PUERTO RICO
Legal Examiner

Posted by Joseph H. Saunders
March 21, 2014

In Puerto Rico, Archbishop Roberto Gonzalez Nieves of San Juan and Bishop Daniel Fernandez Torres of Arecibo have handed over to civil authorities a group of priests accused of sexual abuse.

The Catholic Church on the island has long been criticized by victims of sexually abusive priests for shielding abusive priests, moving them from parish to parish rather than reporting them to police. The church has also always steadfastly refused to turn over records for prosecution or punish officials that covered up the crimes.

It what can be seen as dramatic turnaround by Archbishop Gonzalez Nieves, six cases of alleged sexual abuse of minors by priests were turned over to Puerto Rican prosecutors and he pledged “the full cooperation of the Archdiocese, regardless of whether the person who committed the abuse is a minister, employee or…