A new conviction for pedophilia hits the Catholic Church in Costa Rica

In Coronado that big hell in a small town still works. Located in the foothills of the mountains north of San José, the capital of Costa Rica, the municipality was the home of OJ, the young man who dared to denounce the priest who had sexually abused him in 2007, when at the age of 12 He was an altar boy in the town's neo-Gothic temple. That complaint was the trigger for a wave of harassment and rumors that included the falsehood that the boy was only taking revenge on the priest because he had been accused of stealing money from the parish. Years later, the courts have ruled in favor of the victim.

This was established this week by a criminal court in San José when it sentenced priest Manuel Guevara to 18 years in prison for sexual abuse against a minor. The sentence comes five years after the victim dared to take her case to court in the heat of a series of complaints that in 2019 unleashed a crisis in the Catholic Church until forcing the Episcopal Conference to apologize for its negligence.

Church of Coronado, in San José. Álvaro Murillo

It was in 2019 when the young man filed the criminal complaint and when the religious man was arrested. Everything happened while in the Vatican the Pope presided over a summit to make visible the global problem of pedophilia in the Church. In Costa Rica, the only confessional state in America, it has been a turbulent five-year period for the local Church, whose leadership was convicted in 2022 for covering up a prominent priest named Mauricio Víquez who is now serving prison for rape.

In these five years OJ waited for his case to progress in court without losing faith. He moved to another town to walk calmly down the street. He and his family were confident that punishment would come for Guevara, who had been detained after being separated from another parish, where he moved after the problems in Coronado. The Church first reported that the priest was leaving to attend to “personal responsibilities,” but a few days later it took a timid step further and admitted “alleged inappropriate behavior in relation to a minor,” although the complaint against him had been known internally for some time. the priest and even the accusation of another alleged victim whose court case did not prosper due to prescription.

Convinced that Guevara was also protected by his ecclesiastical superiors before 2019, OJ relied on the strength of the evidence and the defendant's erratic allegations. The sentence was finally read this Tuesday, in a unanimous ruling by the Criminal Court of the Second Judicial Circuit of San José. The priest was found guilty of six crimes of sexual abuse, which totals 36 years in prison, but due to procedural rules the sentence is 18 years. “I always had faith that this was going to be the sentence, but now I feel very relieved,” the young man told EL PAÍS, aware that the sentence can be appealed.

The sentence comes as a reminder to the Catholic Church that the “turbulence” of 2019 has not dissipated and that the image of a cover-up persists despite paying a considerable sum of money to the four victims to free the archbishop of legal charges. of San José, José Rafael Quirós. Guevara remains a priest, although without duties, while the Archdiocese awaits a resolution from Rome for a possible expulsion.

“The Church took a long time to react internally and wanted to buy time, perhaps so that my case could expire. “They did not act until they saw that I was able to file a complaint in the judicial system,” the victim added.

Guevara, 57, is now under police surveillance to prevent an escape, as Mauricio Víquez did when he learned of the complaints against him, until he was detained in Mexico and sent to Costa Rica in 2021 to face justice and receive a 20 year sentence for rape. He also served as a priest for years, despite internal complaints, until criminal lawsuits left no room for more and he was expelled.

“The canonical process of Father Manuel Guevara concluded all its stages in the Archdiocese of San José in 2019 and we are awaiting the resolution of the Holy See. At the moment, the precautionary measures of suspension of priestly ministry are maintained,” the Archdiocese answered briefly this week. The payment of compensation of about 10,000 dollars for moral damage was also known, a small sum for the victim and insignificant compared to the responsibility of the Church to which OJ continues to belong, who still trusts in the success of the internal campaign that the Pope fights against those who in 2019 he called “voracious wolves” of pedophilia.

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