Oscar Muñoz Toledo, the Chilean priest convicted of sexual abuse.
The Chilean justice issued the preventive jail to the former Chancellor of the Archbishopric of Santiago Oscar Munozconvicted last week for offenses of rape and child abuse. He is one of the Chilean religious that Pope Francis dissociated from the Church in 2019.
The Santiago Court of Appeal imposed the precautionary measure on Wednesday at the request of the Central North Metropolitan Prosecutor and pending the final sentence, which will be announced on 18 June.
On June 8, Muñoz was found guilty of abusing four minors between 2009 and 2018 and of repeatedly raping one of them, crimes for which the Prosecutor requests 30 years in actual prison.
In November 2019, Pope Francis expelled Muñoz from the priesthood and imposed “his resignation from the clerical state” for the same accusations, which caused a sensation among the Chilean clergy.
This action was part of a papal visit motivated by allegations of abuse against several members of the clergy, which resulted in the resignation of seven and subsequently the expulsion of two other former bishops.
Chile is one of the Latin American countries most affected by allegations of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church and has been adding new cases for over a decade since the first major scandal of former priest Fernando Karadima came to light.
The Karadima case, denounced for repeated sexual abuse of minors, has shaken the foundations of one of the most powerful institutions in the country and, in the words of Pope Francis, has revealed “a culture of abuse and cover-up” within the Church.
According to the latest data published by the Prosecutor’s Office, in 2021 65 judicial investigations were still open against 116 people linked to the Catholic Church, involving 220 victims, half of whom were minors at the time of the events.
With information from EFE
DD
Source: Clarin
