The allegations of sexual abuse revealed by the Portuguese Church to nearly five thousand children have made current the most burning issue that haunts the Catholic Church.
Other cases immediately appear, new scandals. the Vatican site the seismograph, widely read, the case of Colombia was staged this Tuesday. “There would be hundreds of priests” involved, journalist Juan Pablo Barrientos warns the magazine Week.
Barrientos “is one of the few journalists who have conducted investigations against the Colombian Catholic Church for its alleged links to pedophilia,” writes the magazine.
Second Week Barrientos “has been doing years of work to uncover these links”, completing the assignment many obstacles.
The Colombian Catholic Church recently apologized “for the aberrational cases of pedophilia, noting that” they are a crime and a crime, “writes the magazine.
This conclusion was reached by the bishops of the Church in Colombia after an assembly of the Bishops’ Conference.
Barrientos argues that “the Church in this country, as in all the Catholic churches of the world, is the same institution, the same system, and it is the same structure that has allowed the existence of pedophile priests over the centuries and for the denunciations against them to keep in their archives”. priests who raped children and adolescents”.
Barrientos’ complaint comes in the aftermath of a dramatic report presented in Lisbon on more than 4,800 cases of sexual abuse committed by members of the Catholic Church in Portugal since 1950.
five years of research
The reporter said he launched an investigation into the Catholic Church five years ago and filed 140 rights of petition to get information on how many priests are being investigated for child sexual abuse.
“We are not talking about bad apples but a purely structural problem. With the 140 rights to present a petition to all religious communities, to find out how many priests have been denounced for sexual abuse of children,” said Barrientos.
The reporter said that not even 20% of the Colombian bishops have responded. “We will reveal more details in one of the largest investigations conducted in Colombia on this matter,” he promised.
The reporter pointed Week that the president of the Bishops’ Conference, Monsignor Luis José Rueda, apologized: “He knows that there could be thousands of cases in Colombia and that they have hidden them in their secret archives and that this information has been kept with the concordat. “
Barrientos claims that two bishops were shocked by the investigation into children and adolescents “but nothing happens, they say nothing”. He stated that “they didn’t make amends, they didn’t want to hand over the secret files to the prosecution”.
The reporter shows Disappointed by the Pope which has taken several actions in recent years against priests accused of abuse.
“If I had wanted to do something, I would have opened the archives of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,” remarked Barrientos.
“He would also have expelled the Archbishop of Medellin, Monsignor Ricardo Tobon Restrepo and removed Mario Monsalve Mejía from Cali and Oscar Urbina from Villavivencio, but allowed them to withdraw,” he remarked.
Barrientos complained that there are others bishops covering up pedophiles and that the Pope should also have fired the bishop of Sanson, Rionegro, Monsignor Fidel Cavid and the archbishop of Bucaranga, Ismael Rueda Sierra, whom he accuses of covering up pedophile priests.
Vatican correspondent
Source: Clarin
Mary Ortiz is a seasoned journalist with a passion for world events. As a writer for News Rebeat, she brings a fresh perspective to the latest global happenings and provides in-depth coverage that offers a deeper understanding of the world around us.