“It has been an inhumane, cruel and violent abuse”: the scandal of sexual assaults against minors in the Catholic Church that shocks Bolivia (and the government’s hard claim to the Vatican)

What started with the publication of a personal diary has now turned into a wave of indictments that shocks Bolivia.

The judiciary of this country is investigating 23 religious for allegations of pedophilia, following the distribution of the personal diary of a Spanish Jesuit who confessed to abusing 85 children while he was a teacher in several schools in Latin America and principal of a school in the city ​​of Cochabamba.

Since then, there have been protests in recent days, reports of abuse after years of silence and a priest has already been arrested.

As the Public Prosecutor’s Office progresses with the investigation, the Bolivian President, Louis Arcesent a letter to Pope Francis demanding a review of the agreements with the Vatican and warned that it will not allow the entry of foreign priests with a history of abuse.

The Vatican, for its part, sent an expert in investigations into abuses in the church to the South American country.

The victims, for their part, are seeking “comprehensive redress” that guarantees not only compensation, but also “changes in the institutional structures” of the church that will prevent the abuse of minors in the future, according to what he told BBC Mundo. Pedro Lima Salazara former Jesuit preparing to testify as a victim and witness before the Bolivian prosecutor’s office.

The complaints

At the end of April, the Spanish newspaper El País published extracts from the Jesuit’s personal diary Alfonso Pedrajasalso known as Father “Pica”, who confessed to molesting 85 children in the 1970s and 1980s when he was a teacher in Latin America and most notably as principal of the Juan XXIII School in the city of Cochabamba, central Bolivia.

Although Pedrajas confirms in the newspaper that he informed his superiors and other religious about the abuses, he was never punished or relieved of the teaching responsibilities that linked him to the children.

“The greatest personal failure: without a doubt pedophilia,” he wrote, according to El País newspaper. “I hurt a lot of people (85?), too many.” And he adds, “I’ve told it so many times.”

Pedrajas died of cancer in 2009 at the age of 62.

The publication of this testimony caused a wave of complaints to the Bolivian prosecutor’s office against several priests. The authorities have indicated that one of them was arrested last week.

The victims

Pedro Lima Salazar is the only victim to have spoken publicly so far.

Lima was a Jesuit priest and an assembly member for the ruling Movimiento Al Socialismo (MAS) during the Constituent Assembly in 2009. During this process, he was criticized for failing to denounce the abuses when he enjoyed political visibility.

“It is difficult to take this step because of the stigmatization, the lack of understanding. Breaking the silence is the hardest part, it is a lifetime losshe told BBC Mundo before taking part in a meeting of the Bolivian senate on Tuesday, May 23, in which parliamentarians discussed the possibility of drafting a law to prevent these crimes from being prescribed.

“It has been an inhumane, cruel and violent abuse, with no regard for defenseless people. It has been brutal in some cases,” said Lima, who would not go into details about the abuses he says he has been subjected to.

“In my conscience I have peace because I believe I am doing the right thing. It drives me to know that everything we do is true.”

Although he says he cannot indicate how many victims are involved in the reports, he indicates that he is diligently looking “a comprehensive compensation for non-repetition”.

“There are years when the pattern of abuse of power, abuse of conscience and sexual abuse repeats itself. It’s an established arrangement, it’s institutional bodies. It’s not an isolated case. It is an institution that has allowed this in its superior hierarchies,” he said.

In the church, “they naturalized the abuse and criminalized the charge,” he said. “We want those hierarchies broken down.”

The alumni association of the Cochabamba school, where Pedrajas worked as a teacher, also denounced the cover-up by the superior Jesuits.

“We condemn the cover-up by the Society of Jesusof which he was fully aware, not only because of the repeated confessions of Pedrajas Moreno (…) but also because of the complaints made by the students,” said Hilarión Baldivieso, president of the former students of the Juan XXIII school .

Shortly after Pedrajas’ diary became known, the Jesuits asked for forgiveness.

“The abuses have left deep wounds on the victims and the complaints cannot be ignored, even though the priest involved in the events has died,” Bernardo Mercado, head of the order in Bolivia, said in early May.

At the same time, he announced the immediate suspension of an unknown number of religious for alleged cover-ups by Pedrajas.

Pedrajas, known as “Pica”, worked in Bolivia from 1971 to 2009, when he died of cancer at a hospital in Cochabamba at the age of 62.

“We apologize for the pain caused,” emphasized the authority of the Jesuits, urging the victims to submit their complaints to the Bolivian public prosecutor’s office and offering the psychological and legal support of the Society of Jesus.

“We are really facing crimes that are unthinkable. They cannot go unpunishedMercado said.

The claim of the Bolivian government on the Vatican

The Bolivian government complained to both the Spanish judiciary and the Vatican.

“I am writing to you with shock and outrage at the facts recently revealed,” Bolivian Presidency Minister María Nela Prada said when he read publicly the letter that the President Louis Arce He sent the Pope, who is a Jesuit.

The letter describes the crimes as “deplorable and aberrational” and assures that “they were hidden for years with impunity”.

“The Bolivian State reserves the right to allow the entry into the national territory of new foreign priests and religious who have a history of sexual abuse of minors, meanwhile proceeding with the revision of the agreements and conventions in force and the to finalize negotiations on the agreement between the State and the Holy See, which should, in addition, contain precautions so that the events motivating this note are not repeated,” the letter adds.

The Arce government asked the Bolivian judiciary to “access all files referring to the complaints” and to assess the background of the foreign religious. “No one with a criminal record should remain as an educator or spiritual guide”.

Bolivia’s Attorney General Wilfredo Chávez said until last week there were complaints against 23 priests allegedly involved in pedophilia cases, including “rape of young children between the ages of 6 and 12”.

“These facts and the perpetrators deserve a criminal sanction and we deserve to know the truth,” Chávez assured.

Response from the Vatican

President Arce’s letter was published hours after the arrival in Bolivia on Monday of Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu, official of the Department of the Doctrine of the Faith, a key figure in the pope’s entourage.

Known as the “super agent”, Bertomeu has specialized in investigating allegations of pedophilia against priests of the Catholic Church in other Latin American countries.

Bertomeu arrived in Bolivia from Paraguay, where he investigated allegations of the same nature.

However, the Bolivian Episcopal Conference pointed out that Bertomeu’s visit had been organized three years ago, implying that it is not responding to the scandal.

In recent days, mothers, fathers and activists have gathered outside the headquarters of the Society of Jesus in La Paz to demand justice.

The association of alumni of the Juan XXIII school in Cochabamba, which unites several victims, rejected Bertomeu’s visit to Bolivia.

“We are concerned that an institution under investigation for possibly committing crimes to some extent cover-up and complicity meet the victimsthe union said in a statement.