Bolivia's church facing outrage following revelations of abuse by Spanish Jesuit missionary

Bolivia's church is facing outrage by faithful, government following revelations of abuse by Spanish Jesuit missionary

By David Agren, OSV News

(OSV News) -- Bolivia's president has urged the Vatican to join the Bolivian government in revising procedures for allowing any foreign clergy to minister in the South American country, where revelations of a deceased Jesuit's sexual abuse of children have caused outrage.

In a May 22 letter to Pope Francis, Bolivian President Luis Arce requested the Vatican open its archives and share information from investigations into priests and religious in Bolivia accused of sexual abuse. He also promised to review all bilateral agreements signed by Bolivia and the Holy See.

The letter stated, "The Bolivian state reserves the right to refuse the entry of new foreign priests and religious who have records of sexual abuse against minors."

The president continued, "These years of impunity cannot be extended indefinitely without justice establishing the responsibilities and the victims close an atrocious chapter where the only consolation they have is the right to the truth, justice and not covering up the events that occurred."

The letter, read publicly May 22 by presidential minister María Prada Tejada, came as Msgr. Jordi Bertomeu, a leading sexual abuse investigator and part of the Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, visited Bolivia to review the accusations against clergy.

The Bolivian bishops' conference declined to comment on OSV News' questions, but said in a May 24 statement that it was creating a National Listening Commission and a National Investigation Commission "to determine responsibilities and make visible what has happened."

The statement said, "The bishops of Bolivia want to begin by addressing the victims, who, instead of finding protection and care they deserved, found a church deaf to their sufferings. Sexual abuse is the opposite of the very essence of the church, which joins the crucified to give comfort to the most vulnerable in our society."

It continued, "We know that there is no way to compensate for the damage caused, but we agree to do everything possible to accompany and seek reparation, with the support of professionals who will provide assistance and help heal the wounds and scars."

Bolivians reacted with horror to the publication of a diary from a Spanish Jesuit, Father Alfonso Pedrajas Moreno, who worked in Latin America from 1961 until his death in 2009 -- including 38 years in Bolivia. A relative found the diary and shared it with the Spanish newspaper El País.

The diary described the Jesuit's abuse of children, which numbered at least 85 victims. It also described "how the Jesuit order, including at least seven provincial superiors and a dozen Bolivian and Spanish clergymen, covered up his crimes, along with the complaints of several victims," according to El País.

El País later reported that another former Spanish Jesuit missionary, Archbishop Alejandro Mestre of La Paz, had been accused of sexually abusing a student in 1961. Archbishop Mestre died in 1988.

The Jesuits issued a statement saying the complaint against the archbishop was brought in 2021 and investigated. The order voluntarily delivered all documents to the prosecutor's office on May 9.

As reported by The Associated Press, the Bolivian Episcopal Conference said Msgr. Bertomeu's visit is not directly related to the recent sex abuse allegations but had been planned earlier to analyze "the progress made in the field of the culture of prevention" promoted by the Vatican.

Judicial officials raided the Jesuit curia and the Jesuit-run St. Callixtus College May 17 in La Paz, the country's capital, according to a statement by the Jesuits in Bolivia.

Prosecutor Wilfredo Chávez told Bolivian media that the education ministry should "verify the situation and status" of the Jesuits in the country. He also revealed 23 priests are "implicated in pedophilia," according to AP.

"The abuse has provoked deep wounds in the victims and the complaints cannot be ignored, even though the priest involved in the acts has died," the Jesuits said in a May 2 statement, which pledged full transparency and cooperation with the authorities.

The accusations of sexual abuse have surfaced amid tensions between the Catholic Church and the Bolivian government, which has attempted to portray the bishops' conference as complicit in a supposed 2019 coup against then-President Evo Morales and his Movement Toward Socialism party.

The bishops have said they acted as negotiators amid unrest and violence provoked by election irregularities and only got involved in attempts at pacifying the country at the invitation of the ruling party.

"The government wants to silence the church as a voice in the public life of the country," Andrés Eichmann-Oehrli, a literature professor and Bolivian church observer, told OSV News.

The church has taken steps toward addressing sexual abuse by clergy, he says, explaining, "No other institution (in Bolivia) has worked as much on this."

On the other hand, he added, "if the government takes this issue seriously, it would be doing the church an enormous favor."