward. Not included on Chilean bishops’ public list of guilty clerics. |
Un Religioso Encarcelado en Chile Filmó Cómo Abusaba de 15 Menores en España, by Maria R. Sahuquillo, El Pais [Madrid], 03.16.2010
El religioso preso en Chile creía «socialmente aceptado» el abuso, by Maria R. Sahuquillo, El Pais [Madrid], 03.24.2010 Condenan por pederastia al cura español detenido en Chile, El Mundo [Santiago], 03.24.2010 Primera denuncia en España contra el cura pederasta del colegio San Viator, El Mundo [Madrid], 03.25.2010 Chile quiere que Arregui cumpla la condena en el pais, by Marcela Valente, dioariovasco.com, 06.18.2010 Abogada Magina Zegpi Pons: “La Iglesia ya entendió que no puede ocultar a pedófilos”, by Sonnia Mendoza, revistanos.cl, 03.2011 Condenado el religioso que filmó abusos a menores, por M.R. Sahuquillo, sociedad.elpais.com, 11.09.2011 Salen a la luz casos de abusos a menores en el antiguo colegio San Viator de Arrasate, naiz.eus, by Euskal Herria, 01.27.17 |
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Chillán diocese | Diocesan/Diocesano | Became sexually involved with a woman in the late 1980s for seven years, whom he promised to marry. She was a parishioner and the wife of a Chillán businessman. The woman discovered in late 1995 that Baeza had sexually abused two of her four teenage daughters , when each of the girls was 15 years old. One of the daughters filed rape charges against him in 2009; there was no conviction. Baeza is said to have been sexually involved with three other wives of Chillán businessmen and to have sexually abused a number of other adolescents. Baeza was removed from ministry in early 1996. He was discovered in 2008 to be leading a Schönstatt movement group called «The Dawn» in Huepil. He was married with two sons. He subsequently left Huepil and was said to have possibly gone to Argentina.
Included on Chilean bishops’ list of clerics sentenced under canon or civil law for the five-year period (2011-2016) the list was public. |
Las Perversiones Sexuales del Cura de Chillán, by Verónica Torres Salazar, The Clinic, 10.31.2009
Ex Sacerdote Chillanejo En Lista De Clerigos Sentenciados Por Abuso De Menores, La Discusion, 02.01.2012 A No Menos De 50 Jovenes Los Manejo Como Secta: ?y Que Fue Del Cura De Chillan Acusado De Estupro…?, Revista NOS, 02.01.2012 |
| Rev. Francisco Basáñez Méndez, P. Schönstatt
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Santiago archdiocese
Los Ángeles diocese (Chile) Chillán diocese |
Schönstattt Fathers/Padres de Schönstatt |
Accused in early 2015 of sexual abuse and abuse of authority between 2002 and 2005, when he worked at the Monte Tabor and Nazareth schoolsin the Santiago commune of Lo Barnechea, Santiago. At the time of the allegations, Basáñez was vice-rector at Santuario Nacional de Maipú. According to their only statement on the case, in June 2015, the Schönstatt Fathers deemed the allegations credible, suspended Basáñez from ministry, and initiated a canonical process. The nature of the abuse, as well as age and gender of the victim(s), are unknown. The Schönstatt Fathers promised to support the «alleged victims.» No further updates as of September 2016. Basáñez is a Schönstatt priest, as is Cardinal Francisco Javier Errázuriz, archbishop of Santiago 1998-2010. Errázuriz ordained Basáñez in 1997. The Schönstatt Fathers educate more than 6,000 children in Chile. Not included in the Chilean bishops’ list of guilty clerics. |
Nuevo director de la comisión nacional de piedad popular y santuarios, Conferencia Episcopal de Chile, 04.20.2011
Iglesia investiga a sacerdote de P. Schönstatt por presuntos abusos sexuales y de poder, by Andrea González Schmessane, Emol.com, 06.05.2015 Proceso canónico tras denuncia por abuso contra sacerdote de Schönstatt [Comunicado Padres Schönstatt], Conferencia Episcopal de Chile, 06.07.2015 Inician proceso canónico contra sacerdote acusado de abusos en Chile, ACI Prensa, 06.09.2015 |
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San Felipe diocese | Diocesan/Diocesano | Described as a charismatic, popular healer and exorcist. Accused in 2005 of abusing minors in the 1990s. In 2010, he was sanctioned by the church after a preliminary investigation. His name appeared on the Chilean bishops’ initial public list of convicted priests, published November 11, 2011; Benavides was listed under the sub-category of those who had received a canonical sentence. However, a letter to the editorfrom supporters of Benavides objected to the priest’s inclusion on the list, pointing out that his canonical case was still in process, the appeal stages not exhausted and thus his sentence not final.
Benavides’ name was removed from two subsequent versions of the bishops’ list (see the October 1, 2012 and July 26, 2013 lists). Listed on the San Felipe diocesan website in October 2013 among priests of the diocese. In December 2013, San Felipe bishop Cristián Contreras announced that Benavides’ conviction under canon law had been confirmed and that he had been expelled permanently from the clerical state, the most severe penalty possible under church law. The ruling was unappealable and substantiated the three counts of child sexual abuse. He is barred permanently from administering sacraments, celebrating mass in public or in private, and participating in other religious activities. Following his 2013 laicization, Benavides’ name was reinstated on the Chilean bishops’ list of those found guilty under civil or canon law. See the bishops’ lists of July 25, 2014, November 17, 2014and January 4, 2016. |
Vaticano Pide a Iglesia Chilena Iniciar Juicio Canónico a Sacerdote por Abusos, by Jorge Poblete, La Tercera, 08.29.2010
Exclusivo: Habla Hermano del Sacerdote René Benavides Rives Acusado de Pederastìa, protegeatushijos.org, Abogada Magina Zegpi Pons: “La Iglesia ya entendió que no puede ocultar a pedófilos”, by Sonnia Mendoza, revistanos.cl, 03.2011 Personas Con Impedimento Para el Ejercicio del Ministerio por Delitos Graves Contra Menores de Edad, Bishops Conference of Chile, 11.11.2011 Sentencia canónica, by Amalia Moreno Schleyer and Carmen G. Lorca Valverde, La Tercera [letter to the editor], 11.15.11 Iglesia declara culpable a sacerdote andino por abusos sexuales a menores de edad, El Observador, 12.20.2013 Iglesia Expulsa a Cura Párroco de San Felipe por Abusos Sexuales, recortes.iglesia.cl, 12.21.2013 |
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Unknown diocese(s) (Chile)Washington D.C. archdiocese (United States) Baltimore archdiocese (United States) Charlotte diocese (United States) Philadelphia archdiocese Altoona-Johnstown diocese |
Society of Jesus/Compañia de Jesús (Jesuits/Jesuitas) | American. Jesuit of the Maryland Province ordained in 1969. Visited missionaries in Chile as Director of the Province’s Jesuit Mission Bureau 1981-1983. Removed from ministry in the U.S. in 1993 due to accusations of «sexual misconduct» with three people, including two 15-year-old boys and a woman. Sent to treatment; returned to ministry in 1995. Removed from ministry again in 2006 after accusation surfaced of sexual misconduct with an adult male during the early 1980s, and four other credible allegations involving minors and adults over the course of three decades. Subsequently five more people came forward, several with reports that Bradley had engaged in sexual misconduct with minors in the 1960s and 1970s at Gonzaga College High School in Washington DC. In 2007 Bradley was said to be living under supervision in a Jesuit community on the East Coast of the U.S.
Not included on Chilean bishops’ public list of guilty clerics. |
Assignment Record – H. Cornell Bradley, S.J., BishopAccountability.org
H. Cornell Bradley. S.J., sscm.org via zoominfo.com |
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Rev. Víctor Hugo Carrera Triviño
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Punta Arenas diocese | Diocesan/Diocesano | Accused in 2000 of repeatedly molesting a 13-year-old boy in 1999. In charge of youth ministry for the diocese and personal secretary to Bishop Tomas González, a Salesian, who sent Carrera to a treatment center in Mexico, then to Italy. Boy’s family pressed charges. When Chilean authorities sought extradition, Carrera fled Italy. González refused to inform police as to Carrera’s whereabouts. Carrera was found in early 2004 working in a parish in Bolivia. He flew to Chile where he was arrested, then released on bail. In 2005 he was sentenced to the minimum incarceration of 540 days and fined two million pesos plus interest for moral damages. An appeals court rejected the civil suit against the diocese and Bishop González, who was accused of covering up for Carrera and obstructing justice.
Included on Chilean bishops’ list of clerics sentenced under canon or civil law for the five-year period (2011–2016) the list was public. |
Runaway Priests Hiding in Plain Sight, Rev. Víctor Hugo Carrera, Salesian Case Study #1, Dallas Morning News, 06.20.2004
Comunicado de prensa sobre el sacerdote Víctor Hugo Carrera Triviño, Iglesia.cl, 02.18.2004 Presidio Menor para Cura que Abusó de Niño en Punta Arenas, La Nación, 03.29.2005 La historia de los sacerdotes cuestionados por abusos sexuales en el Obispado de Punta Arenas, latercera.com, 10.04.2008 |
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Rev. Francisco Javier Cartes Aburto, C.M.F.
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Talca diocese | Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary/Misioneros Hijos del Inmaculado (Claretians) |
Suspended by Talca bishop Horacio Valenzuela in March 2011 after being charged criminally with indecent assault of a student at San Martin de Curicó Institute in Curicó, where Cartes taughttheology. Convicted in November 2012. The abuse occurred from 2008 to 2010, beginning when the boy was age 13 or 14. Cartes, the boy’s confessor, abused him on at least four occasions: inside the rectory; at the parish school, where he was chaplain; at the shrine, El Carmen de Curicó, where the boy was an altar server; and at the priest’s private residence, where he hugged, kissed, and caressed the boy, put the boy’s hands on his genitals, and had the boy masturbate in front of him. Sentenced in December 2012 to 5 years’ probation, and banned for an additional 10 years from work with children. Ordered to pay 30 million pesos (nearly 55,000 U.S. dollars) in damages to the victim. Also to be included in the national child sex offender registry. Cartes went on a hunger strike to protest his conviction. Included on Chilean bishops’ public list, under the sub-category of clerics found guilty in civil court.The Chilean church, however, concluded differently: On October 15, 2016, the church announced that while its own investigation had found the priest’s behavior to be «reckless» and so warranting a reprimand, it could not determine his guilt «with moral certainty.» Cartes was thus cleared to return to ministry, a church official saidin a press conference. It is not clear how the church’s approval of his return to ministry can be reconciled with the civil court’s 2012 ruling that he not work with children. |
Declaración del Obispo de Talca ante acusación contra sacerdote, iglesia.cl, 03.29.2011 Sacerdote Francisco Cartes Aburto: Cura será formalizado por presuntos abusos sexuales a un menor, by Sergio Bustos, Iglesia.cl, 05.21.2011 Iglesia Catolica De Chile Entrego Listado Oficial De Los Sacerdotes Condenados Por Abusos a Menores, by Ana Maria Guerra, La Segunda, Comunicado de prensa del Obispado de Talca, Iglesia.cl, 11.09.2012 Declaran Culpable de Abusos Sexuales a Sacerdote de Curicó, by Mónica Ñancupán and Marcos Peña, 24 Horas, 11.09.2012 Sacerdote de Curicó es Condenado por Abuso a un Menor de Edad, La Nación, 11.09.2012 Sacerdote Francisco Cartes Cumplirá Condena en Libertad, by Luis Albert Cabello, vivimoslanoticia.cl, 12.05.2012 Sacerdote Condenado por Abuso Sexual Fue Internado en Hospital, El Diario de Caracas, 01.29.2013 Víctima del Sacerdote Francisco Cartes Cuenta su Verdad, 24 Horas, 08.23.2013 Comunicado de Prensa, Diocese of Talca, 10.15.2016 Tribunal Eclesiástico desestimó acusación que pesaba sobre sacerdote Francisco Cartes, Diario El Centro, 10.16.2016 |
| Brother Jesús Castañeda, S.M. | Unknown Diocese (Chile) |
Congregation of Marist Brothers (Marists) | Spanish. Taught at a Marist school in Chile, having arrived in 1978. Investigated for the alleged abuse of one of the school’s students. | El escándalo de pederastia de los Maristas se reproduce en Chile, by Guillem Sánchez, El Periódico, 01.06.2018 |
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Bishop Cristián Contreras Molina, O. de M.
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San Felipe diocese | Order of Our Lady of Mercy/Orden de la Merced (Mercedarians) | In February 2014 Chilean church leaders announced that the Vatican was investigating Contreras for sexual abuse. The case was opened after priests of the archdiocese complained of suspected abuse by Contreras, including of a 15-year-old, which was investigated by the Center for Investigative Journalism. Contreras denied the allegations, and said he welcomed the investigation. In June 2014 Contreras was declared «innocent» by the Vatican. The San Felipe diocese stated, «The Vatican has concluded that those accusations were not true and has established the absence of incriminatory evidence.» Civil prosecutors dismissed the case, citing lack of evidence.
Not included in Chilean bishops’ list of guilty clerics. San Felipe website in August 2016 showed that Bishop Contreras continued to lead the diocese, a position he has held since August 2002. |
Iglesia Católica Envía Clérigos a Investigar a Obispo de San Felipe por Presuntos Abusos Sexuales, biobiochile.cl, 02.06.2014
Vatican Investigates Chilean Bishop for Sex Abuse, sbs.com.au, 02.07.2014 Enviados del Vaticano investigan denuncia de abusos sexuales de obispo de San Felipe y ex superior mercedario, by Gustavo Villarrubia, 05.02.2014 El Vaticano: Obispo de San Felipe es Declarado Inocente, cnnchile.com, 06.20.2014 Vatican Declares Chilean Bishop Innocent of Sex Abuse Charges, by Jorge Poblete, Catholic Herald (UK), 06.23.2014 Diocese of San Felipe website, accessed 08.09.2016 Emotiva celebración de las Bodas de Plata Episcopales de Mons. Cristián Contreras Molina O.deM., Diario El Andino, 07.07.17 Episcopado Chileno: Monseñor Cristián Contreras Molina, odm., iglesia.cla, accessed 12/21/17 |
| Brother Luis Cornejo Silva, S.M.
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Valparaíso diocese
Rancagua diocese Santa Cruz de la Sierra archdiocese (Bolivia) |
Congregation of Marist Brothers (Marists) | In September 2017 the Marists filed a complaint with the prosecutor’s office against Cornejo. Cornejo had been active in various Marist ministries, including at the Rafael Ariztia Institute in Quillota, Valparaíso,Youth Holy Week and the Marist vocation ministry in the O’Higgins Region. Cornejo has reportedly been in a «vegetative state» after having been stabbed in August, 2013 in Cochabamba, Bolivia. The stabbing occurred just before Cornejo was to return to Chile after the Marists informed him of allegations that he had sexually abused a male student at Rafael Ariztia Institute. Cornejo was said to have acknowledged the veracity of the allegation. Per the Marists, Cornejo had multiple victims. | Congregación marista denunció a otro miembro por presuntos delitos sexuales, soychile, 09.07.2017
Maristas declaran que hermano Luis Cornejo reconoció abuso sexual en Quillota, El Observador, 09.12.2017 El oscuro sótano de los Maristas, by Claudio Pizarro and Jonás Romero, The Clinic, 10.25.2017 |
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Archbishop Francisco José Cox Huneeus, P. Schönstatt
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Chillán diocese
La Serena archdiocese |
Society of the Catholic Apostolate/Sociedad del Apostolado Católico (Pallottines/Palotinos)
Apostolic Movement of Schönstatt |
In 1975, Cox became bishop of the Chillándiocese [Ñuble Province, Bío Bío Region]. By the late 1970s, he also was national director of the Schönstatt Movement in Chile. In 1981, he went to Rome to serve as Secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Family, returning to Chile in 1985 when he was named coadjutor archbishop of La Serena [Elqui Province, Coquimbo Region].
Throughout these years, beginning in the 1970s, he was warned about his inappropriate behavior toward seminarians and other youths. In 1990, Cox became archbishop of La Serena. An ex-priest who worked under him said that Cox would greet his favorite youth with kisses on the mouth, unconcerned that people were watching. The ex-priest also said that Cox used the archdiocese’s dormitories to house young male visitors. In the early 1990s, a priest named Manuel Hervia reportedly discovered Cox in flagrante delicto with a young man. Hervia saw Cox’s misconduct as an abuse of authority and submitted a complaint to the bishops’ conference. (In 2011, Hervia himself would be accused of child sexual abuse.) By the mid-1990s, Cox’s «obsessive sexual inclination toward young people» was an open secret, according to a 2002 investigative report by journalist Alejandra Matus Acuña. In 1997, Cox resigned at age 63 after being investigated by the apostolic nuncio in Santiago. Despite the numerous allegations against him, Cox remained publicly active in the Church following his resignation. He assumed the presidency 1997-1999 of the National Commission for Jubilee 2000. He then went to Rome, ostensibly to work for the Great Jubilee Committee, but actually for psychological treatment, according to some reports. He then took a position with the Latin American Episcopal Council in Bogotá, Colombia. In October 2002, Cox announced that he would be moving to Schönstatt Sanctuary in Vallendar, Germany, to live a life of prayer. Although he never faced criminal charges, he allegedly had sexually abused children as well as young adults. Cox asked for forgiveness «for this dark side that is inside me, and that stands in opposition to the life and teachings of Jesus.» His successor as archbishop of La Serena, Manuel Donoso, admitted that in the short time he had served as auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese, he had received nine complaints about Cox. The allegations involved « excessive affection» that «everyone saw» but the abuse was difficult to prove. «I humbly ask for forgiveness in the name of the Church if any person or family was affected,» said Donoso. Former Santiago archbishop Cardinal Javier Errázuriz consistently minimized the allegations against Cox. He said that although Cox’s behavior «raised suspicions,» he never had been named in any formal complaints. However, a priest quotedanonymously by El Mostrador said that Errázuriz had been aware of Cox’s misconduct since seminary days but had promoted and favored him nonetheless. When Cox announced his move to a monastery in 2002, the Chilean bishops’ conference, which was headed by Errázuriz at the time, issued a tactful statement that included no condemnation of Cox’s behavior. «It is not our intention to place judgment on what occurred in the privacy of his [Cox’s] conscience,» the bishops wrote. «… We understand and support Monseñor Cox’s decision to retire to a life of prayer.» Errázuriz and Cox reportedly have been close friends since their youth. They studied together, were ordained the same year (1961), and were members and then leaders of the Schönstatt movement in Chile. Cox was not included on Chilean bishops’ public list of guilty clerics. He retains the title archbishop emeritus of La Serena. |
Rights-Chile: Bishop Suspected of Sex Abuse Retires to Monastery, by Gustavo Gonzales, 11.01.2002
Nuncio Cavalli descartó que denuncias contra sacerdotes afecten a la Iglesia, cooperativa.cl, 11.01.2002 **Iglesia Reconoce que Recibió Nueve Denuncias Contra Cox, La Nación, 11.02.2002 El arzobispo de La Serena reconoce haber recibido reclamos contra Cox, elmercurio.com, 11.02.2002 Los Archivos Secretos Cox, by Alejandrea Matus, primerlinea.cl, 11.03.02 Productor Tomás Cox: «Nuestra familia está muy afectada y con mucho dolor», estrellavalpo.cl, 11.04.2002 Horas dolorosas llaman a la conversión, Iglesia.cl, 11.05.2002 Frente a las denuncias: La cruz de la Iglesia, entrevista de Raquel Correa, El Mercurio, via Iglesia.cl, 11.10.2002 Cardenal Errázuriz y sus calculos: ¿Son «poqutios» los casos de curas abusadores en Chile?, by Juan Pablo Barros, The Clinic, 04.06.10 Top Cardinal, Tarcisio Bertone, Blames Paedophile Crisis on Homosexuals, by Ruth Gledhill, The Times, Snapshots of Catholic Priests Accused of Abuse, Associated Press, 04.14.2010 El Ostracismo de Monseñor Cox, La Nación.cl, 05.09.2010 Sacerdote Manuel Hervia: «Descubri al obispo Cox en una relacion homosexual», por Pablo Vergara, The Clinic, 04.11.2011 Las Negligencias y Omisiones del Cardenal Errázuriz que lo Tienen Cuestionado a un Día de Comenzar el Cónclave, por Alejandra Carmona, elmostrador, 03.11.2013 Episcopado Chileno, Iglesia.cl, 11.26.2013 |
| Rev. Julio Dutilh Ros
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Santiago archdiocese | Diocesan/Diocesano | In November 2014, a woman told the Santiago archdiocese that Dutilh had groped her breast during confession in February 1989, when the woman was 16. In a preliminary investigation, the archdiocese deemed the allegations credible. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith authorized Santiago archbishop Ricardo Ezzati to discipline Dutilh. Ezzati chose three mild penalties: Dutilh was removed from the parish, instructed to make monthly pilgrimages for one year to pray for the victim and his own ‘spiritual journey,’ and told to «hear confessions in a confessional, and in that way avoid close proximity to the penitent.»
In June 2015, Ezzati announced Dutilh’s departure from Santa María in Las Condes, where he had been pastor since 1999. The archbishop implied that the alleged abuse was only one of the reasons for the priest’s removal – the other wasthat Dutilh already submitted his resignation three years earlier, when he turned 75. The statementalso noted that the victim «was not [considered] a minor, according to canon law of the time,» and that the canonical statute of limitations had been reached. Dutilh remains in ministry. In July 2015, he was appointed parochial vicar of San Alberto Hurtado, also in Las Condes. In September 2016, he was observed saying Mass at that parish, apparently as its pastor. On October 25, 2017, he concelebrated Mass with Ezzati to mark the establishment of San Alberto Hurtado as an official parish. Not included in Chilean bishops’ list of guilty clerics. |
Letter to victim from auxiliary bishop Fernando Ramos Pérez, Archdiocese of Santiago, 05.07.2015
Communicado del Arzobispado de Santiago, Iglecia.cl, 06.17.2015 Ezzati remueve a sacerdote de parroquia en Las Condes por acusación de abuso sexual, The Clinic Online, 06.18.2015 Iglesia remueve a párroco de Santa María de Las Condes, Latercera, 06.18.2015 Exclusivo: Habla la víctima de sacerdote removido Julio Dutilh, por Verónica Moscoso, 24Horas.Cl, 06.22.2015 Decrees of Archdiocese of Santiago, 07.2015 Denuncian que sacerdote fue cambiado de parroquia tras abuso en medio de confesión, by Piangella Obradorbiobiochile.cl, 09.06.2016 Revelan que cardenal Errázuriz designó a cura sancionado por abuso para oficiar misas en otra parroquia, eldinamo.cl, 09.06.2016 Iglesia cambia de parroquia a sacerdote sancionado por abuso durante la confesión, by Alejandra Carmona López, elmostrador.cl, 09.06.2016 Monsenor Ezzaati se reune con agentes pastorales y feligreses de San Alberto Hurtado, Parroquia San Alberto Hurtado, 10.25.2017 |
| Rev. Nibaldo Escalante Trigo | Punta Arenas diocese
La Serena archdiocese |
Diocesan/Diocesano |
In November 2002, investigative journalist Alejandrao Matus reported Escalante’s alleged abuse of a boy in the 1990s as part of a La Naciónseries about clerical sexual abuse cases during the tenure of La Serena archbishop and alleged child molester Francisco José Cox. Cox was archbishop of La Serena in 1990-1997. According to Escalante’s victim, during a trip in Escalante’s car from the boy’s home in Ovalle to the church, the priest massaged the boy’s legs and back. At the church, Escalante massaged the boy’s body, kissed him, hugged him, and told him repeatedly how impressed he was with the boy’s development. Escalante worked in at least three different parishes in the archdiocese: San Juan Evangelista parish, located in Compañía Alta, city of La Serena; Cristo Resucitado parish, in the town of Tierras Blancas; and one or more of three parishes in the city of Ovalle: San Vicente Ferrer, El Divino Salvador and El Santísimo Redentor. All five parishes are in Elqui Province, Coquimbo Region. Years earlier, another priest reportedly had seen Escalante lying down with a boy in a rectory and reported the incident to then-archbishop Cox, who dismissed the accusations because «there was no proof.» Unbeknown to the public, Escalante was removed from ministry for life by the Vatican in 2008. The archdiocese gave him a place to live in his hometown of Andacollo, Elqui Province, Coquimbo Region, where he reportedly was seen co-organizing youth vocational trainings with the rector of the diocesan sanctuary. The public had no knowledge of Escalante’s 2008 punishment until April 2011, when La Serena’s then-archbishop Manuel Donoso confirmed the priest’s guilt in the church’s only official statement on the case, saying that the victim had not wished to file a complaint with civil authorities. Asked why the case wasn’t made more public earlier, he said it was to «protect the people.» Until this point, the townspeople had assumed that Escalante had returned to his hometown to settle down during retirement. Included on the Chilean bishops’ list of guilty clerics for the five-year period (2011–2016) the list was public. Escalante’s name appeared in the sub-category of those who were sentenced under canon law. |
A propósito de curas, pedofilia, violencia y poder, El beat del tambor (blog), 04.28.2010 [quotes extensively from investigative journalist Alejandra Matus’s 2002 series about child sexual abuse by clerics during the administration of confirmed molester Archbishop Francisco Cox]
«Cuando la verdad sale, si alguien se equivocó, tiene que pedir perdón y hacer gestos públicos», interview of La Serena archbishop Manuel Donoso, reprinted in El Observatodo, originally published in Diario La Región, 04.2011 Communicaco Iglesia La Serena, choapa.cl, 04.03.2011 Arzobispo de La Serena Confirma Caso de Sacerdote Condenado por Abuso Sexual, El Observatodo, 04.04.2011 Iglesia Catolica De Chile Entrego Listado Oficial De Los Sacerdotes Condenados Por Abusos a Menores, by Ana Maria Guerra, La Segunda, 11.11.2011 |
| Brother Adolfo Fuentes, S.M. | Santiago archdiocese | Congregation of Marist Brothers//Congregación de los Hermanos Maristas | Spanish. In October 2017, an investigative reportby The Clinic Online identified several Marists and other clerics who allegedly abused children at Marist-run schools and camps. The article included an account by a man who said that he was raped twice by Fuentes when he was six. The first assault occurred in a tent at a Marist-run camp. The second occurred shortly after the child had entered Alonso de Ercilla Institute, the prestigious Marist school in Santiago. He said that Fuentes took him out of class and led him through a tunnel to a room beneath the school’s gym, where Fuentes forced him to perform oral copulation, then made him wash his teeth in a nearby bathroom.
Fuentes’ name has never appeared on the Chilean bishops’ list of clerics convicted under canon or civil law. |
El oscuro sótano de los Maristas, by Claudio Pizarro and Jonás Romero, The Clinic, 10.25.2017 |
| Rev. Rodrigo Gajardo Figueroa, P. Schönstatt | Santiago archdiocese | Apostolic Movement of Schönstatt | Sentenced June 2017 to 61 days in prison and banned from working with minors for 10 years.
Gajardo admitted to abusing a minor, age 15-16, between July 2008 and 2009. Gajardo sexually assaulted the victim during a religious retreat. The youth was staying overnight in the youth home of the P. Schönstatt Shrine, located in Vicente Valdés. Ordained in 2005, Gajardo had been vice-rector of the National Shrine of Maipú. Officials of the P. Schönstatt movement suspended him from ministry pending a ruling on his case from the Vatican. In a July 2017 statement, Superior Provincial Fernando Baeza said he expected to receive the Holy See’s ruling «soon.» |
Schoenstatt prepara su corazón para renovar su Alianza de Amor, schoenstatt.org, 10.14.2005
Nuevo sacerdote chileno, de P. Schönstatt, condenado por abuso sexual en contra de menores de edad, Fundación para la Confianza, 06.30.2017 Comunicado de P. Fernando Baeza, Superior Provincial, Instituto Secular Padres De P. Schönstatt, 07.18.2017 Condenan al vicerrector del Santuario Nacional de Maipú por abuso sexual de un menor, elinformadorchile.com, 07.19.2017 Sacerdote es Condenado por Abuso Sexual en Chile, ACI Prensa, 07.22.2017 |
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Rev. Jorge Enrique Galaz Espinoza, F.D.P.
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Rancagua diocese | Sons of Divine Providence/Obra Don Orione (Orionianos) | Repeatedly raped two severely mentally disabled boys, both under age 18, between 2004 and 2005. Galaz was director of Pequeño Cottolengo, a home for severely mentally disabled children in Rancagua [Cachapoal Province, O’Higgins region], and the boys were residents there.
Galaz was arrested in July 2005 after Pequeño Cottolengo employees accused him of sexually abusing the boys. One of the incidents had occurred earlier that month when Galaz drove his victim from the home to his private residence, where he raped him. The case was brought by the prosecutor’s office and the National Service for Minors (Sename). One of the witnesses, an ex-seminarian, said that he was pressured by the Superior General of the Orionine Fathers to withdraw the accusation against Galaz. After the court’s July 2006 guilty verdict, the director of the Orionine Fathers in Chile said that «we have always believed in Fr. Jorge’s innocence, and we continue to even now.» At the time of the verdict, the prosecutor had been investigating Galaz for sexually abusing two other residents of the home, ages 6 and 24. In August 2006, Galaz was sentenced to 15 years and one day in prison. He continued to say he was innocent, and his attorney filed to appeal the sentence. In November 2006, the Court of Appeals confirmed the priest’s sentence of 15 years and a day. Included on the Chilean bishops’ public list of guilty clerics from when the list first appeared in November 2011 to when the bishops unpublishedit in August 2016. |
Fiscal amplia cargos contra sacerdote, by Paola Moreno, El Mercurio, 03.25.2005
Cura Galaz: «I have not violated any children» El Mercurio (Chile), 06.06.2006 Caso Cottolengo: A un día de conocer el veredicto, sacerdote reitera su inocencia, El Mercurio, 07.24.2006 Denuncias contra sacerdotes, Iglesia.cl, 07.25.2006 Caso Cottolongo: Declaran culpable a sacerdote por violación de dos menores, El Mercurio, 07.25.2006 Condenan a Cura por Violación de Dos Niños y Fiscal Indaga Otros Casos, by Barbara Saez, La Tercera, via recortes.iglesia.cl, 07.26.2006 Corte rechaza libertad de director de Pequeño Connolengo, El Mercurio, 07.28.2005 Sacerdote del Pequeño Cottolengo Condenado a 15 Años, emol.com, 08.11.2006 Sorpresiva renuncia de la defensa de sacerdote Galaz, by Paola Moreno, elmercurio.com, 08.15.2006 Caso Cottolengo: Defensa de sacerdote Galaz presenta recurso de nulidad, El Mercurio, 08.21.2006 Abogada Magina Zegpi Pons: “La Iglesia ya entendió que no puede ocultar a pedófilos”, by Sonnia Mendoza, revistanos.cl, 03.2011 Abusos: La lista de los curas condenados e investigados, chileinforma.com, 05.16.2011 Abusos Sexuales en la Iglesia Catolica [Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church], pp. 219-220, by Jorge Llistosella, 2012 Iglesia retira de su web lista con nombres de sacerdotes condenados por abusos, by Camila Mardones, La Tercera, 09.28.2016 |
| Rev. Alfonso Gielis Nulens
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Hasselt diocese (Belgium)
Los Ángeles diocese (Chile) San Bernardo diocese |
Diocesan/Diocesano | Belgian. Ordained in 1970. Arrived in Chile in 1975. In charge 1983-1992 of Hogar Indígena Padre Remigio Gúbaro, a boarding school for indigenous (Pehuenche) children in Santa Bárbara, in the Bío Bío region. The school was owned by the Los Ángeles diocese and affiliated with El Servicio Nacional de Menores (Sename).
In 1988, female chaperones at the school reported to Sename that Gielis was behaving suspiciously with the children at night. Sename sent the report to Bishop Adolfo Rodriguez, who did nothing to stop the priest. In 1992, civil authorities launched an investigation when four children from the home wrote letters (see 3 of the 4 letters, as published by CIPER) reporting their abuse by Gielis. The priest admitted to touching the children’s genitals with his hands and mouth, and Bishop Rodriguez acknowledged having received the chaperones’ complaint against Gielis in 1988. Nonetheless, legal proceedings against the priest were dismissed by the investigating judge, Erasmo Sepulveda. After a few articles in local newspapers (see 1-2 and 3), Judge Sepulveda prohibited any further media reports on the case. With the permission of Bishop Rodriguez, the former bishop of Los Ángeles, Orozimbo Fuenzalida, transferred Gielis to Fuenzalida’s then-current diocese of San Bernardo. Gielis stayed in ministry in the San Bernardo diocese for the next 19 years, working in parishes and a school and running the diocese’s Marriage Encounter program. He worked at Laguna de Aculeo until 2005 when he was named pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes, in Nocedal Villa. In December 2009 he was assigned to Ascension of the Lord parish in La Platina, and in August 2009 he became chaplain of Manuel Balmaceda School. In July 2010, Gielis traveled home to Belgium for vacation, where he was arrested on charges of child sexual abuse. A Belgian prosecutor appealed to the Chilean courts for access to the victims and witnesses from the 1992 case. In the city of Los Ángeles [Bío Bío Province], police re-opened the investigation. Despite Gielis’s admission in 1992 and the strength of the evidence against him, he was never added to the Chilean bishops’ list of guilty priests during the five years it was public (2011-2016). In 2016, a lone mention of his name in a April 2016 Chilean court gazette indicated that he might be back in Chile. |
PDI Indaga Caso De Sacerdote Belga Acusado De Abusar De Niños En Hogar Indígena De Santa Bárbara, Biobiochile.cl, 10.05.2011
Justicia belga investiga a sacerdote por abusos sexuales contra menores pehuenche, by Juvenal Rivera (Los Ángeles) and Pedro Ramírez, |
| Rev. Juan Carlos González
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Melipilla diocese | Diocesa/Diocesano | Pastor of San Francisco de El Monte, Melipilla diocese. Accused in September 2015 of abuse “of a sexual nature,” according to a statement from the diocese. The exact nature of the abuse is unknown, as is the gender and age of the victim or victims. The church opened an investigation and asked the individuals who filed the complaint to attend a neighboring parish to avoid any run-ins with him. He was later suspended from ministry in El Monte. No known criminal charges.
In an interview published online in December 2015, the bishop of Melipilla, Cristián Contreras Villarroel, said that, after a period of spiritual retreat, González was transferred to VirgenMedianera de Cartagena, another parish in the diocese, where he ministers in the community, tends to the sick, and celebrates mass. The bishop also said that the diocese is awaiting the outcome of the investigation by civil authorities. However, the news media has not confirmed whether the police or prosecutors are in fact investigating the allegations against González. González appears next to the bishop in photos of a large prayer service posted on July 31, 2016 to the parish of Cartagena’s Facebook page. Not included on Chilean bishops’ public list of guilty clerics. |
Comunicado del Obispado de Melpilla, Diocesis San Jose de Milipilla, 09.10.2015
Suspenden ministerio sacerdotal a párroco de El Monte por denuncia en su contra, El Labrador, 09.11.2015 Obispo sobre el alejamiento de sacerdotes en el Dacnato Talagante: «EN REALIDAD LOS RUMORES SIEMPRE SON NEGATIVOS» , talaganteonline.cl, 2015 Pbro. Juan Carlos González, Youtube.com, 04.21.2015 Mes de la Solidaridad 2016, Facebook.com, 07.31.16 |
| Deacon Luis Rubio González | Rancagua diocese | Diocesan/Diocesano | Permanent deacon and two-time school director in Las Cabras [Cachapoal Province, O’Higgins Region]. Accused in September 2013 of conduct that could constitute a crime against canon law, according to the diocese. Bishop Alejandro Goic of the Rancagua diocese announced a preliminary investigation and suspended him from ministry. At the same time, civil authorities opened their own investigation into two allegations, “sexual in nature, apparently committed against minors” against Rubio González. The lead investigator, an expert in sex crimes, said the alleged victims were expected to be brought in to testify. No updates since 2013.
Not included in Chilean bishops’ list of guilty clerics during the five years it was public. |
Investigación canónica contra diácono permanente en diócesis de Rancagua, Iglesia.cl, 09.03.2013
Ministerio Público y Obispado inician investigación en contra de diácono por presunto abuso sexual, by Carla Dinamarca Miranda, El Tipógrafo, 09.05.2013 |
| Rev. Jeremiah Francis Healy Kerins, M.S.S.C.C.
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Santiago archdiocese
Valparaíso diocese |
Missionary Society of St. Columban/ Sociedad Misionera de San Columbano (Columban Fathers/Columbanos) |
Native of Ireland. Head of the Columban Fathers in Chile, where he arrived as a missionary in 1981. Nicknamed «Father Derry.» Removed from ministry in May 2011 after he was accused of sexually abusing a 16-year-old boy in the 1980s. Another man subsequently reported that Healy initiated a sexual relationship with him when the man was 23 years old, also in the 1980s. First accuser reported Healy to civil authorities; Columban order investigated, then referred findings to the Vatican. In 2012 the Vatican deemed credible the allegations that Healy had sexually abused minors. Healy was prohibited from public ministry and forbidden from contact with children or vulnerable adults, unless accompanied by another. His good behavior and compliance could modify the penalties.
Healy was not included in the Chilean bishops’ first public list of 18 convicted clerics when it was published in November 2011. But his name appeared on the subsequent published updates of the list, dated October 1, 2012, July 26, 2013, July 25, 2014 and January 4, 2016. He was listed under the sub-category of those convicted under canon law for sexual abuse of a minor. |
Superior de los padres columbanos frente a denuncia por abusos sexuales: “No voy a negar la verdad», by Gustavo Villarrubia, CIPER (Centro de Investigación Periodística, 10.26.2011
Church probes allegation against Kerry priest in Chile, by Simon Brouder, The Kerryman, 12.14.2011 Sacerdote columbano fue sancionado por casos de abuso sexual de menores, cooperativa.cl, 08.06.2012 |
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Rev. Juan Arnoldo Henríquez Zapata
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Valparaíso diocese | Diocesan/Diocesano | Charged in March 2010 with procuring sexual services from children and inciting prostitution of a minor. Juan Henríquez was pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes parish in the small city of Limache [Marga Marga Province, Valparaíso Region]. According to the victims, two boys ages 15 and 16, the priest paid them 25,000 pesos in April 2008 in exchange for sex. The incidents took place in his parish residence.
The bishop of Valparaíso, Monsignor Gonzalo Duarte, SS.CC., immediately announcedHenríquez’s suspension. At the priest’s arraignment, the mother of one of the boys retracted her previous support of her son’s claim and said the priest was innocent. Henríquez, who initially had admitted guilt, went on to plead innocent, saying that his confession had been due to extortion by the boys and «external pressures.» In March 2011, Henríquez was convicted of inciting prostitution with one of the boys and given a suspended sentence of 3 years and 1 day. His alleged crime against the other boy was still being investigated, according to a 2011 news report. Valparaíso bishop Gonzalo Duarte responded to the conviction by reiterating his March 2010 pledge to cooperate fully with civil authorities. When the Chilean bishops first released a list of guilty clergy in November 2011, Henríquez was included in the sub-category ‘convicted under Chilean criminal law’ [‘condenados en la justicia penal chilena’.] |
Iglesia reveló listado de sacerdotes condenados por abusos contra menores en Chile, cooperativa.cl, 11.11.2011
Declaración pública del Obispado de Valparaíso, Iglesia.cl, 03.26.2010 [see original article] Formalizan a un párroco de Limache acusado de abusos sexuales, by Hernán Cisternas, El Mercurio, 03.26.2010 Párroco de Limache acusado de abusar de dos menores quedó con arraigo nacional, cooperativa.cl, 03.26.2010 Abren proceso contra sacerdote por abuso sexual contra menores, diarioelsur.cl, 03.26.2010 **Informes cruzados marcan formalizacion ce sacerdote, El Mercurio de Valparaíso, 03.27.2010 Acusado un Párroco Chileno por Abuso e Incitación a la Prostitución, catolicosincensura.com, 04.07.2010 Declaración Sobre Condena a Sacerdote Juan Henríquez Zapata, Valparaíso Diocese Communications Dept., documentos.iglesia.cl/conf, 03.16.2011 **Obispado de Valparaíso recalca confianza en sistema judicial tras condena a párroco de Limache, elmostrador.cl, 03.16.2011 3 años de condena para cura limachinole, La Estrella, 03.17.2011 Sacerdote condenado a tres años, El Mercurio de Valparaíso, 03.17.2011 |
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Santiago archdiocese | Diocesan/Diocesano | Accused in 2011 of sexually abusing nine girls between the ages of 4 and 10 years at the Regis San Francisco home in 2008. Suspended from ministry. Hervia vigorously denied the accusations, saying they were revenge by archbishop of Santiago, Ricardo Ezzati, for Hervia’s blowing the whistle on Archbishop Francisco José Cox Huneeus a decade previously. Ezzati denied the revenge motive. Hervia was indicted in April 2011. The case was dismissed for lack of evidence in June 2013. The canonical process in January 2016 absolved Hervia and allowed him to be reinstated in the archdiocese of Concepción to resume ministry, without restrictions.
Not included in Chilean bishops’ list of guilty clerics. |
Descartan a Seis Menores Como Supuestas Víctimas de Sacerdote, by Sebastián Labrín, La Tercera, 09.07.2011
Iglesia Catolica De Chile Entrego Listado Oficial De Los Sacerdotes Condenados Por Abusos a Menores, by Ana Maria Guerra, La Segunda, 11.11.2011 Sacerdote Hervia Relata su Dura Historia Tras Acusación por Abusos… Justicia Ya no Seguirá el Caso, by Patricio Meza, La Segunda Online, 06.14.2013 Arzobispo Ezzati Rechazó Acusaciones de “Venganza” Contra Manuel Hervia, biobiochile.cl, 10.25.2013 Fallo canónico absuelve a sacerdote acusado de abuso sexual a menores, Publimetro.cl, 01.05.2016 Declaración pública del P. Manuel Hervia, Iglesia.cl, 01.05.2016 |
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Rev. Julio Raúl Inostroza Caro
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San Felipe diocese | Diocesan/Diocesano | Parish priest at Nuestra Señora de Andacollo, Valparaíso. Admitted to sexually abusing a minor and an adult in 2011. Suspended by the diocese for three years in 2013. Allowed during suspension to privately administer sacraments; not allowed to hear confessions of anyone younger than 30.
Included on Chilean bishops’ public list of guilty clerics. |
Obispado pide perdón por abusos cometidos por Párroco Iglesia Andacollo, eltrabajo.cl, 09.2013
Obispado de San Felipe suspendió a presbítero por «actos impropios«, cooperativa.cl, 09.05.2013 Declaración Pública del Obispado de San Felipe, Iglesia.cl, 09.05.2013 |
| Brother Luis Izquierdo, S.M. | Unknown Diocese (Chile) |
Congregation of Marist Brothers (Marists) | Teacher at a Marist school. Investigated for the alleged abuse of a student. | El escándalo de pederastia de los Maristas se reproduce en Chile, by Guillem Sánchez, El Periódico, 01.06.2018 |
| Rev. Luis Melchor Juragaro Manaideke |
Arica diocese
Punta Arenas diocese
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Diocesan/Diocesano | Colombian. Ordained 2008 for the Arica diocese in northern Chile. Transferred to Punta Arenas in southern Chile, where he was appointed pastor of Nuestra Señora del Carmen parish in Puerto Williams, [Chilean Antarctic Province, Magellan and Chilean Antarctica Region].
Suspended from ministry in October 2012 following complaints filed with both police and the diocese. Juragaro was found in possession of images “involving the privacy of individuals, including a female minor» who was 16 years old. Authorities found that between October 2011 and August 2012, he had installed a hidden video camera at the church in the girls’ bathroom and shower, and transmitted the footage to a computer in his bedroom. His crime was discovered after he handed over his personal camera, where he had stored some of the images, to someone from whom he was seeking technical help. It contained images of the body parts of at least five females, three of them minors, while they were using the bathroom. Juragaro admitted guilt. Sentenced in June 2013 to a reduced sentence of 541 days and fined $300. He was allowed to serve his sentence outside of jail. Current whereabouts unknown. From November 2011 to August 2016, the Chilean bishops posted a list of clerics found guilty under canon or civil law of abusing minors. The list grew from 18 to 30 names over the five-year period. Juragaro’s name was never included. |
Iglesia Catolica De Chile Entrego Listado Oficial De Los Sacerdotes Condenados Por Abusos a Menores, by Ana Maria Guerra, La Segunda, 11.11.2011
Comunicado del Obispado de Punta Arenas, Iglesia.cl, 10.22.2012 Investigan a sacerdote de Puerto Williams por vulneración a la intimidad, by Jorge Miranda, 24Horas.Cl, 10.22.2012 Sacerdote colombiano admitió responsabilidad y fue condenado por violación de intimidad de las personas, La Prensa Austral, 06.21.2013 541 días de presidio para sacerdote que grababa a mujeres en el baño, El Pinguino, 06.25.2013 Sentencias Ejecutoriadas Condenatorias en Ámbito Civil por Delitos Contra Menores de Edad Cometidos por Personas que Eran Clérigos al Momento de la Comisión del Delito (*), Conferencia Episcopal de Chile, 01.04.2016 |
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Santiago archdiocese | Diocesan/Diocesano | Once considered Chile’s most revered and powerful priest, Fernando Karadima was declaredguilty by the Vatican in early 2011 of sexual abuse of minors and assigned to a life of prayer and penance. [See the Vatican’s confidential, five-page ruling on Karadima, published by an investigative news organization in 2015.] In November 2011, Chilean judge Jessica González applied the statute of limitations in the criminal case against Karadima because of the statute of limitations. However, she detailed the priest’s abuses in a searing 84-page ruling, calling the allegations «truthful and reliable.”
Karadima’s crimes had been reported years earlier to his superior, Santiago archbishop (1998-2010) Cardinal Francisco Errázuriz Ossa, P. Schönstatt. In 2003, Errázuriz received a letter from a Karadima victim but did nothing. When told in 2004 of another victim, the cardinal opened an investigation but then suspended it for three years. [See an interview of the priest Eliseo Escudero, who conducted the archdiocese’s first investigation of Karadima, from 2004 to 2006.] Karadima himself claimed the archbishop had protected him, because he knew the cardinal had paid 500 million pesos to halt a publication of a book alleging that Errázuriz was a pedophile. The cardinal finally sent Karadima’s case to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in June 2010, shortly after four victims went public with their story, having received no response to formal complaints they had filed with the churchin preceding years. In April 2013, Pope Francis appointed Errázuriz to his Council of Cardinals, despite knowing of the cardinal’s mismanagement of Karadima. In September 2013, three of Karadima’s victims, Dr. James Hamilton, the journalist Juan Carlos Cruz and the president of the Foundation for Trust, José Andrés Murillo, filed a civil suit for 450 million pesos against Errázuriz and the archdiocese, citing the Church’s “systematic negligence” and “voluntary blindness.” An email correspondence 2013-2014 between Errázuriz and his successor, current Santiago archbishop Ricardo Ezzati Andrello, was leaked to the press in September 2015. The email exchange revealed the archbishops’ joint strategy to prevent Juan Carlos Cruz, one of Karadima’s victims, from becoming a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. Ezzati, in his email to Errázuriz, wrote that Cruz’s appointment to the Commission would be “too threatening to the church of Chile.” Errázuriz later admitted that he had in fact intervened so that Cruz was not named to the Commission. A news organization also published two letterswritten by Errázuriz to Karadima and another priest that, according to the plaintiffs, revealed a strategy by the archbishop to conceal allegations and protect Karadima. A month after the email leak, Errázuriz delivered a 22-page testimony in the civil suit, saying that when he first learned of the accusations against Karadima, he “devalued” them because they “came without evidence.” Also, “there was Karadima’s prestige,” and “it was difficult to assimilate that people who were now adults for years had been abused without reporting it.” Also in 2015, Pope Francis selected Bishop Juan de la Cruz Barros Madrid to head Chile’s Osorno diocese despite allegations of Barros’s complicityin the crimes of Karadima, his former mentor. Three victims attest that Barros witnessed Karadima’s abuse of them, and as secretary to the Santiago archbishop in the early 1980s, Barros allegedly destroyed a letter from parishioners complaining of Karadima’s misconduct. In March 2015, hundreds of Osorno Catholics gathered to protest Barros’s appointment. Dozens of priests and deacons of Osorno sent a letter to the Apostolic Nuncio in Chile requesting his removal. On March 16, 2017, Chilean justice minister Juan Muñoz Pardo dismissed the victims’ 2013 lawsuit against the Santiago archbishopric. In his 291-page ruling, Judge Muñoz wrote that there was insufficient evidence of ‘silencing’ of victims and of cover-up by the archbishopric. He said that Errazuriz had explained his delay in reporting and ‘even asked for forgiveness.’ The plaintiffs’ attorney, Juan Pablo Hermosilla, In May 2017, Karadima was transferred to Hogar San José in Lo Barnechea, run by the female religious of the Santa Teresa Jornet congregation. In September 2017, he was hospitalized with a heart attack. |
Handling of Abuse in Chilean Church Questioned, by Alexei Barrionuevo and Pascale Bonnefoy, New York Times, 10.27.2010
Las Sotanas Sucias se Lavan en Casa, by Claudia Molina B.. elciudadano.cl, 01.23.2011 Declaración del Arzobispo de Santiago, Monseñor Ricardo Ezzati Andrello, Mons. Ricardo Ezzati Andrello, Iglesia.cl, 02.18.2011 Chilean Priest Found Guilty of Abusing Minors, by Alexei Barrionuevo and Pascale Bonnefoy, New York Times, 02.18.2011 Rev. Fernando Karadima, Chilean Priest, Accused Of Molesting Children, Case Dismissed, by Eva Vergara, The Huffington Post, 11.14.2011 Chilean Judge Drops Abuse Case but Condemns Priest, by Simon Romero and Pascale Bonnefoy Ruling on Karadima by Chilean Judge, 2011 Who Were You, Father Karadima?, by Hector Sot, Santiago Times, 01.16. 2012 Chile’s Catholic Church Investigates Abuser’s Right-hand Man, by Lee Purvey, Santiago Times, 08.31.2012 Karadima: Demandan por $ 450 millones a Arzobispado por Negligencias en Casos de Abuso, recortes.iglesia.cl, 09.03.2013 Demanda Contra la Iglesia Acusa «Ceguera Voluntaria» de los Obispos ante los Abusos de Karadima, recortes.iglesia.cl, 09.03.2013 Exclusivo: El fallo completo con que el Vaticano condenó a Karadima y lo acusó de crear “súbditos sicológicos”, by Ivonne Toro Agurto and Pablo Basadre, 09.07.2015 Three Chilean Catholics Sue Church Over Sexual Abuse, Legalbrief Today, 09.13.2013 Demandantes de Karadima y Arzobispado no Llegan a Acuerdo por Demanda Civil, emol.com, 03.05.2014 Inédito: 30 curas y diáconos de Osorno le pidieren al obispo Barros que renuncie, soychile.cl, 02.19.2015 ¿Qué pasa en Chile? Cinco claves para entender el caso Osorno, aciprensa.com, 03.23.2015 Los correos secretos entre Ezzati y Errázuriz y el rol clave de Enrique Correa en las operaciones políticas de la Iglesia, by Alejandra Carmona, elmostrador.cl, 09.09.2015 La carta enviada al Vaticano que acusa al obispo Barros de ser cómplice de Karadima, by Juan Carlos Cruz, CIPER (Centro de Investigación Periodística), 09.09.2015 Errázuriz confirma que «intervino» para que Juan Carlos Cruz no llegara a comisión del Vaticano, by Leslie Ayala and Pablos Cádiz, t13.cl, 10.01.2015 Exclusivo: La declaración de Francisco Javier Errázuriz en el marco del caso Karadima, Leslie Ayala and Pablos Cádiz, t13.cl, 10.01.2015 Juan Barros, el obispo de Chile al que sus feligreses le piden la renuncia, by Constanza Hola Chamy, BBC Mundo, 03.21.2015 Víctimas chilenas de abusos piden cuentas al Papa sobre obispo acusado de encubrimiento, by Jorge Cancino, Univision.com, 10.08.2015 Provicencia revoca condición de hijo ilustre a Fernando Karadima, t13.cl, 03.24.2016 Judicial Ruling Dismissing Civil Suit by Juan Carlos Cruz et al vs Santiago Archbishop, 03.16.2017 |
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Rev. Pedro Mariano Labarca Araya, O. de M.
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Santiago archdiocese
Concepción archdiocese Bogotá archdiocese |
Order of Our Lady of Mercy/Orden de la Merced (Mercedarians/Mercedarios) | Headed the Chilean province of the Mercedarians from 1991 to 1998 before being promoted to Superior General, the order’s number-one position globally. Served as Superior General from 1998 to 2004. In 2013, Labarca was removed as a parish pastor in Bogota, Colombia after being investigated by the Church in 2012 for the sexual abuse of seminarians and children. The church’s investigation surfaced evidence that Labarca may have abused minors when he was rector of a Mercedarian school in Concepción.
The preliminary investigative report sent to the Vatican included witness testimony and accusations involving six other priests of the Order in improper acts possibly including the abuse of minors. In April 2017, the Mercedarian Province of Chile stated that Labarca had been removed by Pope Francis from the clerical state and from the congregation, without the right to appeal. The notice cited his «grave damage to priestly dignity and religious commitments.» In the five years (2011–2016) that the Chilean bishops maintained a public list of clerics found guilty under civil or canon law, Labarca’s name was not included. |
Vaticano aplica medidas cautelares a sacerdote chileno ex superior mundial de la Orden de la Merced acusado de abuso sexual, by Gustavo Villarrubia, CIPER (Centro de Investigación Periodística), 06.14.2013
Sacerdote que es investigado por el vaticano por abusos sexuales está «recluido» en un convento en Lo Cañas, cambio21.cl, 06.18.2013 Comunicado Orden de la Merced, Provincia Mercedaria de Chile, 06.14.2013 Vatican Investigates Chilean Bishop for Sex Abuse, sbs.com.au, 02.07.2014 Víctimas chilenas de abusos piden cuentas al Papa sobre obispo acusado de encubrimiento, by Jorge Cancino, Univision.com, 10.08.2015 Comunicado de la Provincia Mercedaria de Chile, mercedarios.cl, 04.20.2017 Ex Superior mundial Mercedario expulsado por abusos sexuales, reflexionyliberacion.cl, 04.25.2017 Iglesia expulsa del clero a sacerdote y ex rector de colegio penquista acusado de abusos, by Cecilia Bastias, biobiochile.cl, 04.25.2017 Papa Francisco expulsa de la Iglesia a sacerdote chileno por su participación en casos de abuso sexual contra menores y ex seminaristas, El Mostrador, 04.26.2017 |
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Rev. Carlos Antonio Larraín Pérez-Cotapos, S.D.B.
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Punta Arenas diocese
Santiago archdiocese Puerto Montt archdiocese |
Salesians of Don Bosco/Salesianos de Don Bosco (Salesians) | Accused in 2001 of sexually abusing a nine-year-old girl while director of María Auxiliadora school in Porvenir [Tierra del Fuego Province]. The girl was a student at the school, where Larraín became director in 1996. From 1992-1996, he was a parish priest at Sagrada Familia, a Salesian parish in Macul [Santiago Province]. Prior to that, from 1986 to 1992, he was director of Monseñor Fagnano, a Salesian school in Pueto Natales [Última Esperanza province, Magallanes and Chilean Antarctica region].
In October 1999, the girl told her mother that Larraín had touched her and hurt her. The mother took her daughter to a hospital to be evaluated by a psychiatrist and pediatric gynecologist, who urged the mother to report the abuse to the National Service for Minors (Sename). The girl detailed the most recent abuse: Larraín called her to his office and, alone behind closed doors, slid his hand beneath her underpants. He warned her that something bad would happen if she told anyone. A formal complaint against Larraín was presented in April 2001, accusing him of abusing the girl beginning in 1997, when she was seven years old. In September 2001, after the mother of another girl, age eight, accused Larraín of molesting her daughter, he was indicted for «abusos deshonestos» against the two minors and removed from his position as director of the school. The two mothers confided to a Salesian priest in Porvenir that they had previously informed bishop Tomás González but that no action was taken. The Porvenir priest, who testified in the case, later revealed in a 2004 interview that, in addition to the two mothers, two fathers, who asked that they not be named because they feared retaliation by the church, told him that their sons had been molested similarly by Larraín. After he was indicted, Larraín spent a night in jail before being released on bail and relocated to Santiago, where he reportedly became director of Casa de Salud, a Salesian home in Macul. Three months later, he was prosecuted for the sexual abuse of the nine-year-old girl in Porvenir. The alleged abuse of the eight-year-old girl was never prosecuted after an appeals court dismissed the complaint. In January 2002, Bishop González filed a lawsuit for defamation against the nine-year-old girl’s mother, accusing her of «lying systematically.» In April 2005, Larraín was absolved in a court of law. The judge also dismissed a 118-million-peso civil suit against the diocese of Punta Arenas and the Salesian Congregation. However, in June 2006, an appeals court overturned the ruling and sentenced Larraín to 300 days in jail. The dismissal of the civil suit was upheld because the statute of limitations had been reached. Finally, in May 2007, the Supreme Court declared Larraín innocent. The Salesians demanded that Larraín’s good name and reputation be publicly restored. In March 2012, Larraín was assigned to Cristo Salvador, a Salesian parish in the archdiocese of Puerto Montt, in Puerto Montt [Llanquihue Province]. The archdiocese of Puerto Montt website, last updated in 2015, lists him as parochial vicar. Larraín was never included on the Chilean bishops’ public list of guilty clerics during the five years (2011–2016) it was posted. |
Punta Arenas: Procesan a sacerdote por abuso de menores, El Mercurio, 09.26.2001
Corte de Magallanes decide procesar a sacerdote, emol.com, 12.10.2001 Obispo González anuncia querella, El Mercurio, 01.30.2002 Escándalo en Porvenir, by Alejandra Matus, alejandramatuls.cl, 04.2002 Chile/Pederastia: Procesan a Sacerdote, by Gilberto Villarroel, BBCMundo.com, 10.18.2002 Corte rechaza segundo proceso contra sacerdote, El Mercurio, 03.22.2003 Padre Héctor Berenguela, ex párroco de Porvenir, by Cherie Zalaquett Aquea, recortes.iglesia.cl, 06.03.2004 Justicia absuelve a sacerdote salesiano, by Rolando Martínez, El Mercurio, 04.13.2005 Sacerdote Antonio Larraín fue condenado a 300 días de pena remitida por abuso, El Mercurio, 06.29.2006 Salesianos pidieron reparación pública para cura Larraín Pérez-Cotapos, cooperativa.cl, 05.04.2007 La historia de los sacerdotes cuestionados por abusos sexuales en el Obispado de Punta Arenas, latercera.com, 04.10.2008 Conformación Comunidades 2014, salesianos.cl, 12.26.2013 |
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Rev. Juan Miguel Leturia Mermod, S.J.
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La Serena archdiocese
Osorno diocese Santiago archdiocese Unknown diocese(s) (United States) |
Society of Jesus/Compañia de Jesús (Jesuits/Jesuitas) |
Leturia was first accused publicly in September 2005, when the newspaper La Tercera reported that a victim had filed criminal complaint against him.
Leturia taught in the 1970s at Colegio San Ignacio de Alonso in the city of Ovalle [Limarí Province, Coquimbo Region]. In 1988, he became rector of Colegio San Mateo in Osorno [Los Lagos Region]. One year into his six-year term as rector, he was removed due to inappropriate conduct. The Provincial Superior of the Jesuits said that Leturia’s exit «had to do with alcohol, various incidents, and an indirect complaint from a family. I don’t recall the details, but a father said something or other about sexual conduct with a boy, and that was the impetus for him [Leturia] leaving the school a few days later.» Leturia soon returned to ministry. Beginning in the early 1990s, he worked at Colegio San Ignacio El Bosque in Santiago, where he taught and was a spiritual adviser. In 1997, the Jesuits sent him to the United States for treatment, ostensibly for his alcoholism. However when he returned to Santiago in 2000, his ministry was restricted to working with adults only. In July 2005, a Chilean prosecutor received an email from a former Colegio San Mateo student who said that Leturia sexually abused him while the priest was rector of the school. The victim provided the names of others who he said had similar experiences and would be available to testify. Prosecutors opened an investigation and met with Society of Jesus officials to substantiate the allegations. The Jesuits admitted that they had received a complaint in February 2005 and had suspended Leturia the following month. In September 2005, a criminal complaint was filed with a Santiago court, formally accusing Leturia of sexual abuse in 1988 at the Osorno school. The abuse included «touches and measurement of genitals.» Leturia denied the abuse, saying, «there was never any touching, except for the typical things at a school, palmings, but those aren’t sexual touches.» Regarding the genital measurements, he said that «I never thought they could have that connotation, never. Because for me they never did. I did it to help the lads as a way to help their growth, their self-esteem…» He went on to say that the allegations were an extortion scheme, calling his accuser a problematic student and womanizer. The Provincial Superior said that, despite the accusation, it was not the Society’s intention to expel Leturia from the congregation because «we can give him more help. He is a brother who has problems.» In a separate statement to reporters, the Superior said «alcoholism and pedophilia are part of the same sickness.» Then-regional director of The National Service for Minors (Sename), who was president of the Colegio San Mateo student center in 1988 when Leturia was rector, remembered Leturia as a priest who «had a disrespectful way of interacting with the students, using overly informal language.» According to several former Colegio San Mateo students, Leturia hand-picked them for their athleticism, invited them individually to his office and, in some cases, his bedroom, and measured the size of their penises for a so-called study of their physical development. Though the statute of limitations had been reached for the sex abuse allegations, the alleged victim said he presented the complaint «as a measure of pressure to reach a legal agreement, that is, compensation for moral damages from what occurred,» and that he hoped «the crimes never happened again and that Leturia is investigated and prosecuted.»In November 2005, a Santiago judge found a lack of grounds for criminally charging Leturia. In January 2006, an appeals courts unanimously dismissed the case.
In November 2011, the Chilean bishops released a list of 18 clerics «with restricted ministry because of serious crimes against minors.» Of those, 10 had been convicted by a court of law in the Chilean criminal justice system. The other 8, including Leturia, were listed as priests «who have received a canonical sentence (statute of limitations reached, absolved, suspended, or in process in the criminal justice system).» No details about the canonical process against Leturia were provided.
Leturia died in December 2011.
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Declaration of the Society of Jesus in Chile, Iglesia.cl, 09.25.2005
Sacerdote acusado de abusos fue puesto en libertad por falta de méritos, Emol.com, 11.14.2005 Corte sobresee definitivamente a sacerdote Leturia, Emol.com, 01.26.2006 Hablan ex alumnos del sacerdote, by Verónica Foxley, Cosas magazine, 05.14.2007 Abogada Magina Zegpi Pons: “La Iglesia ya entendió que no puede ocultar a pedófilos”, by Sonnia Mendoza, revistanos.cl, 03.2011 Iglesia Católica de Chile entregó listado oficial de los sacerdotes condenados por abusos a menores, by Ana María Guerra Y., La Segunda, 11.11.2011 Iglesia reveló listado de sacerdotes condenados por abusos contra menores en Chile, cooperativa.cl, 11.11.2011 Murió sacerdote jesuita condenado en juicio canónico por abuso sexual, Cooperativa.cl, 12/22/2011 Murió Sacerdote Jesuita Condenado en Juicio Canónico por Abuso Sexual, Cooperativa.cl, 12.22.2011 Falleció sacerdote jesuita Juan Miguel Leturia, El Mercurio 12.23.2011 Falleció Sacerdote Jesuita Juan Miguel Leturia, Conferencia Episcopal de Chile, recortes.iglesia.cl, 12.23.2011 Radio Sago recupera declaraciones de fallecido cura, Miguel Leturia, acusado de abuso sexual en Osorno, by Franco Méndez, Radio Sago, 08.23.2016 |
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Punta Arenas diocese | Diocesan/Diocesano | Arrested in April 2008 on charges of sexually abusing a 15-year-old boy while parish priest of Nuestra Señora de Fátima in Punta Arenas diocese [Magallanes Province, Magallanes and Chilean Antarctica region]. Low was the diocese’s coordinator of youth ministry.
The abuses occurred from October 2007 to January 2008. According to the victim’s testimony, Low sexually penetrated him on two separate occasions, once at the residence of bishop Bernardo Bastres. On another occasion, when the diocese was closed, Low sexually assaulted the boy at the youth ministry offices. Following Low’s April 2008 arrest and suspension from ministry, it was discovered that in April 2002 he had been accused of sexually abusing a five-year-old boy at a Salesian school in the Punta Arenas diocese. The case did not advance because the victim’s family resisted pursuing an investigation. (Bishop Tomás González ordained Low for the Punta Arenas diocese in December 2002, just a few months after this serious allegation.) The alleged crime against the five-year-old was not reported in news outlets but was described in the 2012 book, Abusos Sexuales en la Iglesia Católica [Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church], by Argentine journalist Jorge Llistosella. In March 2009, after spending almost a year in jail, Low was tried on two counts of sexual abuse, which carried a possible sentence of 8 years in prison, and two counts of statutory rape (13 years in prison). Low maintained his innocence. He was convicted in April 2009 of engaging in consensual «carnal access» with a minor of the same sex. Absolved of the more serious charges due to insufficient evidence, he received an 800-day sentence that could be completed outside of prison, after which he would be subjected to monitoring by authorities for a period of 10 years. In September 2009 the victim’s mother filed a civil suit for 500 million pesos (over 700,000 U.S. dollars) against Low and the diocese of Punta Arenas. In August 2012, Low was ordered to pay 40 million pesos (about 55,000 U.S. dollars) in damages to the victim. The suit against the diocese was dismissed. That same month, the Vatican announced Low’s removal from the clerical state. At the time, he was reportedly pursuing a law degree. In December 2012, a court of appeals nullified the compensation for damages ruling due to a procedural error. In June 2013, it was reported that the civil suit would be repeated, though no further updates could be found. Low was included on the Chilean bishops’ public list of guilty clerics for the five years (2011–2016) it was posted. |
Denuncia Por Estupro y Abusos Sexuales que Afecta al Párroco Jaime Low, by Marcelo Garay, La Nación Domingo, 04.14.2008
Cura Low negó tajantemente abusos y víctima lo culpó de su homosexualidad, El Pinguino, 03.31.2009 Sacerdote Jaime Low Quedo en Libertad Luego de un Ano en Prision Preventiva, RadioPolar, 04.09.2009 Condenan a sacerdote por haber tenido relaciones sexuales con menor, by Claudia Espinoza, La Tercera, 04.09.2009 Abusos: LA Lista De Los Curas Condenados E Investigados, by Claudio Leiva Cortés, La Nacion, 05.16.2011 Condenan a ex cura Low a pagar $40 millones por daño moral a menor abusado sexualmente, by La Prensa Austral, 08.07.2012 Sacerdote Jaime Low Pierde Estado Cerical, noticias.iglesia.cl, 08.08.2012 El Vaticano Le Quitó El Estado Clerical al Cura Low Tras Ser Condenado Por Abusos, La Prensa Astral, 08.13.2012 Corte invalidó fallo civil que condenó al cura Low, by La Prensa Austral, 12.24.2012 Abusos Sexuales en la Iglesia Catolica [Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church], pages 224-225, by Jorge Llistosella, 2012 Juicio que condenó a cura Low a pagar $40 millones debe repetirse, El Pinguino, 06.25.2013 Iglesia Catolica De Chile Entrego Listado Oficial De Los Sacerdotes Condenados Por Abusos a Menores, by Ana Maria Guerra, La Segunda, 11.11.2011 Sentencias Ejecutoriadas Condenatorias en Ámbito Civil por Delitos Contra Menores de Edad Cometidos por Personas que Eran Clérigos al Momento de la Comisión del Delito (*), Conferencia Episcopal de Chile, 01.04.2016 |
| Rev. Daniel J. Mangen/Mangan, C.PP.S. | Santiago archdiocese
Valdivia diocese |
Society of the Precious Blood/ Congregación de la Preciosísima Sangre | American. Missionary in South America. Accusedof sexually abusing and raping a girl for three years beginning when she was 16 years old at a Catholic high school in Cleveland OH (U.S.) in the early 1980s. Mangen denied the allegations but acknowledged having been «sexually active» with minors and adults. In 1984, he was transferred to Chile. He became a parish priest in the rural town of Tralcao, located in the southern municipality of Mariquina [Valdiva Province, Los Rios Region]. In 2002, a Cleveland TV reporter found Mangen ministering at St. Sebastian church in the Chilean town of Purranque [Osorno Province]. In 2005, according to the Official Catholic Directory, he was working as a priest in Peru.
Not included on Chilean bishops’ public list of guilty clerics. |
Diocese Uses Tough Tactics in Sex Suits Facing Steep Liability, Church Plays ‘Hardball’ with Accusers, Critics Say, by James F. McCarty and David Briggs, Plain Dealer, 03.10.2002
Woman Says She Was Sexually Abused by Priest, NewsNet5.com, 02.22.2002 Chile/Pederastia: Procesan a Sacerdote, by Gilberto Villarroel, BBCMundo.com, 10.18.2002 Cardenal Errázuriz y sus calculos: ¿Son «poqutios» los casos de curas abusadores en Chile?, by Juan Pablo Barros, theclinic.cl, 04.06.2010 Mangen Assignment Record, Bishopaccountability.org |
| Rev. Carlos Antonio Manríquez Rebolledo | Rancagua diocese | Diocesan/Diocesano | Laicized 2016 after being found guilty by the church of child sexual abuse.
On September 18, 2016, Bishop Alejandro Goic of the Rancagua diocese announced that Manríquez had been laicized after a canonical trial found him guilty of sexually abusing a minor. This was the first public notice that Manríquez had molested a child. As of January 2018, no further information had been released about the nature of the abuse or the age and gender of the victim. Manríquez was ordained in 1997 and had been pastor since 2001 of Nuestra Señora de la Merced in Zúñiga [San Vicente de Tagua Tagua, Región de O’Higgins]. The bishop’s notice included the following timeline: In 2014, the diocese of Rancagua began investigating Manríquez and suspended him from ministry. In January 2015, after the church deemed the allegations credible, the diocese initiated an administrative penal process. In December 2015, the diocese sent its findings to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In May 2016, the Vatican authorized Bishop Goic to remove Manríquez from ministry. Manríquez did not contest the ruling during the three-month appeal period, which ended in August 2016. Despite Manríquez’s removal from the clerical state, the church did not immediately suspend its financial support. It reportedly intended to pay him 400,000 pesos per month for the rest of 2016 and 200,000 pesos per month (more than $300) through 2017. Manríquez never was named in the Chilean bishops’ list of convicted clerics. Shortly before the 9/18/2016 announcement of his laicization, the bishops took down from their website the names of 30 clerics convicted either by the church or under secular law of child sexual abuse. In its place, the bishops published a terse, one-page document with only the number of convicted clerics. After the news of Manríquez’s laicization, their online tally increased from 30 to 31. |
Chile Clerigos Entencias, Conferencia Episcopal de Chile, 01.04.2016
Oración y perdón, Iglesia.cl, 09.18.2016 Clerigos sentencias, Episcopado.cl, 09.20.2016 [see original link to pdf] Iglesia condena a pena canonica a sacerdote por abuso sexual a meno Iglesia retira de su web lista con nombres de sacerdotes condenados por abusos, by Camila Mardones, La Tercera, 09.28.2016 Sacerdote en Chile es condenado por abuso sexual contra menor, aciprensa, by Giselle Vargas, 09.29.2016 Padre Carlos Manríquez celebró quince años de sacerdocio, obispadoderancagua.cl, accessed 11.07.16 Nuestra Señora de la Merced Parish Website, accessed 11.07.2016 |
| Rev. Carmelo Francisco MárquezJulio | Osorno diocese | Diocesan/Diocesano | Colombian. Accused of the sexual abuse in August 2011 of three adult women and a 17-year-old girl at a charismatic spiritual retreat. The women said that the priest touched their legs and chests. Márquez was imprisoned for preventive reasons in June 2012, then released on house arrest in the Bishophric of Osorno from August to September 2012. The case was dismissed in November 2013. | Revocan prisión preventiva para sacerdote colombiano imputado por abusos sexuales en Osorno, by Tania Lavado, biobiochile, 07.24.2012
Jueces desestiman denuncias contra sacerdote colombiano acusado de abuso sexual en Osorno, por Carolina Gatica, biobiochile, 11.23.2013 Las 80 denuncias por abuso sexual que ha enfrentado la Iglesia en Chile, por Sebastián Labrín and Juan Pablo Sallaberry, La Tercera, 01.09.2018 |
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Rev. Marcelo Méndez Gloor, O. de M.
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Santiago archdiocese | Order of Our Lady of Mercy/Orden de la Merced (Mercedarians/Mercedarios) | Priest of the Mercedarians Order. Arrested in October 2014 on charges of sexually abusing a 14-year-old cognitively challenged boy in February of that year after evening mass at a church in Santiago. The abuse was recorded on the church’s security camera. Declared guilty by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In December 2014, the Mercedaria Province of Chile announced that Méndez had been removed permanently from the clerical state; their statement refers to him as the ahora ex sacerdote (‘the now ex-priest’).
His name appeared on the Chilean bishops’ list of guilty clerics before the list was removed from the bishops’ website in August 2016. |
Comunicado de la Provincia Mercedaria de Chile, Iglesia.cl, 03.29.2014
Formalizan a sacerdote mercedario por presuntamente abusar contra menor con deficiencia mental,emol.com, 10.13.2014 Iglesia remueve de por vida a cura mercedario acusado de abusar sexualmente de un menor, emol.com, 12.12.2014 Vaticano suspende de por vida a sacerdote chileno por abusos sexuales, 24horas.cl, 12.12.2014 Sentencia y pena canónica contra sacerdote mercedario por abuso a menor de edad, Iglesia.cl, 12.12.2014 Comunicado de Prensa, by Provincia Mercedaria de Chile, Iglesia.cl, 12.12.2014 Padre de menor abusado por cura en Iglesia La Merced: «Mi objetivo es que ese hombre pague con cárcel», publimetro.cl, 12.15.2014 |
| Rev. Domingo Mileo Toledo, O.F.M. | La Serena archdiocese | Order of Friars Minor/Orden de los Frailes Menores (Franciscans) | In June 2013, Fr. Jorge Concha, OFM, superior provincial of the Franciscan order in Chile, announced sanctions against a Franciscan priest, Domingo Mileo Toledo. This was the first and only public mention of the allegation.
According to Concha, the church had received notice in November 2011 that Mileo had abused a minor. The findings of an internal investigation were sent to the order’s headquarters in Rome. In November 2012, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith prohibited Mileo from any form of public ministry and sentenced him to a life of prayer and penitence. The provincial’s announcement further noted that Mileo was practically 80 years old, was seriously ill and was receiving care at the order’s infirmary in Santiago. The announcement about Mileo did not provide details about his wrongdoing or assignment history, and we could not locate any media coverage of the case. It appears that Mileo once taught at a Franciscan school for children, Colegio San Antonio in La Serena, Chile, judging from a document on the school’s website. A June 2016 Franciscan publication noted his upcoming birthday. Added to the Chilean bishops’ public list of guilty clerics in 2013. The bishops replaced the list in August 2016 with a list giving only the numbers of those found guilty. |
Comunicado de la Orden Franciscana en Chile, Iglesia.cl, 06.13.2013
Noticias del Definitorio, Entre Hermanos, 06.13.2016 Presentación, colegiosanantonio.cl website Iglesia Catolica retiro de su sitio lista de nombres de sacerdotes condenados por abuso, Cooperativa.cl, 09.29.2016 |
| Brother José Monasterio, S.M. | Santiago archdiocese | Congregation of Marist Brothers (Marists) | Spanish. Worked at the Alonso de Ercilla Institute in Santiago. In 2017 a former student stated publicly that Monasterio had molested him at the school when he was age 10. The same man said that later, when he was in secondary school, Brother Abel Pérez sexually abused him during a school trip to the Seven Tazas. | El oscuro sótano de los Maristas, by Claudio Pizarro and Jonás Romero, The Clinic, 10.25.2017 |
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Santiago archdiocese | Diocesan/Diocesano | Permanent deacon. Prominent university professor and lawyer. Founder of three prestigious Catholic schools. In 1995, he received the National Award in Education Sciences.
This case came to light in 2010, when a man filed a complaint against Montes with Santiago archbishop Francisco Javier Errázuriz. The man had reported Montes to civil authorities in 2001, when he was a 15-year-old student at San Esteban school, where Montes was rector. According to the complainant, in a meeting with Montes in June 2001, the educator had kissed him three times on the mouth and hugged him twice in a way that «immobilized» him. Montes had appeared in court in 2001 and denied being abusive. He also said he had met with the boy’s father and that they had «come to the conclusion that there was a ‘misunderstanding.’ » The father’s account was different — he said he agreed to withdraw the complaint if Montes agreed never to step into an educational establishment and to stay away from minors. The 2001 criminal case was dismissed that year. Also in 2010, testimonies collected in an investigation by journalism students said that Montes had caressed students, attempted to kiss them on the mouth and invited them to swim naked. We could not locate information about the outcome of the church’s investigation into Montes. His name never appeared on the Chilean bishops’ public list of clerics sentenced under canon or civil law during the five years (2011–2016) the list was public. |
Iglesia abre indagación contra diácono Hugo Montes y la deja en manos de sacerdote Raúl Hasbún, La Tercera, 05.13.2010
Joven que acusa a Hugo Montes de abusos: “Esto le pasó a varios compañeros”, by Ninoska Leiva, radio.uchile.cl, 05.14.2010 Los testimonios de abusos que acusan al Premio Nacional de Educación Hugo Montes Brunet, by Barbara Leon, Maria Teresa Nielsen, and Valentina Trejos, CIPER (Centro de Investigación Periodística), 05.13.2010 Arzobispado estudia denuncia por intento de abuso sexual contra Premio Nacional de Educación Hugo Montes, El Mostrador, 05.13.2010 Joven que acusa a Hugo Montes de abusos: “Esto le pasó a varios compañeros”, by Ninoska Leiva, 05.14.2010 Montes Ibáñez defiende a su padre, pero dice que si llega a ser culpable, debe dar la cara, El Mercurio, 05.15.2010 Cardenal confirma indagación a Montes y denunciante pide que se le prohíba contacto con niños, by Jorge Poblete and Sebastián Vásquez, La Tercera, 05.15.2010 Hasbún anuncia cierre de caso contra diácono Hugo Montes, by Jorge Poblete, La Tercera, 08.08.2010 Hugo Montes: “Laura Reyes relacionó la muerte de Neruda con una intervención de los militares”, by Mario Casasus, elclarin.cl, 03.18.20 |
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Rev. Marcelo Orlando Morales Márquez, S.D.B.
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Valdivia diocese | Salesians of Don Bosco/Salesianos de Don Bosco (Salesians) | Arrested in Argentina in December 2008 for taking photos of the genitals of two boys, ages 16 and 17, during an end-of-year school trip to Bariloche, Argentina, while teacher and coordinator of pastoral activities at Instituto Salesiano de Valdivia, a Salesian school in the diocese of Valdivia, city and commune in Valdivia Province, Los Ríos Region.
Bariloche police arrested Morales after he was reported by parents who were there as supervisors on the trip, led by Morales, for 36 third-year students. The two boys had discovered photos of them on Morales’s laptop taken by him the previous night in the boys’ hotel room when they were in an alcohol-induced sleep. In one of the photos, Morales’s hand (identified by his ring) is seen lowering the underwear of one boy to expose his genitals, while with his other hand he is touching the genitals of the other boy. Later that month, Morales was scheduled to lead another trip elsewhere in Valdivia province for a large group of grade school boys. Morales told police, during the interrogation, that the genital organs of adolescents stirred his curiosity. He allegedly had a history. Between 1994 and 1997, he was administrator at Instituto Salesiano de Valdivia, where he would return in 2005. Former students and staff there said rumors began to circulate that he was attracted to adolescent boys. In March 1997, he was assigned to minister in Puerto Natales, in Última Esperanza province, Magallanes and Chilean Antarctica region. At the end of 2000, a teacher told the Provincial Superior of the Salesians, Bernardo Bastres, that Morales had been engaging in inappropriate behavior with male students, including asking them to give him massages in his office. When asked in 2008 about this meeting, Bastres, bishop of Punta Arenas since 2006, said that because it was not a formal accusation, he did not inform then-bishop Tomás González. In December 2001, Morales was relocated to Valparaíso, exact location unknown, where he was an administrator and coordinator of a youth group. In 2004, he went to work at a foundation for children at risk in the archdiocese of Puerto Montt, Llanquihue province, Los Lagos region. He left after one year because of problems with a teacher who thought that the students were spending too much time with him. Immediately following his December 2008 arrest, the Salesians announced his suspension from ministry and separation from his job as pastoral coordinator. At his arraignment, he was charged with the production and storage of child pornography, and jailed for 60 days awaiting trial. After police confiscated Morales’s laptop and camera, other incriminatory photos were used as evidence in the trial. But he was released in January 2009 on a 1 million-peso bail (~$1,600), posted by a female friend. He was placed on house arrest at her residence and prohibited from leaving the country or having any contact with the two boys. In April 2009, he was sentenced to 819 days. He was allowed to serve his sentence outside of jail, during which time he was prohibited from any employment that would bring him in contact with minors. Following the completion of his sentence, he was to remain under supervision of the law enforcement center for social reintegration for a period of 10 years. Current whereabouts unknown. Included on Chilean bishops’ public list of guilty clerics. |
Declaración Pública Ante los hechos que han afectado al sacerdote salesiano Marcelo Morales Márquez en la localidad de Bariloche, Argentina, by P. Leonardo Santibáñez Martínez, Iglesia.cl, 12.08.2008 [see original article]
Sacerdote Acusado de Producción de Pornografía, by Nicolás Gutíerrez, El Mercurio, 12.11.2008 Foto con la Mano y Anillo Sacerdotal Delató a Cura, La Nación, 12.11.2008 Deteinen en Bariloche a sacerdote chileno con pornagrafía infantil, Anbariloche.com.ar, 12.11.2008 En prisión preventiva sacerdote imputado, by Nicolás Gutíerrez El «cura Tato» de Valdivia, The Clinic, 12.12.2008 Sucesos policiales, Iglesia.cl, 12.16.2008 Revocan decisión y otorgan arresto domiciliario a sacerdote salesiano por pornografía infantil, by Nicolás Gutíerrez, El Mercurio, 01.06.2009 Condenaron a Cura Salesiano, por Cristian Barrientos B., australvaldivia.cl, 03.22.2009 Condenan a Cura por Pornógrafo, paginapolicial.blogspot.com, 04.21.2009 Condenan a sacerdote que fotografió a sus alumnos, El Mercurio, 04.22.2009 Monseñor Bernardo Bastres Florence, sdb, Iglesia.cl, accessed 10.11.2016 [original link] Monseñor Tomás González Morales, sdb, Iglesia.cl, accessed 10.11.2016 [original link] |
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Melipilla diocese | Diocesan/Diocesano | Accused in 2010, when he was a parish pastor, of sexually abusing seven or eight girls, including his own 4-year-old daughter. Muñoz Quinteros had two daughters with his girlfriend, Pamela Ampuero, who was arrested for recruiting girls for sex with him.
Muñoz Quinteros drove his victims, in the automobile belonging to the diocese of Melipilla, to local motels where he gave them money that he’d allegedly taken from donations to the church. His actions were first exposed in a television report that tracked and described his movements. He was thereby arrested and suspended from ministry.
The case was brought to court by the National Service for Minors (Sename).
Convicted of sexually abusing four female minors, ages 14-17, and possession of child pornography including sexually explicit photos of two of the victims. Sentenced in May 2011 to 10 years and 1 day for the four counts of child sexual abuse, plus 541 days for possession of child pornography. Ampuero received a 5-year sentence. Included on Chilean bishops’ public list of guilty clerics. |
Chilean Catholic Priest Accused of Child Sexual Abuse, Associated Press, 01.06.2010
Parroco de Melipilla pagaba a su pareja le consiguiera niñitas, The Clinic Online, 01.06.2010 Declaración del Obispo de Melipilla, Iglecia.cl, 01.06.2010 Sename Aanunció Querella Contra Sacerdote Acusado de Pedofilia, cooperativa.cl, 01.10.2010 Sacerdote Chileno Será Procesado por Abusar de su Hija y Ocho Menores, noticias24.com, 04.14.2010 Ex Párroco de Melipilla Culpable de Explotación Sexual de Adolescentes, La Nación, 05.05.2011 Condenado ex Párroco de Melipilla: 10 A Nos de Cárcel, diarioeldia.cl, 05.13.2011 Priest Jailed for Sex Abuse, www. iol.co.za, 05.14.2011 Condenan a Ex cura de Melipillap por Facilitación de Prostitución, diario.latercera.com, 06.05.2011 Declaracioón del obispo de Melipilla, Iglecia.cl, 05.13.16 |
| Deacon José Miguel Narváez Valenzuela | Ancud diocese | Diocesan/Diocesano | In December 2004, Narváez sexually abused a 16-year-old boy while deacon of the Achao parish [Chiloé Province, Los Lagos region], where he had worked since 2003. His work included hosting youth groups.
The victim reported the abuse in November 2005 to the National Service for Minors (Sename), which filed a complaint with authorities. The bishop of Ancud announced Narváez’s suspension from ministry. The victim, who was a student at the school where Narváez taught, testified that he was in Narváez’s bedroom after the deacon asked him to help with a muscle ache that needed a massage. Narváez undressed the victim and masturbated him, and then undressed and stimulated his own genitals. The victim’s account of the abuse coincided with Narváez’s account. Sentenced to three years and one day in prison. Following the completion of his sentence, Narváez was included on the Chilean bishops’ public list of guilty clerics for the five years (2011–2016) it was posted. |
Declaración pública del Obispado de San Carlos de Ancud, Iglesia.cl, 11.12.2005
Diácono acusado de abuso sexual de menor, by Anatolia Soto, elmercurio.com, 11.13.2005 Resultado de Recortes, Iglesia.cl, 08.02.2007 Otros Conflictos que han Remecido a la Institución, Laestrellachiloe.cl, 8.23.2009 Las Sotanas Sucias se Lavan en Casa,by Claudia Molina B., elciudadano.cl, 01.23.2011 |
| Rev. Luis Francisco Núñez Núñez, M.S.F. | Unknown diocese(s) (Chile) |
Missionaries of the Holy Family/Misioneros de la Sagrada Familia | A church notice in 2011 announced that Núñez had been suspended from ministry and expelled from the Missionaries of the Holy Family in November 2009. The punishment was confirmed in January 2010 by the Congregation for Consecrated Life. Laicized by Pope Benedict 2012“for the good of the Church.” Church has provided no information about Núñez’s crimes or assignments.
In November 2011, the Chilean bishops published a list of clerics who had been found guilty of abusing minors under canon or civil law. The list remained posted for five years, and grew from 18 to 30 names. Núñez’s name did not appear on the list when it was first released but his name was added sometime by January 2016. |
Comunicado Misioneros de la Sagrada Familia, Arzpispado de Santiago, 10.01.2011
Iglesia Católica de Chile entregó listado oficial de los sacerdotes condenados por abusos a menores, by Ana María Guerra Y., La Segunda, 11.11.2011 Comunicado de la congregación Misioneros de la Sagrada Familia, Iglesia.cl, 08.20.2012 Sentencias Ejecutoriadas Condenatorias en Ámbito Civil por Delitos Contra Menores de Edad Cometidos por Personas que Eran Clérigos al Momento de la Comisión del Delito (*), Conferencia Episcopal de Chile, 01.04.2016 |
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Rev. John Joseph O’Reilly, L.C.
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Santiago archdiocese | Legionaries of Christ/Legionarios de Cristo |
Irish. In Chile since 1984. High-ranking Legionary, chaplain and spiritual director at the Legionaries’ prestigious school, Colegio Cumbres, in Las Condes commune, Santiago.
Accused in July 2012 of two separate charges of sexual abuse of two girls, who were sisters and Colegio Cumbres students. O’Reilly allegedly abused the older girl, beginning when she was 8 years old, from 2007 to 2009, and the younger girl, beginning when she was 4 years old, during 2010-2012.
The abuse of the younger girl was revealed when the mother of the girls reported it to school officials. O’Reilly was suspended from ministry and placed on house arrest in September 2013 during investigation.
Convicted in October 2014 of repeatedly molesting the younger girl at Colegio Cumbres, beginning when she was age 4 in March 2010 and continuing off and on until July 2012. O’Reilly abused her in the school’s administrative offices, where he touched her genitals and buttocks beneath her clothing. The victim testified that O’Reilly, after locking the door and closing the curtains, lowered her pants and placed candies on her genitals and anus.
In November 2014, he was sentenced to four years and one day of «supervised freedom.» The prosecution had recommended a 10-year prison sentence. He maintained his innocence throughout. On grounds of insufficient evidence, he was absolved of abusing the victim’s older sister.
In early 2015, he was stripped of his Chilean citizenship; later that year he was served with an expulsion order to leave the country upon completion of his sentence in December 2018. In August 2016, the Vatican opened a canonical process against him.
In September 2016, the Appeals Court of Santiago revoked the expulsion order, on grounds that he was a Chilean citizen at the time that he committed the abuse. In effect, the National Congress had conferred him citizenship in 2009 for his service to the country. He was not denaturalized until the year after the guilty verdict. In May 2017 the Chilean Supreme Court ruled that O’Reilly must be deported and his citizenship revoked. In December 2017, he was spotteddining at an expensive Santiago restaurant with the former mayor of Providencia. O’Reilly’s name was added to the Chilean bishops’ list of guilty clerics in the second half of 2014 — he does not appear on the list dated July 25, 2014 but he is named on the list dated November 17, 2014, in the sub-category of those «convicted in civil matters for crimes against minors committed by persons who were clergy at the time of the commission of crime.» |
Chilean Priest Speaks Out As Revelations Sweep the Catholic Church, by Aaron Cantu, Santiago Times, 03.29.2010
Letter from School Following Accusation, Colegio Cumbres, 07.25.2012 Irish missionary Faces Allegations of Child Abuse in Chile, Press TV, 07.26.2012 Irish-born Priest Detained in Chile as Part of Child Abuse Investigation, The Journal, 04.09.2013 Formalizaran a Sacerdote John O’Reilly Por Abusos En El Colegio Cumbres, El Dinamo, 07.24.2013 Irish Priest Faces Sex Abuse Charges in Chilean Court, by Jay Balagna, Irish Independent, 08.28.2013 House Arrest for Accused Paedophile Priest in Chile, The Sun Daily, 09.05.2013 Cura O’Reilly es Declarado Culpable de Abuso Sexual de Menor del Colegio Cumbres, by Rodrigo Chacón T., La Nación, 10.15.2014 John O’Relly(sic), el legionario irlandés condenado en Chile por abusar de una menor, by Constanza Hola Chamy, BBC Mundo, 11.11.2014 Chile Priest Gets 4-year Probation for Sexually Abusing Girl, Jamaica Observer, 11.11.2014 John O’Reilly , El Caso Del Cura Pedofilo Que Impacta a LA Elite Chilena, by Constanza Hola Chamy, BBC Mundo, 11.11.2014 Diputados aprueban revoacar nacionalidad chilena de sacerdote John O’Reilly, aciprensa.com, 01.08.2015 Vaticano instruye juicio canónico por acusaciones contra sacerdote John O’Reilly, latercera.com, 08.08.2016 [see original article] El Vaticano inicia juicio canónico al sacerdote John O’Reilly, reflexionyliberacion.cl, 08.08.2016 Tribunal eclesiástico en Roma instruirá juicio canónico al sacerdote John O’Reilly, Iglesia.cl, 08.08.2016 Suspenden la expulsión del país de sacerdote John O’Reilly, by Erik López, biobiochile.cl, 09.05.2016 Corte de Apelaciones suspendió decreto de expulsión contra John O’Reilly, adnradio.cl, 09.05.2016 John O’Reilly, condenado por abusos sexuales contra una menor, deberá dejar Chile en diciembre de 2018, elciudadano.cl, 04.28.2017 Suprema autoriza expulsión del país de sacerdote O’Reilly tras condena por abuso a menores, Emol, 05.03.2017 Paedophile Irish Priest to Be Deported after Sexually Assaulting a Young Girl, by Kathy Armstrong, Irish Independent, 05.05.17 ¡Bombazo! Captan a sacerdote condenado por abuso de menores, John O`Reilly, cenando con Labbe, elperiscopio.cl, 12.02.2017 Cura O’Reilly comiendo con Labbé en lujoso restorán: la foto que Juan Carlos Cruz no dejó pasar, El Dínamo, 12.04.2017 |
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Milipilla diocese | Diocesan/Diocesano | Mexican. Member of the Comboni Missionaries. Previously worked in parishes in Ecuador and Perú.
Accused in June 2004 of sexually abusing a 10-year-old altar boy while parish priest of San Jerónimo, in Alhué [Melipilla Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region], where he had been working for 5 years. The abuse was reported by the boy’s mother, after her son arrived home in tears and told his parents that Father Lao had touched the boy’s genitals in the parish’s sacristy. She immediately filed a criminal complaint with local law enforcement but Olivares had already left the country and was in Mexico on vacation for 2.5 months, approved by the diocese of Melipilla, headed by Bishop Enrique Troncoso (2000-2014). In July 2004, Bishop Troncoso opened an investigation into «a complaint of alleged inadequate conduct against a minor that concerns Fr. Estanislao Olivares.» The victim’s family asked Troncoso to order Olivares to return to Chile. Troncoso said that Olivares had maintained his innocence and that «there hasn’t been any bad intention. They were touches…like a game.» Olivares claims that he had requested in advance the 2.5 months’ time off. According to media outlets, he left for Mexico one day after the criminal complaint was filed. He returned to Chile in September 2004 and appeared before a judge of Melipilla. The diocese of Melipilla said it would cooperate with secular authorities to help clarify the «alleged inappropriate conduct attributed to Olivares,» and that a record of events related to the case had been sent to the Vatican for it to decide whether or not to proceed with a canonical trial. On October 1, 2004, a judge charged Olivares with sexual abuse. According to the judgment, on two separate occasions Olivares sat the boy on his lap, caressed the boy’s stomach beneath his clothes, and inserted his hand beneath the boy’s pants, touching his genitals. On both occasions, an altar boy entered the sacristy and witnessed the incident. The first time it happened, the boy remained silent. When it happened a second time, he revealed both incidents to his parents. The diocese of Melipilla wrote in a statement that Olivares had been «charged by a court of law after the family of a minor of his [Olivares’s] community accused him of inappropriate behavior,» adding that Olivares «declares himself innocent.» He reportedly remained in custody in a local jail awaiting sentencing. We could not determine the outcome of the prosecution. Not included as of August 2016 on Chilean bishops’ public list of guilty clerics. |
Comunicado, Obispado de Melipilla, Iglesia.cl, 07.07.2004
Sacerdote acusado de abusos deshonestos viajó de vacaciones a México, cooperativa.cl, 07.07.2004 Sacerdote de Alhué acusado de abuso sexual contra acólito, El Mercurio, 07.09.2004 Obispado de Melipilla informa situación de P. Estanislao Olivares, Iglesia.cl, 09.28.2004 Declaración, by Obispado de Melipilla, 10.01.2004 Párroco de Alhué procesado por abusos sexuales, emol.com, 10.01.2004 Párroco de Alhué fue sometido a proceso por abuso sexual infantil, cooperativa.cl, 10.01.2004 Cura de Alhué seguirá preso, El Mercurio, 10.02.2004 Al Vaticano abusos del cura de Alhué, lacuarta.com, 09.29.2005 |
| Rev. Eduardo Olivares Martínez | Valparaíso diocese | Diocesan/Diocesano | In 2002, Olivares raped one minor and sexually abused three other minors, all between 13 and 17 years of age, at Refugio de Cristo Foundation children’s home, located in Viña del Mar commune, [Valparaíso Province], where Olivares provided academic services.
The victims said Olivares invited them to his residence, kissed them and tried to have sexual relations with them. The criminal case was brought in late 2002 by the National Service for Minors (Sename) and the Ministry of Justice’s regional Center for Victims of Violent Crimes. At the time of the accusations, Olivares was pastor of El Buen Pastor church, in Playa Ancha, Valparaíso. Following the allegations, he voluntarily separated himself from all ministerial duties. He was released on bail in January 2003, despite the fact that the Court of Appeals had initially denied him bail because he represented a danger to society. In August 2003, the victims’ parents reportedly filed a civil suit for 100 million pesos against the bishop of Valparaíso, Gonzalo Duarte García de Cortázar, SS.CC., and the director of the children’s home. Outcome unknown. In November 2006, Olivares was sentenced to 3 years and 1 day of incarceration, but that sentence was modified in April 2008 to five years probation and a fine of 15 million pesos. Olivares maintained his innocence throughout. Bishop Duarte did not declare Olivares’ suspension from ministry until April 2008. In December 2008, reported financial difficulties forced the closing of the children’s home where the abuse occurred. Olivares was included on the Chilean bishops’ public list of guilty clerics for the five years (2011–2016) it was posted. He was listed under the sub-category of those convicted in the Chilean criminal justice system. |
Sacerdote Acusado de Abusos Deshonestos Fue Sometido a Proceso, buscador.emol.com, 12.24.2002
Procesan a Sacerdote por Abuso Sexual y Estupro, La Nación, 12.25.2002 Libertad bajo fianza para sacerdote acusado de abusos, Iglesia.cl, 01.13.2003 Sacerdote de Playa Ancha sometido a proceso por abusos sexuales, emol.com, 08.22.2003 Abusos contra menores, by Iván Paredes and Gonzalo Cruzat, Iglesia.cl, 10.07.2004 Declaración del Obispado de Valparaíso, Iglesia.cl, 11.08.2006 Caso del sacerdote Eduardo Oliveras, Iglesia.cl, 03.23.2008 Declaración Pública del Obispado de Valparaíso, Iglesia.cl, 04.09.2008 Sucesos policiales, by Rolando Martínez, Iglesia.cl, 10.04.2008 Refugio de Cristo cierra su hogar de niñas en Viña del Mare, El Mercurio, 12.29.2008 Los Casos Que Han Afectado a la Región, El Mercurio, 02.20.2011 Abogada Magina Zegpi Pons: “La Iglesia ya entendió que no puede ocultar a pedófilos”, by Sonnia Mendoza, revistanos.cl, 03.2011 |
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Bishop Marco Antonio Órdenes Fernández
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Iquique diocese | Diocesan/Diocesano | Resigned as bishop of Iquique in October 2012 at age 47, per canon 401.2, amidst allegations that he had sexually abused a teenage boy in the 1990s. The resignation occurred after several days of damaging news reports: the papal nuncio admitted publicly that he had been investigating Órdenes since April 2012, the local prosecutorrevealed that a criminal complaint against the bishop had been filed in 2009, and the victim released to the news media an audio recording of a conversation between him and Órdenes.
According to the victim, he was a 15-year-old altar boy at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral, diocese of Iquique [Iquique Province, Tarapacá Region], when the abuse began. Órdenes at the time was rector of a sanctuary, Nuestra Señora del Carmen, also in the Iquique diocese [La Tirana, El Tamarugal Province, Tarapacá Region]. In 2008, the victim, then age 27, filed an anonymous complaint against Órdenes with the local prosecutor after encountering another young man who said he had been sexually assaulted by Órdenes. In April 2012, the victim reported Órdenes to the papal nuncio. Órdenes admitted to «an imprudent act» with his accuser, but said it occurred when the boy was 17 years old and therefore not considered a minor. A re-opened criminal case against Órdenes seems to have ended in November 2013. The prosecutor said that although it was likely the case was prescribed, he had found the victim’s allegations to be «absolutely true .» Two days after the prosecutor’s announcement, Órdenes re-appeared in his old diocese to preside at a mass at the La Tirana Sanctuary for his deceased mother. As of 2017, he retained the title of bishop emeritus of Iquique. Not included on Chilean bishops’ public list of guilty clerics. |
Iglesia confirma denuncia por abuso sexual contra obispo de Iquique y anuncia su regreso al país, by Angélica Baeza y Felipe Passi, La Tercera, 10.02.2012
Fiscalía de iquique y denuncia contra obispo: Podría existir, by Angélica Baeza Palavecino, La Tercera, 10.02.2012 Audio del dálogo que acusa al obispo de Iquique fue mostrado en Mentiras Verdaders [VIDEO], El Morro, 10.05.2010 Marco Antonio Ordenes Fernandez of Iquique, Chile Bishop Investigated for Alleged Sexual Abuse of Minor, Resigns, by Nicole Winfield, Huffington Post, 10.09.2012 Chilean Bishop Resigns Amid Sexual Abuse Scandal, by Emily Green, Santiago Times, 10.09.2012 Rinunce e Nomine, Holy See Press Office, 10.09.2012 Pope Accepts Resignation of Chilean Bishop Accused of Sexual Abuse, Catholic News Agency El denunciatnte de obispo de Lquique: «Con él conocí el amor… pero hoy puedo decir que es pedófio», La Segunda, 10.03.2012 A la justicia antigua denuncia contra obispo, El Mercurio, 11.12.2013 Ex obispo de Iquique reaparece en La Tirana, El Mercurio, 11.14.2013 Sobre la mas Reciente y Publicitada Apriaricion del ex obispo de Iquique, por Jorge Silva Flores, CIPER (Centro de Investigación Periodística), 11.21.2013 |
| Rev. Juan Carlos Orellana Acuña | San Felipe diocese | Diocesan/Diocesano | Charged May 2008 with statutory rape in 2006 of a 17-year-old girl. Orellana was pastor of the parish in Santa Maria [San Felipe de Aconcagua province, Valparaíso region]. The girl was an altar attendant and aspiring nun.
San Felipe bishop Cristián Contreras Molina immediately announced that Orellana had been suspended and that a church investigation was underway. The prosecution alleged that Orellana had sexually abused the girl on at least five occasions. Although the relations were described as «consensual,» Orellana was accused of exploiting his authority and the girl’s innocence. He pleaded innocent. In March 2009, the priest was acquitted. Later in 2009, however, an appeals court annulled the first trial and announced a new trial. In the second trial, Orellana was found guilty. His sentence was determined jointly by the church and civil courts. It was mild. Bishop Contreras described it in a June 2011 interview: a three-year suspension from active ministry, during which Orellana could not have contact with children under 18. When the Chilean bishops first released a list of guilty clergy in November 2011, Orellana was included in the sub-category ‘convicted under Chilean criminal law’ [‘condenados en la justicia penal chilena’.] In a 2014 interview with El Aconcagua, Bishop Contreras accused Orellana of retaliating against him by initiating an allegation that the bishop himself had sexually abused minors. (Contreras denied the allegation and was not criminally charged.) A Vatican investigation deemed him innocent. As of December 2017, Orellana remained in ministry: he was listed on the San Felipe diocesan website as assigned to Our Lady of Carmen church in the town of Placilla de Ligua. Included on Chilean bishops’ public list of guilty clerics. |
Declaración, Diocese of San Felipe, Iglesia.cl, 05.23.2008
Obispado de San Felipe Suspendió a Sacerdote Formalizado por Abuso Sexual, cooperativa.cl, 05.23.2008 Por Estupro fue Formalizad Ex Cura Parroco de Santa Maria, portlanoticias.cl, 05.23.2008 Por estupro contra menor de 17 años formalizan a ex sacerdote de Santa María, elaconcagua.cl, 5.23.2008 Obispo Declara en Juicio Sexual, Iglesia.cl, 03.21.2009 Bajo Bastante Expectación Partió Juicio Oral Contra Sacerdote Acusado de Estupro Reiterado Contra Menor de 17 Años, elaconcagua.cl, 03.25.2009 Tribunal Oral de San Felipe absolvió a sacerdote acusado de estupro reiterado contra menor de 17 años en Santa Mariá, elaconcagua.cl, 03.27.2009 Obispo de San Felipe dijo respetar anulación de juicio oral contra ex párroco de Santa María acusado de estupro, elaconcagua.cl, 05.12.2009 Casos de Los Sacerdotes Benavides, Orellana y Valenzuela han Sido Muy “Dolorosos” para la Iglesia de Aconcagua”, Afirmo Obispo Contreras, elaconcagua.cl, 06.21.2011 Iglesia católica reveló a sacerdotes sancionados por abusos a menores en Chile, radioevnagelizacion.org, 11.13.2011 «Sacerdote Juan Carlos Orellana inventó denuncias en mi contra» -afirmó Obispo de San Felipe Cristian Contreras, El Aconcagua.cl, 03.20.2014 Enviados del Vaticano investigan denuncia de abusos sexuales de obispo de San Felipe y ex superior mercedario, by Gustavo Villarrubia, 05.02.2014 Vatican declares Chilean bishop innocent of sexual abuse charges, by Jorge Poblete, Catholic Herald (UK), 06.23.2014 San Felipe diocese Parish listings, sobispadosanfelipe.cl, screenshotcaptured 10.07.2016. [See also live website page.] Priests assigned to Nuestra Señora del Carmen parish, Placilla de La Ligua, churchomania.com, screenshot captured 10.07.2016. |
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Sr. Paula, O.S.U. (Isabel Margarita Lagos Droguett)
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Valparaiso diocese | Order of St. Ursula/Orden de Santa Úrsula (Ursulines/Ursulinas) | Mother Superior of the Ursuline nuns in Chile for more than 25 years. Investigated by the Vatican at the end of 2010 for «inappropriate behavior,» as well as abuse of power and financial irregularities. According to news reports, the behavior in question involved the sexual abuse of at least three females, two of whom were minors and students at the Ursuline school that Lagos ran in the commune of Maipú [Santiago Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region].
In March 2011, Lagos, known as Sister Paula, was sent to live in the Ursuline’s convent in Duderstadt, Germany. Santiago archbishop Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati said that the Vatican’s decision to remove her from her position as Mother Superior had to do with «possible behavior at odds with the norms of the Order,» but did not specify. Secular authorities opened a criminal investigationafter receiving a sexual abuse complaint against Lagos from a 40-year-old woman who said that as a 12 year-old student at the Ursulines’ school in Maipú, she suffered abusive acts, including kisses on the mouth, mistreatment, and humiliation at the hands of Lagos. «Sister Paula touched me beneath my underwear when I was 12 years old,» she said. A second woman came forward to accuse Lagos of sexually abusing her in 1988 when she too was a student at the Maipú school. A prosecutor who specialized in sex abuse crimes was assigned to investigate. The allegations of both women were deemed credible. A third alleged victim, who was not a minor at the time, said that Lagos molested her but, due to travel distance, was unable to present a formal complaint at the prosecutor’s office. In May 2011, the case was assigned to the Criminal Tribunal of Santiago as an attempt to avoid dismissal due to statute of limitations. In June 2011, the Vatican announced that it had closed its investigation, without explanation. A year later, Lagos, her health failing, returned to Chile to live with a family member. She died in July 2012. Sr. Paula was never included in the Chilean bishops’ public list of clerics found guilty under canon or civil law. |
Convento de Duderstadt confirma oficialmente que Sor Paula reside ahí, El Merurio, 03.11.2011
El Vaticano interviene a las Ursulinas chilenas, periodistadigital.com, 03.26.2011 Fiscalía investiga a ex superiora de Las Ursulinas, El Mostrador, 03.29.2011 La sombra de Sor Paula en las Ursulinas, by Verónica Torres and Jorge Rojas, The Clinic, 04.15.2011 Priest in Chile Accused of Sexually Abusing Minors, AFP, 05.13.2011 Sor Paula es removida de Las Ursulinas y Ezzati nombra a nuevo párroco de El Bosque, El Mercurio, 06.10.2011 Ola de Denuncias Por Abusos Sexuales en Colegios de Santiago, Chile. La Fiscalía Investiga 60 de Ellos, noticiasmontreal.com, 07.21.2012 El agitado ocaso de Sor Paula, by Natalia Ramos, La Tercera, 07.21.2012 El Historial de Abusos del Capellán de Colegios que Ultrajó a Menores en Lebu y Maipú, by Valentina Mery, Catalina Sagredo and Felipe Véliz, CIPER (Centro de Investigación Periodística), 05.20.2013 |
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La Serena archdiocese | Diocesan/Diocesano | Convicted in 2003 of the genital molestation of an unconscious 20-year-old male who was a hospital patient near death. Peña had been at the young man’s bedside supposedly to administer the sacrament of the anointing of the sick (often called last rites).
The priest was sentenced in March 2004 to 541 days of probation. The La Serena Court of Appeals revoked the sentence on the legal grounds, argued by the defense, that for abuse to have occurred, it would have been necessary for the victim to have taken part in a sexual situation, which was impossible given his state of unconsciousness. In September 2004, however, the original sentence was upheld after the Supreme Court, by unanimous decision, nullified the resolution of the appeals court. In 2005, Archbishop Manuel Donoso, SS.CC. of La Serena reassigned Peña to the parish of Paihuano, where he became parochial vicar. He was required as part of the sentence to “check in” at a monthly support center for the social reintegration of offenders. The La Serena archdiocesan website in August 2016 showed Peña as a priest of the archdiocese. Peña died in January 2017 at age 66. The church’s statement about his death did not mention his conviction. Not included on Chilean bishops’ public list of guilty clerics. |
Corte absolvió a cura acusado de manoseos, by Jorge Budrovich, La Cuarta, 02.05.2004
Declaración Pública, by abogados defensores del P. René Peñ, Iglesia.cl, 05.27.2004 Suprema ratifica condena a sacerdote acusado de abuso en La Serena, by Carolina Valenzuela, El Mercurio, 09.21.2004 Sacerdote condenado por abusos se radica en el Valle del Elqui, by Jorge Budrovich, recortes.iglesia.cl, 09.05.2005 ¿En qué están los protagonistas de los casos emblemáticos?, diarioeldia.cl, 12.12.2010 Clero Arquidiocesano, arzobispadodelaserena.cl, 06.2014 Clero Arquidiocesano, arzobispadodelaserena.cl, 08.2016 Falleció sacerdote René Peña Benítez, Equipo El Día el Vie, 01.27.2017 Comunicamos sensible fallecimiento del Pbro. René Fernando Peña Benítez (Q.E.P.D.), Iglesia.cl, 01.27.2017 Gratitud a Dios por la vida y vocación del P. René Peña Benítez (Q.E.P.D.), Iglesia.cl, 01.29.2017 |
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Rev. Carlos Enrique Peralta Luna, S.D.B.
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Chicago archdiocese (United States)
Unknown Diocese Unknown Diocese Unknown Diocese |
Salesians of Don Bosco/Salesianos de Don Bosco (Salesians) | Peruvian. Accused in May 1999 of sexually abusing four male children, who were siblings, in Chicago, IL. Peralta had been in Chicago for a little over a year, working at a youth center. Chicago church documents obtained in litigation revealed that the first report of child sexual abuse by Peralta occurred when he was a seminarian in Chile in the early 1980s, resulting in his departure.
In Peru in the 1990s, a religious disciplinary committee found that «indescribable things have happened» and ordered Peralta to say away from children. He was sent to Domus Mariae, a treatment center for problem priests in Argentina. In 1998, his Salesian superiors transferred him to Chicago, declaring him a priest in good standing. The Salesians in the U.S. denied knowledge of the previous allegations. After Peralta’s abuse of the four boys in Chicago, he was sent to a Salesian community in New Jersey, evaluated at a Virginia mental health facility, then sent to the Salesian provincial house in Mexico City. The Chicago archdiocese did not notify the Dept. of Children and Family Services until six weeks after they learned of the allegations from the Salesians; by the time the police were notified, Peralta could not be located. He was last known to be working in active ministry in Mexico City. Not included on Chilean bishops’ public list of guilty clerics. |
Suits Say Archdiocese Aided Molester Priests, by Cathleen Falsani and Frank Main, Chicago Sun-Times, 04.04.2002
Archdiocese Delayed Inquiry, by Todd Lighty and Ofelia Casillas, Chicago Tribune, 04.05.2002 Salesian Society Defends Transfer of Priest, Business Wire, 04.06.2002 The Long Arm of Abuse. Problem Priests Cross Not Just States but Oceans As Well, U.S.News & World Report, 05.03.2002 Runaway Priests Hiding in Plain Sight, Dallas Morning News, 06.20.2004 Legal Complaint for Damages, John Doe FD, Plaintiff vs Salesians, 02.24.2011 El Vaticano enfrenta una sesion inquisitiva, by Emilio Goddy, proceso.com, 01.17.2014 |
| Brother Abel Pérez Ruiz, S.M.
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Santiago archdiocese | Congregation of Marist Brothers (Marists) | Spanish. Told the Marists in 2010 that he had abused 14 children in two Santiago schools over a 30-year period, beginning in the 1970s. It wasn’t until August 2017 – seven years lafter Perez’s admission – that the Marists filed a complaint with the Santiago prosecutor’s office, after two of Pérez’s victims came forward. The Marists said that Pérez was removed from contact with children and sent to one of its residences in Peru after Pérez admitted to the abuse. | Sacerdote en Chile es denunciado por abuso de 14 menores, El Espectador, 08.29.2017
El oscuro sótano de los Maristas, by Claudio Pizarro and Jonás Romero, The Clinic, 10.25.2017 |
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Santiago archdiocese | Diocesan/Diocesano | Well-known for defending human rights during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Precht helped found the Vicaría de la Solidaridad, an organization created to assist the victims of the regime.On October 5, 2011, Santiago archbishop Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati announced that he had suspended Precht after receiving a complaint in August 2011 for “events that occurred in the 1980s.” News reports revealed that the complaint involved Precht’s alleged abuse of a student, Patricio Vela, beginning in the late 1970s and continuing through the late 1980s. (Ezzati reportedly already knew of alleged abuses by Precht toward two minors.)
Vela was in a secondary school, Seminario Pontificio Menor, when he met Precht. The priest became the youth’s mentor and spiritual director, and remained close to him through his college years and beyond. Precht performed Vela’s wedding, vacationed with his family and baptized his child. Vela took his own life at age 29, in 1991. He was a psychologist and in a doctoral program in Irvine, California. Precht had visited him just a week earlier. In 2010, Vela’s widow and other family members discovered that Precht had sexually abused the young man. They approached the foundation “Para la confianza” (“For trust”), an advocacy group founded by the Karadima plaintiffs. In August 2011, Vela’s widow sent a formal letter of complaint to the archdiocese. She was spurred by the news that Precht had become pastor of Santa Clara Church of La Cisterna, replacing Rodrigo Allendes, who had committed suicide days before after being accused of sexual abuse by a 19-year-old parishioner. On October 28, 2011, the archdiocese dismissed the case brought by Vela’s family, concluding that there was no evidence to substantiate the allegations «in terms of constituting a violation of canon law, namely, sex abuse committed by a priest against a minor.» The church’s investigation surfaced many other victims, however, some of whom were minors at the time of the abuse. In all, nearly 20 independent testimonies were given by males who were between 15 and 35 years old in the 1980s and 1990s when they said Precht sexually abused them. The abuse included «gropings,» «caresses from chest downwards,» «kisses on the mouth,» «masturbations,» and «homosexual acts.» (Several victims’ accounts are detailed in a 2017 biography of the priest: Las culpas del Vicario by Andrea Lagos.) In June 2012, Ezzati indicated his investigation had found allegations against Precht to be «credible,» and that Precht’s case was sent to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In December 2012, the archdiocese announced that Precht had been found guilty of «abusive conduct» with adults and minors. The archdiocese’s vicar general at the time, Cristián Contreras Villarroel, said that Precht’s abuse of Patricio Vela had not been part of the canonical trial. Despite the judicial vicar’s recommendation that Precht be removed permanently from ministry, Cardinal Ezzati chose a mild punishment – a five-year suspension from ministry. Precht’s suspension ended December 5, 2017. In a recent interview, Ezzati said that Precht will again be allowed to celebrate Mass publicly. In November 2011, the Chilean bishops posted a list of priests found guilty under civil or canon law, and updated the list occasionally over the next five years. Precht was missing on the lists dated 2011and 2012, but he appears on lists dated 2013, 2014 and 2016, under the sub-category of those sentenced under canon law. The bishops removed the list of names from their website in August 2016. |
Comunicado del Arzobispado de Santiago sobre Pbro. Cristián Precht, Iglesia.cl, 10.05.2011
Ginecólogo Patricio Vela avaló denuncia contra sacerdote Cristian Precht: hay lazos de familia, by Lilian Olivares, La Segunda, 10.07.2011 Promotor Marcelo Gidi entrega informe Precht a arzobispo Ricardo Ezzati, El Mercurio, 10.26.2011 Arzobispado descarta delito canónico contra Cristián, La Tercera, 10.28.2011 Comunicado de Prensa del Arzobispado de Santiago sobre situación del presbítero Cristián Precht, Iglesia.cl, 10.28.2011 Iglesia Catolica De Chile Entrego Listado Oficial De Los Sacerdotes Condenados Por Abusos a Menores, by Ana Maria Guerra, La Segunda, 11.11.2011 Familia de Patricio Vela conforme con investigatción vaticana, by Alejandro Caroca, 24horas.cl, 06.28.2012 Declaración del Arzobispo de Santiago Monseñor Ricardo Ezzati Andrello, Iglesia.cl, 06.28.2012 Investigacion del Arzobispado dice que denuncias de abusos de Precht son «verosímiles» y envía antecedentes al Vaticano, by Angélica Baeza Palavecino, La Tercera, 06.28.2012 Investigación eclesiástica contra Precht reunió una veintena de testimonios de abusos sexuales, by Gustavo Villarrubia, CIPER (Centro de Investigación Periodística), 06.29.12 La caída de Precht, by Jorge Rojas, The Clinic, 07.09.2012 Declaracion del Obispo Vicario General de Santiago, Santiago de Chile, 12.06.2012 El Vaticano confirma «conductas abusivas» por parte del sacerdote Cristián Precht, La Tercera, 12.06.2012 Arzobispado: El caso de Patricio Vela no es parte del proceso contra Cristián Precht, Cooperativa.cl, 12.07.2012 Precht: «He decidido (…) asumir con obediencia las sanciones impuestas», by Natalia Ramos and Sergio Rodrigues, 02.22.2013 “Cristián Precht intentó que yo le tocara los genitales”, by Gustavo Villarrubia, CIPER (Centro de Investigación Periodística), 07.03.16 El regreso de Cristián Precht, by Alejandra Carmona López, elmostrador, 05.16.2017 Precht, la biografia no autorizada, LaTercera, 10.29.2017 Precht, Las Culpas del Vicario, by Andrea Lagos, paula.cl, 11.03.2017 Ezzati por fin de condena de Precht: «No extingue el mal hecho», by María José Navarrete, La Tercera, 08.12.2017 |
| Rev. Barry Robinson | Boston archdiocese (United States)Melbourne archdiocese (Australia) |
Diocesan/Diocesano | Australian. Admitted in March 1994 to «sexual misconduct» while working as a priest in Chile from 1979 to 1985. Robinson was assigned to Boston, MA when he made the admission; he also acknowledged that he’d had «sexual relations» with a 16-year-old boy in a parish rectory there. Robinson returned to Australia in April 1994, before civil authorities could investigate. He was allowed to resume ministry in Australia in 1997. He died October 4, 2014.
Not included at any time on the Chilean bishops’ public list of guilty clerics. This list of names was first posted on the website of the bishops’ conference in November 2011 and was occasionally updated. The bishops removed the list of names in August 2016, replacing it with a one-page document giving only tallies of those found guilty under canon or civil law. |
Priest Left U.S. after Admission in Sex Case, by Stephen Kurkjian and John Ellement, Boston Globe 01.14.2004Sex Priest Serves in Local Parish, by Barney Zwartz, The Age (Melbourne, Australia), 01.16.2004 Robinson Obituary, Herald Sun Tributes, 11.02.2014 Rev. Barry Robinson Assignment Record, BishopAccountability.org |
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Villarrica diocese | Diocesan/Diocesano | Arrested in June 2011 on charges of sexually abusing at least ten high school students after one of the victims went to the police. The victims had attended San Francisco de Isis boarding school, where Rogel was an administrator. Rogel abused them on school grounds, giving them money in exchange for sexual favors. The school is located in Cunco commune, Cautín province, Araucanía region.
The bishop of Villarrica declared Rogel’s suspension from ministry. At the time of his arrest, he was pastor of San Antonio, Toltén commune, Cautín Province, Araucania Region. He had also ministered in the parish of Inmaculada Concepción, in Cunco. In August 2013, the Temuco prosecutor said that Villarrica bishop Francisco Javier Stegmeier Schmidlin had had «direct knowledge» of Rogel’s crimes, but did not report them. On August 20, 2013, Rogel was convicted of sexually abusing four minors repeatedly from 2006 to 2011. A few days later, he was sentenced to 10 years and one day in prison. The prosecution hadrecommended a 15-year prison sentence. Witnesses testified to similar abuses dating back to the early 90s, if not earlier, but the statute of limitations had been reached for those crimes. His sentence was upheld after a court of appeals rejected mistrial motion by the defense. Included on Chilean bishops’ public list of guilty clerics. |
Comunicado del Obispado de Villarrica sobre detención de sacerdote, Iglesia.cl, 06.09.2011
Suspendido ministerio a sacerdote acusado de abuso sexual, Iglesia.cl, 06.10.2011 Deteienen en Chile a un sacerdote acusado de abuso sexual a menores, periodistadigital.com, 06.11.2011 Otros dos menores declararon contra sacerdote como víctimas de abusos, Iglesia.cl, 07.28.2011 [See original article.] Iglesia Catolica De Chile Entrego Listado Oficial De Los Sacerdotes Condenados Por Abusos a Menores, by Ana Maria Guerra, La Segunda, Fiscalía de Temuco Pidió 20 A ños para Sacerdote Acusado de Abusos Sexuales, emol.com, 04.17.2012 La Fiscalía afirma que la Iglesia no colaboró en el caso, by Carlos Véjar, soychile.cl, 08.14.2013 Condenan a sacerdote de Cunco por abusos sexuales contra cuatro menores de edad, La Tercera, 08.20.2013 Chile priest Rogel Pinuer faces jail in Temuco sex case, BBC News, 08.21.2013 Villarrica: cercanía a víctimas y colaboración con tribunales, Iglesia.cl, 08.25.2013 Declaración pública, Obispado de Villarrica, Iglesia.cl, 08.25.2013 [See original statement.] La Corte Confirmó la Condena de 10 Años y un Día para el Cura Acusado de Abuso en Cunco, soychile.cl/temuco.cl, 10.11.2013 |
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Rev. Rimsky Mario Alfonso Rojas Andrade, S.D.B.
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Punta Arenas diocese | Salesians of Don Bosco/Salesianos de Don Bosco (Salesian) | Accused in a 2010 lawsuit of abusing a student of the Salesian Institute in Valdivia in 1986, when the student was a 14-year-old boy. Rojas was deputy director and a religion teacher. In 1989 the school psychologist expressed concern to the school principal after 10 students came to him about Rojas’ behavior. When the psychologist said he would go to the press if Rojas wasn’t removed, Rojas was sent out of the country, on a mission to Conakry in Guinea. Committed suicide in February 2011. Rojas’s victim filed a criminal complaint in February 2014 against Ricardo Ezzati, archbishop of Santiago, for obstructing the criminal investigation of the sexual abuse perpetuated in the 1980s in the Salesian Society. Ezzati was then director of the Society.
Not included on Chilean bishops’ public list of guilty clerics. |
Fallecimiento del Padre Rimsky Rojas sdb, Iglesia.cl, 02.28.2011
Los Archivos del Caso que Conmocionó a Valdivia, Luis Concha, diario.latercera.com, 05.28.2011 Revelan Declaraciones por Abusos que el Padre Rimsky Rojas Habría Cometido en Valdivia, laprensaaustral.cl, 05.29.2011 El Escandaloso Clóset de los Salesianos, The Clinic Online, 06.07.2011 Iglesia Catolica De Chile Entrego Listado Oficial De Los Sacerdotes Condenados Por Abusos a Menores, Ana Maria Guerra, La Segunda, Víctima de Abuso Sexual por Sacerdote Rimsky Rojas se Querella en Contra de Ezzati por Obstrucción a la Justicia, The Clinic Online, 02.20.2014 |
| Deacon Eduardo Rojas González | Rancagua diocese | Diocesan/Diocesano | Charged in September 2016 with four repeated offenses of rape and sexual abuse. A permanent deacon and psychologist, Rojas directed a youth program called «Revive» at San José Obrero Parish in Rancagua, along with another man, Victor Lopez. Five young people had come forward with allegations of abuse by the two men. Both men were detained pretrial as a precaution. | Invitación a la Comunidad Diocesana, Obispo de Rancagua, via quico-anguita.blogspot.com, 12.30.2015
Se confirmó prisión preventiva para psicólogos de pastoral de Rancagua, by Alex Savoy, El Tipógravo, 09.19.2016 Las 80 denuncias por abuso sexual que ha enfrentado la Iglesia en Chile, por Sebastián Labrín and Juan Pablo Sallaberry, La Tercera, 01.09.2018 |
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Copiapó diocese | Diocesan/Diocesano | In 2012, Bishop Quintana Jorquera, C.M.F. of the Copiapó diocese announced that Rojas was being investigated for alleged sexual abuse of a minor and adults and «other serious crimes» committed while he was director of Liceo San Francisco, a school in Vallenar [Huasco Province, Atacama Region], in the diocese of Copiapó. Rojas was director of the school 2000-2005. When and where the alleged abuse occurred, as well as the nature of the abuse and the gender and age of the victims, is unknown.
Rojas emphatically denied the allegations and issued a public letter accusing the Copiapó bishop of persecuting him. According to news reports, Rojas had been investigated in 2007 for the alleged misappropriation of 50 million pesos from the Vallenar school. He was transferred to Navidad del Señor [La Reina commune, Santiago Province], where he was located in early 2012 when the church investigated the sex abuse allegations against him. According to the diocese of Copiapó, he chose not to cooperate with the investigation. He was suspended from ministry in September 2012. In July 2014, the bishop announced that the Congregation for the Clergy had permanently removed Rojas from the clerical state, having verified his «abusive behavior with adults and with a minor, in addition to other serious crimes.» Since 2001, the canonical crime of child sexual abuse has been the exclusive responsibility of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. It is unclear why the Congregation for the Clergy issued a ruling on Rojas’s case. Sometime in 2013 or 2014, Rojas was added to the Chilean bishops’ public list of guilty priests, under the sub-category of those sentenced under canon law. (His name is not on the July 26, 2013version of the list but it is on the July 25, 2014version.) |
Hoy formalizan a sacerdote Casiano Rojas por apropiación indebida de $50 millones sustraidos desde un colegio de Vallena, charnarcillo, 05.13.2009
Investigan a Otro Sacerdote por Abuso de Menores en Copiapó, lanacion.cl, 10.05.2012 Casiano Rojas es investigado por obispado de Copiapó, El Mercurio [via elcorreodiario blog], 10.05.2012 Comunicado sobre situación de dos sacerdotes de la diócesis de Copiapó, iglesia.cl, 10.05.2012 Iglesia chilena investiga a otro sacerdote por abuso de menores, periodistadigital, 10.06.2012 Impuesta dimisión de estado clerical a pbro. Casiano Rojas Viera, de Copiapó, iglesia.cl, 07.24.2014 Vaticano expulsa a dos sacerdotes de Copiapó involucrados en casos de abusos sexual, by Constanza Cortés Miquel, Latercera, 07.25.2014 |
| Rev. José Román Zúñiga | Illapel Prelature | Diocesan/Diocesano | Arrested in the city of Salamanca [Choapa Province, Coquimbo Region] in November 2001 on charges of sexually assaulting a 14 year-old boy.
Zúñiga reportedly met the victim and another boy in Plaza de Armas, a large public space in the city, and invited the boys to eat at a restaurant, where he offered them money in exchange for sexual relations. Zúñiga began to touch the victim’s genitals beneath the tablecloth. The boy reported Zúñiga to a policeman. The case was described in a 2012 book, Abusos Sexuales en la Iglesia Católica [Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church], by Argentine journalist Jorge Llistosella. Zúñiga worked as a priest in Illapel Prelature [Choapa Province, Coquimbo Region]. He was suspended from ministry and prohibited from returning to the city for a year. At the time of his arrest, then-bishop of Illapel, Rafael de la Barra Tagle, reportedly said that Zúñiga had a history as a pedophile. Zúñiga was included in the Chilean bishops’ list of guilty clerics for the five years it was public (2011–2016). His name appeared under the sub-category of priests sentenced under canon law. |
Chile/Pederastia: Procesan a Sacerdote, by Gilberto Villarroel, BBCMundo.com, 10.18.2002
Abusos Sexuales en la Iglesia Catolica [Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church], p. 231, by Jorge Llistosella, 2012 |
| Rev. Roberto Salazar Soto, M.S.F.S. | Concepción diocese | Missionaries of St. Francis de Sales/Misioneros de San Francisco de Sales (Fransalians) | Superior General of the Missionaries of St. Francis de Sales in Chile, Salazar was removed from ministry after he was accused of having sexually abused an adolescent boy at St. Francis de Sales school in Maipu. The abuse occurred sometime after 1999, into the 2000s. His accuser said that Salazar and Rev. Hector Valdes abused him together «hundreds of times,» and that the two priests abused other children. Salazar’s accuser presented to the Ecclesiastical Court an audio recording with a conversation between Salazar and the accuser regarding sex between the two priests and young people. In July 2013, the Vatican announced its determination that Salazar was guilty of sexually abusing a minor, and that Salazar was therefore removed from the clerical state for life.
Not included on Chilean bishops’ public list of guilty clerics. |
El Historial de Abusos del Capellán de Colegios que Ultrajó a Menores en Lebu y Maipú, by Valentina Mery, Catalina Sagredo y Felipe Véliz, CIPER (Centro de Investigación Periodística), 05.20.2013
Comunicado de prensa sobre sacerdote de la Congregación Misioneros de San Francisco de Sales, Iglesia.cl, 07.25.13 Arzobispado Informa que Vaticano Condeno por Abuso Sexual a Sacerdote, lanacion.cl, 07.26.2013 |
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Santiago archdiocese | Diocesan/Diocesano | Argentine. Investigated in 2010 by the Office of the Public Prosecutor of Chile after a former seminarian accused Soiza-Piñeyro of sexually abusing him when he was a minor, between 1982 and 1987, in Santiago, where the priest ministered.
In June 2012, Santiago archbishop Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati announced that the archdiocese’s own investigation of the priest had found «credible news of abusive behavior with adults and minors.» The archbishop stated that Soiza-Piñeyro had «failed to live up to priestly standards” and reported the case to the Vatican. Never included on Chilean bishops’ public list of guilty clerics during the five years it was public (2011-2016). |
Fiscalía investiga a sacerdote argentino por presunto abuso sexual, Cooperativa.cl, 05.06.2010
Indagación contra sacerdote Precht revela que denuncias de abusos son «verosímiles», Emol.com, 06.28.2012 Soiza-Piñeyro: El Experto En Exorcismos Indagado Por Abusos, La Nacion, 06.29.2012 Arzobispado confirma que Alfredo Soiza-Piñeyro deja ministerio sacerdotal, emol.com, 04.30.2013 |
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Linares diocese | Diocesan/Diocesano | In June 2011, Monseñor Tomislav Koljatic, bishop of Linares, announced that he had received a complaint against Soto the previous month. According to a subsequent news report, the complainant said Soto had sexually abused him between 1976 and 1977 in the priest’s home in Linares [Linares province, Maule region]. The alleged victim was 16 at the time.
Koljatic opened an internal investigation and suspended Soto from his position as pastor of Nuestra Señora del Carmen in Linares. The complaint was made just a month after the Chilean Bishop’s April 2011 publication of its Protocol for Handling Allegations Against Clerics for Abuse of Minors. Soto was the first cleric to be subject to the Protocol. The alleged victim, who said Soto «ruined his life,» also filed a criminal complaint with civil authorities. That case was dismissed in December 2011 due to the statute of limitations. In May 2012, Koljatic announced the Church was «unable to establish the existence of a crime» by Soto and that there would be no canonical penal process. He also noted that the criminal case had been dismissed. Soto’s suspension was lifted. He resumed ministry as a substitute priest and chaplain of a home for the elderly in Linares. Soto died on August 31, 2017 at age 83. He was not included on the Chilean bishops’ public list (2011–2016) of clerics found guilty under canon or civil law. |
Comunicado del Obispado de Linares, Iglesia.cl, 06.08.2011
Investigan por supuesto abuso sexual a religioso de Linares, lacuarta.com, 06.09.2011 Adulto es el Denunciante de Sacerdote de Linares por Abusos Sexuales, by Claudio Leiva Cortes, lanacion.cl, 06.09.2011 Juzgado del Crimen de Linares indagará presunto abuso sexual cometido por un sacerdote hace 35 años, emol.com, 06.11.2011 Declaración del Obispado de Linares, Iglesia.cl, 05.30.2012 Obispado de Linares, Chile, accessed 09.30.2016 Falleció Pbro. Plácido Soto Quiroz, pdndelinares.cl, 09.22.2017 |
| Rev. Wolfgang Statt, S.J. | Unknown Diocese (Germany)Unknown Diocese (Spain) Unknown Diocese Unknown Diocese |
Society of Jesus/Compañia de Jesús (Jesuits/Jesuitas) | German. Jesuit. Admitted in a 1992 letter to his superiors that he had sexually abused high schoolers in Berlin, Germany as well as in Spain and Chile in the 1970s and 1980s. Statt worked in parishes in Chile 1985 -1991. He left the priesthood in 1992. Statt admitted the abuse in a January 2010 Der Spiegel interview; subsequently at least 20 of his former students surfaced with allegations against him. Statt left Chile in January 2010, headed for Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Not included on Chilean bishops’ public list of guilty clerics. |
German Jesuit Sex Offender Lived in Chile, by Loretta van der Horst, Santiago Times, 02.03.2010Admite Orden Jesuita Alemana Abusos De Sacerdote En Chile, Pueblo, 02.05.2010 |
| Unnamed Marist Brothers | Unknown Diocese(s) (Chile) |
Congregation of Marist Brothers (Marists) | In October 2017, The Clinic Online published a major investigative piece revealing child sexual abuse by Marist clerics and other clergy at Marist-run schools and scout camps in Chile. In the piece, a former Chilean public prosecutor hired by the Marists says that he recently had received abuse complaints identifying four additional Marist brothers, two of whom are still alive. The context of the article suggests that the names of the four Marists are not yet publicly known. | El oscuro sótano de los Maristas, by Claudio Pizarro and Jonás Romero, The Clinic, 10.25.2017 |
| Unnamed Priests | Antofagasta archdiocese | In September 2015, the archbishop of Antofagasta, Pablo Lizama, said in an interview with a local newspaper that his diocese was conducting a preliminary investigation of at least two sex abuse allegations implicating priests in his diocese, one of whom «was very affectionate with a boy.» The boy had reported the incident directly to Archbishop Lizama. In the interview, Archbishop Lizama said, «There are priests in jail for this in Santiago.»
Towards the end of 2015, Archbishop Lizama submitted his resignation due to health problems. One and a half years passed before the Vatican named Lizama’s successor, Ignacio Ducasse, in early June 2017. Ducasse assumed his new position as archbishop of Antofagasta at the end of August. As of January 2018, there had been no public updates to the former archbishop’s 2015 interview. The Church has provided no information concerning the church’s investigation of these cases, the welfare of the victim(s), the identity of the accused priests, or their current status and whereabouts. |
«Me da una pena muy grande cuando alguien de los nuestros ha dañado a un joven» – Interview with Monsenor Pablo Lizama, arcbishop of Antofagasta, La Estrella, 09.04.2015
Arzobispado de Antofaga investiga dos denuncias pro presunto abuso sexual de sacerdotes, by Ignacio Araya, soychile.cl. 09.04.2015 El Papa acepta la renuncia del arzobispo de Antofagasta, by Jaime Escobar, Religión Digital, Mons. Ignacio Ducasse, nuevo arzobispo de Antofagasta, Iglesia.cl, 06.08.2017 |
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| Rev. Sergio Uribe Gutierrez, O.F.M. Cap. | Santiago archdiocese | Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (Capuchin) | Spanish. Would officiate mass and hear confessions at the Alonso de Ercilla Institute, a school run by the Marist Brothers in Santiago. In October 2017, an investigative report by The Clinic Online identified several Marists and other clerics who allegedly abused children at Marist-run schools and camps. According to the article, Uribe had stroked and inappropriately touched a 13-year-old male student during a visit to the boy’s home in the early 1970s. | El oscuro sótano de los Maristas, by Claudio Pizarro and Jonás Romero, The Clinic, 10.25.2017 |
| Rev. Antonio Enrique Valdebenito Muñoz | Concepción diocese | Diocesan/Diocesano | Accused in March 2001 of sexually abusing two minors, ages 10 and 12, while pastor of Nuestra Señora del Carmen, in Negrete [Bío Bío Province]. Negrete is in the Santa María de Los Ángeles diocese.
The alleged victims testified that they were «groped and covered with kisses on numerous occasions» by Valdebenito between June and August 2000, while they were preparing for their first communion. Three years prior, in 1997, “La Campaña”, a Buenos Aires newspaper, reported that Valdebenito had been expelled from Argentina by the archbishop of Mercedes de Lujan due to similar behavior. In April 2002, the National Service for Minors (Sename) filed a criminal complaint on behalf of the mother of one of the victims and the grandmother of the other victim. The women said they had previously reported Valdebenito on two separate occasions to the bishop and vicar general of the Los Ángeles diocese after the women learned that the priest had invited the two minors to spend the night in his room. In response, according to the grandmother, the bishop, Miguel Caviedes Medina, who retired in 2006, said he would punish Valdebenito by giving him a good yank on his ears. Other alleged victims came forth to testify against Valdebenito. They included three altar boys of Negrete who testified to sleeping in the nude in the clergy house with Valdebenito, who invited them to his bedroom, tossed them on his bed, and kissed them on the mouth. The boys also testified that the priest had them bathe nude in a nearby river. This was verified by an eyewitness. In addition, two other minors testified that they were molested by Valdebenito beginning in 1999 while attending his parish in preparation for their first communion. The March 2011 allegations involving the children age 10 and age 12 were formally investigated and deemed credible in April 2003. Bishop Caviedes announced Valdebenito’s suspension from ministry but said he considered him innocent as long as secular authorities were unable to prove otherwise. Later that month, a court of appeals upheld the results of the investigation. Valdebenito did not turn himself in to authorities and was not taken into custody. He appealed to the Supreme Court and was exonerated the following month in a 3-2 decision. The lawyer who represented the two minors attributed the Supreme Court ruling in part to the fact that certain members of the Court were also professors at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. Almost one year later, in February 2004, new allegations against Valdebenito surfaced after two other altar boys said they were abused by him in the parish of Immaculada Concepción in Antuco [Bío Bío Province], where Valdebenito was pastor in 1990. However, the case against him was not reopened. He maintained his innocence throughout and called the sex abuses charges against him a political conspiracy. He died of a heart attack in September 2010. Despite the numerous allegations against him, Valdebenito was never included in the Chilean bishops’ public list of clerics deemed guilty under canon or civil law. |
Sename solicitó procesar a sacerdote sospechoso de abusos deshonestos, emol.com, 04.11.2002
Venganza política denuncia cura de Negrete acusado de pedofilia, El Mercurio, 05.11.2002 Chile/Pederastia: Procesan a Sacerdote, by Gilberto Villarroel, BBCMundo.com, 10.18.2002 Obispado de Los Ángeles confía en acción de la justicia, Iglesia.cl, 04.03.2003 Cura de Negrete No Cumple Palabra, La Nación, 04.23.2003 Suprema libera a sacerdote Enrique Valdebenito, emol.com, 05.09.2003 Abogada Magina Zegpi Pons: “La Iglesia ya entendió que no puede ocultar a pedófilos”, by Sonnia Mendoza, revistanos.cl, 03.2011 |
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Concepción diocese | Missionaries of St. Francis de Sales/Misioneros de San Francisco de Sales (Fransalians) | A former Superior and founder of the Chilean branch of the Missionaries of St. Francis de Sales, Valdes was convicted in 2012 of sexually abusing two minors. There were multiple allegations of abuse against him. He was suspected of the rape of an altar boy in Lebu who took his own life at age 13, in 2003. In 2008 a 17-year-old boy accused Valdés of sexually abusing him in Maipu. Valdés had arranged for the boy to do gardening at the St. Francis de Sales School chapel, where Valdes was chaplain. The boy called the police. A public prosecutor filed a case, but it was abruptly closed. Another accuser said he was abused over a four-year period, beginning when he was 15 years old, in 1999. This victim said Valdés and Rev. Roberto Salazar sexually abused him together, «hundreds of times.» He also said the two priests had sex with many other young people. The director of a branch of St. Francis de Sales School, Gladys Silva, had suspicions about Valdés and discovered past and recent allegations against him. She shared her concerns with Isabel Lagos Droguett, known as Sister Paula, who was an Ursuline nun and former Superior of the order. Sr. Paula defended Valdés. Valdés was chaplain at an Ursuline school in Maipu. Sr. Paula was later alleged to have sexually abused girls at Ursuline schools. After his conviction, Valdés was defrocked, as announced by the Vatican in May 2013.
Included on Chilean bishops’ public list of guilty clerics. |
Chilean Priest Removed from Service over Sexual Abuse, Press TV, 05.14.2013
Familia que Acusó a Cura Culpable de Abusos: “Sentimos la impotencia de que la justicia es para el fuerte”, by A. Bustamante, soychile.cl, 05.14.2013 El Historial de Abusos del Capellán de Colegios que Ultrajó a Menores en Lebu y Maipú, Valentina Mery, Catalina Sagredo and Felipe Véliz, CIPER (Centro de Investigación Periodística), 05.20.2013 |
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Santiago archdiocese | Society of Jesus/Compañia de Jesús (Jesuits/Jesuitas) | Provincial Superior of the Jesuits‘ Chilean province 2008-2013. First accused in late 2010 and early 2011 of «incidents» that occurred 1995-1998. The church did not specify the age or gender of the victim(s) or the nature of the allegations. It referred to them only as “incidents” which “did not involve minors,” and said thatValenzuela had not committed any crime against canon law.
Additional evidence emerged in early 2013, and he was replaced by a new Provincial Superior. The results of an internal investigation were released in November 2013: while Valenzuela had not violated canon law, his actions were deemed “ill-advised,” and “disciplinary measures” were taken to restrict his ministry. A month later, a new allegation led to another formal investigation, and Valenzuela was suspended from ministry. The priest issued a public statement, admitting to «mistakes» but not «crimes.» In response to the Jesuits’ January 2014 statement citing “incidents” which “did not involve minors,” three of Valenzuela’s alleged victims revealed in a written declaration in February 2014 that Valenzuela had subjected two of them, then 17-year-old boys, to prolonged body-to-body hugs, sat them on his lap, caressed them, gave them long-lasting kisses on the mouth, and on occasion during confession touched them when they were lying in bed. In August 2015, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith decided not to open a canonical process, and authorized the Provincial Superior to determine disciplinary measures, if any, against Valenzuela. As of August 2016, Valenzuela remained a priest in Chile. The Jesuits’ website links to an August 9, 2016 op-ed in a Chilean newspaper co-written by Valenzuela. It seems he currently works at or is affiliated with Villa Padre Hurtado, a Catholic establishment for the elderly. Not included on Chilean bishops’ list of guilty clerics. |
Jesuitas Chile (magazine), April 2008 [See pg. 7 for brief bio of Valenzuela]
Restringen ejercicio sacerdotal de jesuita Eugenio Valenzuela por denuncia en su contra, latercera.com, 01.24.2014 Denuncias contra sacerdote de la Compañía de Jesús; iglesiadesantiago.cl, 01.24.2014 Recortes, Chilean bishops’ conference website, 01.25.2014 [Jesuits’ 1st statement on allegations] Denunciantes de ex provincial de los jesuitas revelan graves antecedentes en su contra, emol.com, 02.28.2014 Declaración pública de denunciantes del sacerdote Jesuita Eugenio Valenzuela, robertoyruth blog,03.01.2014 [Victims’ statement] Enviados del Vaticano investigan denuncia de abusos sexuales de obispo de San Felipe y ex superior mercedario, by Gustavo Villarrubia, CIPER (Centro de Investigación Periodística), 05.02.2014 Comunicado de prensa: Sobre situación del padre Eugenio Valenzuela L., SJ., Jesuitas Chile, August 2015 Iglesia Católica no abrirá proceso canónico contra ex provincial Jesuita, cooperativa.cl, 08.21.2015 La asesoría secreta de Enrique Correa a Cristián Precht y los jesuitas, by Alejandra Carmona López, elmostrador.cl, 10.13.2015 Los que no marchan, Eugenio Valenzuela SJ et al. El Mercurio, 08.09.2016 |
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Rev. Francisco Valenzuela Sanhueza
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San Felipe diocese
Talca diocese |
Diocesan/Diocesano | Arrested and jailed in September 2010 on suspicion of sexually abusing three girls, one of whom he raped. The rape victim was twelve years old; the other girls were between 13 and 17. The abuses occurred over several years beginning in the early 2000s. All three girls were in the church choir in the rural town of Putaendo, where Valenzuela, known as «Fr. Pancho,» ministered at San Antonio de Padua parish, San Felipe diocese [San Felipe de Aconcagua province, Valparaíso region].
Civil authorities learned of his crimes when one of the victims, by then 20, filed a criminal complaint. At Valenzuela’s trial in 2011, Camilo Vial, bishop of San Felipe from 1983 to 2001, testified that in 1989 he had been informed by a nun that a 13-year-old girl at the Carmelitas School of San Felipe had confessed to her that she had been molested by Valenzuela. However, a separate media outlet reported that that same girl had in fact been raped and impregnated by Valenzuela, before having an abortion. In response, Vial sent Valenzuela to Bishop Carlos González in Talca, where Valenzuela relocated and remained in ministry. Ten years later, he requested to return to San Felipe; Vial assigned him to be vicar and parish administrator in Putaendo. The current bishop of San Felipe, Cristián Contreras Molina, who succeeded Vial in 2002, also testified during Valenzuela’s trial. Contreras said a member of the Putaendo parish came to him and reported that he had seen a girl leave Valenzuela’s office in a «deeply affected» state. Contreras took up the matter with the deacon of Putaendo, who expressed concern that Valenzuela had been spending long periods of time in his office with the girl. Contreras met with Valenzuela, who told him that he had an «attachment problem» which he’d already discussed with Vial. Contreras, in his testimony, said he didn’t deem it necessary to take any concrete action, as no formal complaints had been brought against Valenzuela. In June 2011, the Vatican announced Valenzuela’s removal from the clerical state. Six months later, in December 2011, Bishop Vial stated publicly that, in reference to what had happened in 1989, «there was no clarity» about the procedures that one ought to follow in response to suspected child sex abuse by a cleric. The archbishop of Santiago, Ricardo Ezzati, pronounced his support for Vial, who he said «acted with rectitude and with the knowledge of the time.» Later in December 2011, Valenzuela was convicted in a court of law of the rape and repeated sexual abuse of the twelve-year-old girl, who, it was revealed, had been nine years old when he first began molesting her. In January 2012, Valenzuela was sentenced to 15 years and one day in jail and ordered to pay his victim 10 million pesos. He was absolved of the accusations involving the other two girls due to insufficient evidence. Included as of August 2016 on Chilean bishops’ public list of guilty clerics. |
Escándalo por Abusos Sexuales del “Cura Pancho”: Está la zorra en Putaendo, Ana Rodríguez, The Clinic, 10.04.2010
Vaticano Prohíbe Ejercer el Sacerdocio a Cura Formalizado por Abusos en Putaendo, emol.com, 06.21.2011 Declaración, Departamento de Comunicaciones, Obispado de San Felipe, Iglesia.cl, 06.21.2011 Cómo la Iglesia le cubrió la espalda al cura “Pancho” de Putaendo, Ana Rodríguez, The Clinic, 07.28.2011 Obispo Vial Admite que Supo de Presunto Abuso de Cura, recortes.iglesia.cl, 12.16.2011 Obispo de Temuco se disculpó tras reconocer que sabía de abusos de ex párroco, El Mercurio, 12.16.2011 Obispo Vial «no sabía» que tenía que denunciar a sacerdote que embarazó a una menor, by Audénico Barría Navarro, El Dínamo, 12.16.2011 Bishop’s Rape Defense Outrages Chileans, Mauricio Avila, The Media Project, 12.22.2011 Ex sacerdote de Putaendo fue encontrado culpable de abusos a menores, El Mercurio, 12.28.2011 Condenan a 15 años de cárcel al “Cura Pancho” por los delitos reiterados de abuso sexual y violación contra menor de 14 años, El Aconcagua, 01.06.2012 Ex Cura Pancho Fue Condenado a 15 Años y un Día de Presidio Efectivo, AconcaguaNews, 01.07.2012 |
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