The scandal of pedophilia in the Bolivian Church takes a leap and reaches the office of Pope Francis. The president of Bolivia, Luis Arce, has asked the pontiff for access to all files, files and information regarding cases of pedophilia committed by Catholic priests and religious in Bolivian territory of which the Church is aware. "These years of impunity cannot be extended indefinitely without justice establishing responsibilities and the victims closing an atrocious chapter where the only consolation they will have is the right to truth, justice and the non-cover-up of the events that happened," Arce told Pope Francis in an official letter on Monday. It is the first time that a president has addressed the Pope to directly request the opening of ecclesiastical archives so that civil authorities can investigate the sexual abuse of minors and its cover-up.
Arce's letter comes at a time when the pedophilia scandal, led by press publications, has hit the Bolivian church hierarchy hard. This has been transferred by the ruler at the beginning of the writing. "I address you dismayed and outraged by the facts that have recently been revealed in our Plurinational State of Bolivia, from the investigation of the newspaper EL PAÍS of Spain, entitled Diary of a Pedophile priest." This report told the story of the secret newspaper where the Spanish Jesuit Alfonso Pedrajas admitted to abusing dozens of children in schools of the order in the South American country and how his superiors covered everything. "Deplorable and aberrant crimes that with absolute impunity were hidden for years, time that passed in apparent normality due to the complicit silence of the local ecclesial structure, which covered them up with unacceptable indifference and indolence," Arce says in the letter.
The news forced the Company to remove eight former high-ranking officials for cover-up, triggered the Prosecutor's Office to open an investigation and has caused new cases to come to light. "These are not errors or deviations of conduct, they are crimes that harm children for life, and that also harm the Church, and for that same reason, we must move from these pronouncements to concrete actions, so that there is justice and that these very serious crimes do not happen again, using faith and the Church in search of impunity," points out the Bolivian president, who feels "indignant". "As Brother Francis will understand, this situation has provoked deep pain, repudiation and frustration in the Bolivian population; feeling to which I adhere, as the first president of my country, "emphasizes the president.
Arce has also informed the Pope that his government is working on "mechanisms to strengthen control and review of personal records" for the entry into Bolivia of new foreign Catholic clergy, with the aim of preventing these crimes from occurring. "The Bolivian State reserves the right to admit the entry of new foreign priests and religious into national territory who have this history of sexual abuse against minors," the letter stresses. The president affirms that he will maintain this future measure until "the revision of the agreements and conventions in force is proceeded, and the negotiation of the Agreement between the Plurinational State of Bolivia and the Holy See is concluded," in which, Arce specifies, it must include "precautions" that avoid new cases of abuses and their cover-up.
Other public institutions go further. Like the Bolivian attorney general's office, which proposes to "verify the situation and status" of the Jesuits in the country, especially in education, where the Society owns colleges and universities throughout the territory. "It cannot be that the schools and institutes that depend on the Church, and specifically on the Society of Jesus, continue as entities isolated from state control. [The Control] It must be full and transversal as for any private school, and that those prerogatives and absolute lack of control are left. "
Two days ago it was made public that the Pope has sent to La Paz one of his greatest experts in the fight against abuse, the Spanish priest Jordi Bertomeu, known for having participated in numerous missions in Latin America, such as in the cases of pedophilia of Father Maciel in the Legionaries of Christ or in the abuse scandal in the Chilean Church. which ended with the cessation of practically the entire ecclesial leadership of that country. Although the official idea – explained in a statement by the local ecclesial authorities – is that formation issues will be addressed and that the visit was scheduled, the gravity of the situation inevitably invites us to think of a more far-reaching work that was not foreseen before the scandal.