ABUSE TRACKER

A digest of links to media coverage of clergy abuse. For recent coverage listed in this blog, read the full article in the newspaper or other media source by clicking “Read original article.” For earlier coverage, click the title to read the original article.

November 2, 2015

More leaks at Vatican? Authorities arrest two in latest probe

VATICAN CITY
Los Angeles Times

Tom Kington

A Spanish priest and an Italian laywoman hired as economic advisors by Pope Francis have been arrested by the Vatican on suspicion of leaking secret documents, days ahead of the publication of two books that promise to lift the lid on financial scandals at the Holy See.

Father Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, 54, the No. 2 at the Vatican’s Prefecture for Economic Affairs, and Francesca Chaouqui, a controversial 33-year-old public relations consultant, were arrested by Vatican police at the weekend, the Holy See said Monday. The arrests followed a months-long probe into the theft and leaking of private documents.

Both were appointed in 2013 by Francis to a short-lived commission advising on economic reform at the Vatican.

In a statement, the Vatican said that the alleged crimes were covered by a 2013 church law passed to crack down on leaks. Violation of the law could carry a prison term of as many as eight years.

The alleged thefts were one of the most serious scandals to hit the Vatican since 2012, when former Pope Benedict’s butler, Paolo Gabriele, was jailed for leaking private correspondence addressed to Benedict that discussed alleged corruption within the Vatican.

See the most-read stories this hour >>
The letters leaked by the butler, which some believe prompted Benedict’s resignation, were published by Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi, who will this week publish a follow-up, “Merchants in the Temple,” which is expected to detail skulduggery in the Vatican’s finances.

A second book by Italian journalist Emiliano Fittipaldi, also due out, promises to reveal luxurious living and overspending at the Vatican.

The Vatican did not directly link the arrests to the books, but referred to them in its statement, saying that “once again, as in the past, [the books] are the fruit of a serious betrayal of the pope’s trust.”

The two authors risked prosecution by the Vatican, added the statement, saying that “international cooperation” was not excluded, suggesting the Vatican could seek the help of Italian magistrates. The Vatican is an independent state with its own police force and judiciary.

“Publications of this kind do not contribute in any way to establish clarity and truth, but rather to create confusion, and partial and tendentious interpretations,” the Vatican said. “We must absolutely avoid the mistake of thinking that this is a way to help the mission of the pope.”

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Vatican arrests two over alleged leaks

VATICAN CITY
The Guardian (UK)

Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Rome
Monday 2 November 2015

The Vatican has arrested two members of a commission set up by Pope Francis to advise him on economic reforms on suspicion of leaking secret documents.

Monsignor Lucio Ángel Vallejo Balda, a high-ranking Spanish clergyman, and Francesca Chaouqui, an Italian laywoman and public relations expert, were arrested after a months-long investigation into the dissemination of “news and confidential documents” to two writers of forthcoming books, the Vatican said.

No further information about the nature of the documents was released. The Vatican described the leaks as a “serious betrayal of the trust bestowed by the pope”.

Balda and Chaouqui were members of a special commission appointed to address possible economic reforms of the Vatican. It has since been disbanded.

Vallejo Balda, 54, is believed to be the highest-ranking member of the Vatican’s central bureaucracy, known as the Curia, ever to have been arrested.

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Listening Session on New Archbishop Is Wednesday

MINNESOTA
University of St. Thomas

Archbishop Bernard Hebda, apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, will hold his eighth and final listening session at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 4, in Woulfe Alumni Hall to hear what people want to see in the next archbishop.

Hebda is coadjutor archbishop of Newark, New Jersey. Pope Francis appointed Hebda to his interim role in the Twin Cities after the resignation of Archbishop John Nienstedt in June, and he has held listening sessions since early October.

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NCR research: Costs of sex abuse crisis to US church underestimated

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Researchers find drop in giving in areas hit by sex abuse scandal
Editorial: The deep, lasting financial cost of sex abuse

Jack Ruhl Diane Ruhl | Nov. 2, 2015

The U.S. Catholic church has incurred nearly $4 billion in costs related to the priest sex abuse crisis during the past 65 years, according to an extensive NCR investigation of media reports, databases and church documents.

In addition, separate research recently published calculates that other scandal-related consequences such as lost membership and diverted giving has cost the church more than $2.3 billion annually for the past 30 years.

Between 1950 and August of this year, the church has paid out $3,994,797,060.10, NCR found.

That figure is based on a three-month investigation of data, including a review of more than 7,800 articles gleaned from LexisNexis Academic and NCR databases, as well as information from BishopAccountability.org and from reports from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Up until now, “nearly $3 billion” has been the most widely cited figure by media, academics and activists for the cost to the U.S. church for clergy sex abuse and its cover-up. NCR research shows that figure is too low, probably by as much as a billion dollars — and perhaps much more.

Making direct comparisons between NCR figures and official figures from the bishops’ conference is difficult, perhaps impossible, for a number of reasons:

* There are no uniform reporting standards for public disclosure of financial records for U.S. Catholic dioceses. For example, of the 197 dioceses and eparchies that are members of the U.S. bishops’ conference, NCR could find only 60 that had made some kind of public financial report available for 2014. Previous reporting (NCR, Feb. 27-March 12) found the quality of these financial disclosures varies dramatically. Very little information about how much a particular diocese spent on counseling for victims of abuse or for monitoring priest offenders can be found in these reports.

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SHINING THE LIGHT ON “SPOTLIGHT”

UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Bill Donohue

The movie “Spotlight” is bound to spark more conversation about the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. Unfortunately, much of what the American public knows about this issue is derived from the popular culture, something this film will only abet. Therefore, the time is ripe to revisit what the actual data on this subject reveals.

When the Boston Globe sent the nation reeling in 2002 with revelations of priestly sexual abuse, and the attendant cover-up, Catholics were outraged by the level of betrayal. This certainly included the Catholic League. The scandal cannot be denied. What is being denied, however, is the existence of another scandal—the relentless effort to keep the abuse crisis alive, and the deliberate refusal to come to grips with its origins. Both scandals deserve our attention.

Myth: The Scandal Never Ended

When interviewed about the scandal in 2002 by the New York Times, I said, “I am not the church’s water boy. I am not here to defend the indefensible.” In the Catholic League’s 2002 Annual Report, I even defended the media. “The Boston Globe, the Boston Herald, and the New York Times covered the story with professionalism,” I wrote.

A decade later things had changed. In the Catholic League’s 2011 Annual Report, I offered a critical assessment of the media. “In a nutshell,” I said, “what changed was this: in 2011, unlike what happened in 2002, virtually all the stories were about accusations against priests dating back decades, sometimes as long as a half-century ago. Keep in mind that not only were most of the priests old and infirm, many were dead; thus, only one side of the story could be told. Adding to our anger was the fact that no other institution, religious or secular, was being targeted for old allegations.”

It became clear that by 2011 we were dealing with two scandals, not one. Scandal I was internal—the church-driven scandal. This was the result of indefensible decisions by the clergy: predatory priests and their enabling bishops. Scandal II was external, the result of indefensible cherry-picking of old cases by rapacious lawyers and vindictive victims’ groups. They were aided and abetted by activists, the media, and Hollywood.

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Reporters Behind New “Spotlight” Movie Tell How They Exposed Priest Abuse

MASSACHUSETTS
Pro Publica

[with audio]

by Cynthia Gordy
ProPublica, Nov. 2, 2015

After a Boston priest was convicted of sexually abusing more than 100 children, a team of Boston Globe reporters published an investigation that shocked the city. The Globe’s investigative unit, known as the “Spotlight” team, revealed in 2002 that Catholic Church leaders knew about child abuse by dozens of priests for decades and covered it up, reassigning the abusers to new parishes while paying millions in settlements to a trail of victims. The new film Spotlight, in theaters on Nov. 6, chronicles the Pulitzer-winning investigation that exposed the scandal.

On this week’s podcast, we’re joined by four key players in the Globe’s investigation: reporters Walter “Robby” Robinson, Sacha Pfeiffer and Michael Rezendes, and deputy managing editor Ben Bradlee Jr. In a conversation with ProPublica editor-in-chief Stephen Engelberg, they take us inside their experience of reporting this story nearly 15 years ago and what it felt like seeing it depicted in a movie that sticks closely to the actual events.

Highlights from their conversation:

On making the drudgery of investigative journalism exciting for film

Sacha Pfeiffer: We created what we call our database of “bad priests,” where we tracked over a course of 20 years various priests and where they were assigned. If they were accused of abuse, they were yanked out and put on what’s called “sick leave,” which is a euphemism for sexual abuse. This was a tedious, monotonous three-plus weeks of losing our eyesight as we went through small type and the equivalent of an Archdiocesan phonebook. But the movie makes it look quite riveting. They’re good at showing the reality of the work but also dramatizing it for film. (1:34)

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Vatican Arrests Opus Dei Priest, Consultant in Leaks Probe

VATICAN CITY
Bloomberg

John Follain

November 2, 2015

Vatican police arrested a priest and a communications consultant in an investigation into the alleged leak of confidential documents, according to a statement from the Holy See.

The Vatican said Spanish Monsignor Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, a superior at the Prefecture for economic affairs, and Francesca Chaouqui, a public relations consultant, were questioned last weekend and arrested. Chaouqui was released on Monday because of “her collaboration with the investigations,” according to the statement.

Vallejo Balda and Chaouqui were both members of a commission created by Pope Francis to review the city-state’s economic and financial bodies.

The Roman Catholic movement Opus Dei, of which Vallejo Balda is a member, expressed its “surprise and pain” at the news. Its Rome headquarters said in a statement on its website that if the accusation was confirmed, this would be “particularly painful because of the harm caused to the Church.”

Chaouqui’s lawyer Giulia Bongiorno said that her client was back at home.

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Facing bombshell books, the Vatican retaliates first

VATICAN CITY
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor November 2, 2015

One of contemporary popular fiction’s best-loved characters is Jack Reacher, the former military policeman turned wandering problem-solver who’s the hero of a series of best-selling novels by Lee Child. Perhaps Reacher’s best-known maxim is, “Get your retaliation in first.”

If you know a fight is coming, in other words, don’t wait for the other guy to swing first. Take him off the table before he has the chance.

That appears to be the Vatican’s approach to two new blockbuster books containing leaked documents about the Vatican’s internal financial operations, set for release in the next few days.

Those books are “Avarice: The Papers that Reveal Wealth, Scandals and Secrets in the Church of Francis” by Italian journalist Emiliano Fittipaldi, and “Via Crucis,” by Gianluigi Nuzzi, the Italian journalist at the heart of the Vatileaks affair under Benedict XVI three years ago.

Both promise to reveal scores of previously secret Vatican documents, few of which are likely to make the Vatican look especially good.

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UGA law school alumnus funds nation’s first child sexual abuse victim clinic

GEORGIA
University of Georgia

November 2, 2015

Athens, Ga. – The University of Georgia School of Law will be the first in the nation to have an experiential learning opportunity dedicated solely to the assistance of victims of child sexual abuse.

The Wilbanks Child Endangerment and Sexual Exploitation Clinic will open January 2016. Initial funding for the clinic has been donated by Georgia Law alumnus Marlan B. Wilbanks, who received his Juris Doctor in 1986. It is expected that many of the clinic’s first clients will be those now eligible to bring civil charges against their abusers as a result of the passage of House Bill 17, the “Hidden Predator Act,” by the Georgia legislature.

“The act of sexually abusing a child is the attempted murder of a soul. I can see no more important task than protecting those in our society who too often have no voice,” said Wilbanks, a longtime advocate for child protection issues. “The underlying goal of this clinic will be to educate, prepare and sensitize the next generation of lawyers as to the ways victims can be protected. On behalf of the children and families who would otherwise not be able to avail themselves of legal assistance, I applaud the University of Georgia School of Law for its willingness to be the first law school in the nation to draw a line in the sand against child sexual abuse.”

Wilbanks, who was recognized by the Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund as the 2014 Lawyer of the Year, is the second Georgia Law alumnus involved in the DaVita Healthcare Partners false claims settlement agreement earlier this year who has chosen to make a significant investment in training for future attorneys.

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Lombardi: statement on arrest of former COSEA members

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Vatican City authorities detained and arrested two people over the weekend, in connection with the unauthorized sharing of confidential documents. The two persons were the cleric, Msgr. Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, and Dr. Francesca Chaouqui, who in the past were respectively secretary and member of the COSEA (Commission for Reference on the Organization of the Economic-Administrative Structure of the Holy See), established by the Pope in July 2013 and subsequently dissolved after the completion of its mandate. At the time the statement was issued, Dr. Chaouqui had been released from custody.

Below, please find Vatican Radio’s English translation of the communiqué from the Press Office of the Holy See regarding the developments

*********************************
As part of criminal investigations carried out by the Vatican Gendarmerie, which have been underway for several months, regarding the unauthorized removal and sharing of confidential documents, two people were summoned for questioning this past Saturday and Sunday [Oct. 31 and Nov. 1] on the basis of the evidence gathered and the indications thereof.

The two persons were the cleric, Msgr. Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, and Dr. Francesca Chaouqui, who in the past were respectively secretary and member of the COSEA (Commission for Reference on the Organization of the Economic-Administrative Structure of the Holy See), established by the Pope in July 2013 and subsequently dissolved after the completion of its mandate.

Following the results of the interrogation these two people were held under arrest in view of the continuation of the investigation.

Today [Monday] the Office of the Promoter of Justice [the Vatican prosecutor] has, in the persons of Prof. Adv. Gian Piero Milano, Promoter of Justice, and Prof. Avv. Roberto Zannotti, Adjunct Promoter of Justice, confirmed the arrest of the aforesaid. The Promotor of Justice has taken the further step of releasing Dr. Chaouqui, against whom there were seen no evident reasons to keep her in custody, and also in view of her cooperation with the investigation.

The position of Msgr. Vallejo Balda remains under consideration of the Office of the Promoter of Justice.

It must be remembered that divulging confidential documents is a crime under the criminal code of the Vatican City State (Law IX, art. 10 and art. 116 bis c.p. – passed 13 July, 2013)

As for the books announced for the next few days it should be said clearly once again on this occasion as in the past, that they are the result of a serious betrayal of the trust placed in certain individuals by the Pope, and, as far as the authors are concerned, of an operation to draw advantage from a gravely unlawful act, i.e. the delivery of confidential documents, an operation, the legal and possibly penal implications of which are currently the object of study in view of possible further measures by the Prosecutor’s Office, which will resort, if necessary, to international cooperation.

Publications of this kind do not contribute in any way to the establishment of clarity and truth, but rather to the creation of confusion and partial and tendentious interpretations. We must absolutely avoid the mistake of thinking that this is a way to help the mission of the Pope.

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Vatican arrests two alleged moles behind books on money scandals

VATICAN CITY
Crux

By Inés San Martín
Vatican correspondent November 2, 2015

ROME — The Vatican on Monday announced interrogations and subsequent arrests of a cleric and of a laywoman, former insiders accused of passing confidential information on financial affairs to Italian journalists.

Spanish Monsignor Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda and Italian Francesca Chaouqui, who both served on a now-defunct financial reform commission, were identified by Vatican investigators as potential sources of leaked documents for two new books, set to hit the shelves in Italy this week, about Vatican finances.

Advance PR materials for both books have promised scores of previously secret Vatican documents, outlining various financial scandals.

According to a Vatican spokesman, both Vallejo and Chaouqui were called in on Saturday to the Vatican to testify, after “months of criminal investigation” about the “removal and dissemination of confidential documents.”

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Vatican Arrests 2 in Connection With Leaked Documents

VATICAN CITY
The New York Times

By ELISABETTA POVOLEDONOV. 2, 2015

ROME — The Vatican announced on Monday that two members of a commission set up by Pope Francis to study financial overhauls at the Holy See had been arrested on suspicion of leaking confidential documents to journalists.

The arrests come just days before the publication of two books — “Avarizia,” or “Avarice,” by Emiliano Fittipaldi, and “Merchants in the Temple” by Gianluigi Nuzzi — purporting to raise the lid on old and new scandals at the Vatican.

They also immediately added to the intrigue and infighting that appear to be intensifying around Francis, whose push for a more open Roman Catholic Church has met with stiffening resistance from traditionalists within the Vatican and beyond.

The two people arrested — Msgr. Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda and Francesca Chaouqui, a laywoman — were taken into custody by the Vatican police over the weekend, the Vatican said in a statement. Ms. Chaouqui was released on Monday after she agreed to cooperate with the investigation, the Vatican said.

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Vatican arrests two advisers over alleged links to leaked documents

VATICAN CITY
Washington Post

By Anthony Faiola November 2

BERLIN — The Vatican on Monday said it had arrested two members of a papal reform commission on suspicion of leaking classified information, opening a week of intrigue as the Holy See braces for two potentially damaging books purporting to reveal inside corruption.

The upcoming books — including one by Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi whose 2012 book on a so-called “Vatileaks” scandal rocked the papacy of Pope Benedict XVI — are set to offer fresh revelations into fraud and mismanagement as well as challenges to Pope Francis’s push for reforms.

In a statement, the Vatican appeared to tie any bombshells in the upcoming books to two sources: Spanish priest Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, former secretary of Francis’s financial and bureaucratic reform committee, and Francesca Chaouqui, an Italian public relations executive tapped in 2013 to bring a touch of modern thinking to the Holy See and who became known in some circles as the “the pope’s lobbyist.”

The Vatican said both suspects were brought in for questioning over the weekend, and were later held under arrest. Chaouqui was released on Monday after pledging to cooperate with the investigation, the Vatican said. Balda, however, was still being detained.

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BREAKING: Two Arrested Over Leak of Vatican Documents

VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Register

by Edward Pentin 11/02/2015

A monsignor and a woman who served on a financial reform commission set up by Pope Francis were arrested over the weekend suspected of leaking confidential information and documents.

A Vatican statement issued Monday said that Vatican prosecutors upheld the arrests of Francesca Chaouqui and Msgr. Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda. Chaouqui has since been freed because of her cooperation with the investigation, a Vatican spokesman said.

Both served on a now defunct commission, and Msgr. Vallejo Balda continues to work as a Vatican employee and secretary of COSEA, a body Francis set up in 2013 to advise the Pope on reform of Vatican finances.

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Prelate, ‘sex bomb’ arrested in new Vatileaks scandal

VATICAN CITY
GlobalPost

Agence France-Presse on Nov 2, 2015

The Vatican has arrested a Spanish prelate and social media expert for allegedly stealing and leaking classified documents in the second such scandal to hit the secretive institution in three years.

Monsignor Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, 54, who served on a special commission set up by Pope Francis to advise him on economic reform within the Vatican, was arrested along with a second member of the commission, Francesca Chaouqui, who has been dubbed a “sex bomb”.

The arrests were part of a several months-long investigation into the “misappropriation and disclosure of classified documents and information”.

They followed Italian media reports at the weekend that Vatican police were investigating the attempted theft of a laptop belonging to Libero Milone, the head of the city state’s new finance office.

Both Vallejo Balda and social media expert Chaouqui, 33, were arrested but she was released by Vatican prosecutor Roberto Zannotti on Monday because she agreed to collaborate with investigators and was not considered a flight risk.

Chaouqui’s appointment to the economic committee, which was handpicked by the pope, caused no little embarrassment in 2013 when it emerged the woman dubbed a “sex bomb” by the Italian media had been highly critical of the Vatican on Twitter.

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Researchers find drop in giving in areas hit by sex abuse scandal

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Vinnie Rotondaro | Nov. 2, 2015

Think of a map of Catholic America pockmarked with the equivalent of radiation zones, areas where the previously unseen consequences of the sex abuse crisis are beginning to become apparent.

The fallout? Thousands of Catholic abuse scandals in parish communities across the U.S. leading to direct, localized disaffiliation from the church, in turn precipitating substantial decline in charitable giving, affecting not only Catholic-run social service operations, but all social service operations in the scandalized communities.

This is the alarming new finding of an academic paper titled “Losing My Religion: The Effects of Religious Scandals on Religious Participation and Charitable Giving,” published in the September issue of the Journal of Public Economics.

Written by two Chilean-born economists, Nicolas L. Bottan and Ricardo Perez-Truglia, the paper identifies more than 3,000 scandal events throughout the United States from 1980 to 2010 and tracks how the scandals have affected religious affiliation and charitable giving.

It confirms a widely held belief among many social scientists that a causal relationship exists between religious affiliation and charitable giving. Indeed, the paper states that the “decline in charitable giving is an order of magnitude larger than the direct costs of the scandals to the Catholic churches (e.g., lawsuits).”

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EDITORIAL: The deep, lasting financial cost of sex abuse

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

NCR Editorial Staff | Nov. 2, 2015

The Catholic church has been deeply wounded by the abuse of minors by clergy and its cover-up. The personal tragedy of damaged individuals, lost lives and lost faith has been well-documented in these pages. The subsequent loss of trust in the institution has been documented here, too. But documentation about the actual financial cost of this crisis has been elusive.

With the publication of research by Jack Ruhl and Diane Ruhl, we have a dollar figure that we can pin on the crisis: $3.99 billion — at least. The Ruhls call their numbers “solid” but also “a very conservative estimate.”

Since 2004, the U.S. bishops’ National Review Board and their office of Child and Youth Protection have issued annual reports that capture some of that data, but we were never convinced those told a complete story. As the story points out, data from the bishops is self-reported and unaudited, and cooperation with the reports has never been 100 percent, especially in the early years and especially from religious orders. The Ruhls believe they have identified a gap of nearly a billion dollars between what they found and what the bishops have reported. (See story)

Their research also turned up reports of documents destroyed and hidden costs of the crisis. How much, for example, have bishops spent through their various state Catholic conferences lobbying against extending statute of limitations laws in childhood sex abuse cases? Those kinds of figures are nearly impossible to find.

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National–New studies show Catholic abuse crisis costs $4 billion

UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

for immediate release: Monday, November 2

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those abused by Priests (314 566 9790, davidgclohessy@gmail.com

New studies show Catholic abuse crisis costs $4 billion

Two solid pieces of new research show that the cost of the Catholic church abuse and cover up crisis is at least $4 billion, much higher than bishops have previously disclosed. We’re not surprised. If powerful men will hide clergy sex crimes and cover ups, they’ll surely hide the costs of that wrongdoing too. …

We urge Catholics and former Catholics who have stopped donating to church officials give instead to organizations that expose child sex crimes, not institutions that enable child sex crimes.

And we urge everyone to remember who is responsible for this horrific pain and high cost: selfish bishops who fixate on advancing their clerical careers rather than protecting their vulnerable flocks.

A few years ago, Catholic researchers admitted that some 100,000 boys and girls in the US have been sexually assaulted by priests. We believe that’s a low estimate. Still, that’s the figure we beg citizens and Catholics to remember: the number of lives that have been devastated is more important than the number of dollars that have been paid out.

In the National Catholic Reporter, Diane and Jack Ruhl report that

–So far this year, US Catholic officials have made at least seven confidential settlements with victims.

–“There are no uniform reporting standards for public disclosure of financial records for U.S. Catholic dioceses. (Of) the 197 dioceses. . .NCR could find only 60 that had made some kind of public financial report available for 2014.”

Also in the NCR, economist Ricardo Perez-Truglia says that “Some priests are responsible for a very, very large cut” in charitable giving. That’s misleading. The blame lies just as squarely on the predators’ church supervisors and colleagues who often actively conceal or passively ignore the crimes.

Some will say that Catholic officials must “rebuild trust” with lay people. We disagree. Horrific abuse and deliberate cover ups of clergy sex crimes are still happening. So the church hierarchy – and the rest of us – must focus first on exposing child sex crimes and deterring cover ups. When that’s happened – and we’re a long ways off still – then and only then can “restoring trust” among adults begin to matter.

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Vatican arrests 2 people in latest probe of leaked documents

VATICAN CITY
Washington Times

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican said Monday it has arrested a monsignor and a woman in the latest probe of leaks of confidential documents at the Holy See.

It said in a statement that the two had been interrogated over the weekend, and that Holy See prosecutors upheld the arrests.

The woman was identified as Francesca Chaouqui and the monsignor as the Rev. Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda. The monsignor is a Vatican employee while Chaouqui had served on a commission set up by Pope Francis in 2013 as part of his drive to reform the Holy See’s finances.

A Vatican spokesman said Vallejo Balda was being held in a jail cell in Vatican City, and that Chaouqui was allowed to go free because she cooperated in the probe.

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Vatican makes two arrests in investigation over leaked documents

VATICAN CITY
Catholic Herald (UK)

The Vatican said Monday it has arrested a monsignor and a woman in the latest probe of leaks of confidential documents at the Holy See.

It said in a statement that the two had been interrogated over the weekend, and that Holy See prosecutors upheld the arrests.

The woman was identified as Francesca Chaouqui and Mgr Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda. The monsignor is a Vatican employee and secretary of COSEA, the body set up in 2013 to advise the Pope over the reform of Vatican finances, which Chaouqui was also a member of.

A Vatican spokesman said Mgr Vallejo Balda was being held in a jail cell in Vatican City, and that Chaouqui was allowed to go free because she co-operated in the probe.

Leaks of confidential documents from Benedict XVI’s papers in 2012 led to the arrest and trial of a papal butler and a Vatican computer technician. A 2013 Vatican law made it a crime to leak confidential documents and information.

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Vatican arrests 2 for betraying “Pope’s trust”

VATICAN CITY
CBS News

ROME — The Vatican’s own police force has arrested a monsignor and a laywoman in its latest probe into the leak of confidential documents.

The Vatican said both people were members of the commission established on Pope Francis’ order to investigate the Church’s finances. They were being held on suspicion of leaking confidential documents to the media.

A statement released by the Vatican identified the suspects as Spanish priest Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda and Francesca Chaouqui. Chaouqui was released Monday, the statement said, and was “cooperating with the investigation. Balda remained in custody.

The arrests took place over the weekend but only became common public knowledge on Monday, two days before the slated release of a pair of new books touting new revelations of past misdeeds at the Vatican.

One of the two books is written by Gianluigi Nuzzi, whose previous book “His Holiness” contained private documents stolen from Pope Benedict’s desk by his butler.

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Vatican Arrests Spanish Priest, Laywoman On Suspicion Of Leaking Documents At Holy See

VATICAN CITY
International Business Times

By Morgan Winsor @MorganWinsorIBT on November 02 2015

The Vatican said Monday it has arrested two members of a commission set up by Pope Francis to review Church reforms. Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, a Spanish priest, and Francesca Chaouqui, a laywoman, were taken into custody over the weekend on suspicion of leaking confidential documents at the Holy See, according to Reuters.

The two were interrogated over the weekend and Chaouqui was released on her own recognizance after she agreed to cooperate with the investigation, the Vatican said in a statement Monday, according to the Associated Press. The arrests happened days before two Italian authors were slated to publish books that are expected to disclose new revelations of past scandals in the Vatican.

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Vatican arrests Spanish prelate over leaks: official

VATICAN CITY
Bangkok Post

WRITER: AFP

VATICAN CITY – The Vatican said Monday a Spanish prelate had been arrested for allegedly stealing and leaking classified documents in the second such scandal to hit the secretive institution in three years.

Monsignor Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, who served on a special commission set up by Pope Francis to advise him on economic reform within the Vatican, was arrested as part of an investigation into the “misappropriation and disclosure of classified documents and information”.

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Vatileaks 2, due arresti: mons. Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda e Francesca Immacolata Chaouqui

CITTA’ DEL VATICANO
Giornalettismo

Fuga di documenti riservati della Santa Sede. In Vaticano sono stati arrestai monsignor Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, spagnolo, già segretario della Prefettura degli Affari economici e della Commissione di studio sulle attività economiche e amministrative, Cosea, e Francesca Immacolata Chaouqui, anche lei componente della Cosea.

VATILEAKS, CHAOQUI ARRESTATA E LIBERATA

Per quanto riguarda Chaouqui, il pm ha «convalidato l’arresto», ma la donna è stata riemssa in libertà perché «non sono più state ravvisate esigenze cautelari, anche a motivo della sua collaborazione alle indagini». Questa la nota rilasciata dalla sala stampa vaticana:

Nel quadro di indagini di polizia giudiziaria svolte dalla Gendarmeria vaticana ed avviate da alcuni mesi a proposito di sottrazione e divulgazione di notizie e documenti riservati, sabato e domenica scorsi sono state convocate due persone per essere interrogate sulla base degli elementi raccolti e delle evidenze raggiunte.

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Vatican arrests priest, laywoman suspected of leaking confidential documents

VATICAN CITY
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

November 2, 2015

Reuters

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican said today that two members of a commission that Pope Francis set up to study Church reforms had been arrested on suspicion of leaking confidential documents to the media.

Spanish priest Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, number two at the Vatican’s Prefecture for Economic Affairs, and Italian laywoman Francesca Chaouqui, a public relations expert, were arrested over the weekend, a statement said.

Chaouqui was released on Monday after she agreed to cooperate with the investigation, it said.

Both were members of a commission that Francis set up shortly after his election in 2013 to advise him on economic and bureaucratic reforms in the Vatican administration, or Curia.

The commission completed its work last year and handed its report to the pope.

The twin arrests came just days before two Italian authors were due to release books that their publishers say will reveal new evidence of past scandals in the Vatican.

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Doing the Right Thing

UNITED STATES
The New Yorker

BY ANTHONY LANE

The title of the new Tom McCarthy film, “Spotlight,” refers to the investigative section of the Boston Globe. The main action begins in 2001, with the arrival of a new editor, Marty Baron (Liev Schreiber), lately of the Miami Herald. He has lunch with the head of Spotlight, Walter Robinson (Michael Keaton), who tells him, “We’re trolling around for our next story,” adding that a year or more can be spent on a single case. Recently, the paper ran a column about a local priest who was charged with abusing children; Baron wonders if this was an isolated incident, or if there might be more to dig up. The movie, to put it mildly, has news for us: there’s more.

Robinson has a crew of three at his behest: Matty Carroll (Brian d’Arcy James), a quiet family man with a mournful mustache; Mike Rezendes (Mark Ruffalo), pushy and restive, the kind of guy who will never stroll across a street when he can hustle and barge; and Sacha Pfeiffer (Rachel McAdams). Any film that can make McAdams look resolutely unglamorous is flashing its heavyweight credentials, and “Spotlight” gets bonus points for giving her a thrilling scene in which she struggles to load a dishwasher. The movie adheres to the downbeat and the dun, with cheerful colors banished from our sight. The exception is a youthful choir, chanting “Silent Night” in a church ablaze with the trappings of Christmas. Even then, we see Rezendes watching, with a sour expression on his mug, and clearly thinking, Are these kids safe?

He has a point. The film is a saga of expansion, paced with immense care, demonstrating how the reports of child abuse by Catholic clergy slowly broadened and unfurled; by the time the paper’s exposés were first published, in 2002, Spotlight had uncovered about seventy cases in Boston alone. (In a devastating coda, McCarthy fills the screen with a list of other American cities, and of towns around the world, where similar misdeeds have been revealed.) The telling of the tale is doubly old-fashioned. First, there are shots of presses rolling and spiffy green trucks carrying bales of the Globe onto the streets; we could be in a cinema in 1945. Second, the events take place in an era when the Internet still seems an accessory rather than a primary tool. As the journalists comb through Massachusetts Church directories, looking for disgraced men of God who were put on sick leave or discreetly transferred to another parish, we get closeups of rulers moving down lines of text. Don’t expect “Spotlight” to play at an IMAX theatre anytime soon.

On balance, this arrant unhipness is a good thing. So crammed are the details of the inquiry, and so delicately must the topic of abuse be handled, that a more intrepid visual manner might have thrown the movie off track, and one of its major virtues is what’s not there: no creepy flashbacks of prowling priests, or—as in the prelude to Clint Eastwood’s “Mystic River”—of children in the vortex of peril. Everything happens in the here and now, not least the recitation of the there and then. You sense the tide of the past rushing in most fiercely during some of the plainest scenes, as Globe staffers listen to victims like Joe (Michael Cyril Creighton) and Patrick (Jimmy LeBlanc) explain what they underwent decades before. They are grown men, but they are drowning souls. Boldest of all is the brief appearance of Richard O’Rourke as Ronald Paquin, a retired priest, who answers the door to Pfeiffer and answers her questions with the kindliest of smiles. “Sure, I fooled around, but I never felt gratified myself,” he says, as if arguing the finer points of doctrine.

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Keeping the spotlight on the Catholic Church

MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By Adrian Walker GLOBE COLUMNIST NOVEMBER 02, 2015

Terry Donilon, an affable man who is the spokesman for the Archdiocese of Boston, audibly gasped when I asked what I considered a fair question:

“How much abuse do you think still exists in the Archdiocese of Boston?”

Donilon caught his breath and responded: “We think we have the safest entity in the entire Commonwealth,” he said. “Now, I’m not saying someone couldn’t still come forward with a claim from 30 years ago. That could happen. But we believe there is zero abuse going on. None.”

The question hadn’t been intended as a provocation. It had been on my mind since I attended a screening of “Spotlight,” the new movie depicting the Globe Spotlight Team’s 2002 coverage of the clergy abuse scandal. Over the course of its reporting, the paper found that roughly 250 priests in the archdiocese had molested children, often with the protection of Cardinal Bernard Law. It unleashed a wave of reporting by other news organizations that found major abuse scandals in other cities and many foreign countries as well.

The cases stretched back decades. So did the efforts of the church hierarchy to keep the scandal under wraps. The city was rocked by the revelations, and so was the church itself, internationally. Law resigned and was replaced by Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, who pledged to heal the damage.

The reporting prompted major changes. The Legislature quickly passed a long-pending law to make church officials mandatory reporters of sexual abuse. The church sold property to pay victims compensation for the abuse they had suffered. The sales included the Cardinal’s ornate residence on Lake Street. The archdiocese adopted a “zero tolerance” policy toward abuse and trained church officials to recognize, and report, abuse.

But victims and advocates say the reforms have not gone far enough. While Boston, under a microscope, took many concrete steps, more needs to be done, they say.

“In general I think that there’s been tons of policies and procedures and protocols that have largely amounted to public relations,” said David Clohessy, the executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP). “This will continue as long as the fundamental and nearly unlimited power of O’Malley and his brother bishops remains in place, and it certainly does.”

One change advocates continue to push is extending the statute of limitations, so victims have a longer time to bring legal action against abusers. That has been a major issue in cases here and elsewhere, because traumatized victims commonly come forward years after their abuse has taken place. Caps on damages in suits against charities are outdated relics as well and need to be raised.

If anyone thinks the scandal is all in the past, they are mistaken. Just this year, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis was criminally indicted for failing to protect children, and a bishop in Kansas City resigned after being convicted of a misdemeanor for negligently handling a case of abuse. While he no longer heads a diocese, he’s still a bishop, a prince of the church. Some prince.

O’Malley chairs a 17-member Vatican commission to address clergy abuse worldwide, and Pope Francis has also approved the creation of a tribunal that is charged with holding bishops accountable for failing to act on abuse. But skeptics aren’t sure either body has done much. Given the church’s track record, their skepticism is earned.

“There is a lot that needs to be done, and as far as I can see that commission has done nothing,” said Ann Hagan Webb of SNAP, the survivors’ group.

By its nature, sexual abuse is not the kind of problem that is ever “solved;” it will take constant vigilance to keep at bay the tragedies “Spotlight” captures. I want to believe that Donilon is right about the lack of abuse in Boston. But the sad reality is that there will never be a safe time to declare victory.

Adrian Walker is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at walker@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter@Adrian_Walker.

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The true story behind that Catholic priest ‘rehab house’ in ‘Spotlight’

MASSACHUSETTS
Boston.com

NOVEMBER 2, 2015

BY CHARLOTTE WILDER @THEWILDERTHINGS

There’s a scene in the movie Spotlight when Boston Globe reporter Matt Carroll, played by actor Brian d’Arcy James, realizes that a “rehab facility” for priests accused of sexual abuse is located around the corner from his own house.

“Oh, s–t,” Carroll says in the movie. Which is what he said in real life when he made the discovery in his West Roxbury home 14 years ago.

“I’m not exactly sure what the script said,” Carroll said. “But as they were filming, Brian (d’Arcy James) said, ‘What did you actually say when you realized [that house] was around the corner?’ And I said, ‘I probably said oh, s–t.’ And that’s the line they used in the movie.”

While his exclamation is accurate, Carroll said the rest of the scene isn’t totally true. The house that Carroll discovered wasn’t actually a rehab facility. It was the home of Father John J. Geoghan, a priest accused of sexually assaulting more than 130 boys. Geoghan was eventually convicted of a single count of molesting a boy at a public swimming pool and later murdered by his prison cellmate.

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Jon O’Brien: “The Catholic Church has an obsession with sexuality”

UNITED STATES
El Pais (Spain)

MARÍA R. SAHUQUILLO Brussels 2 NOV 2015

Jon O’Brien believes that the Catholic Church’s hierarchy is drawing further away from its followers and social reality – above all when it comes to sexual and reproductive rights.

The 50-year-old Irish Catholic, who is president of the US organization Catholics for Choice, believes in a secular state, and has severely criticized the Vatican for its treatment of women and homosexuals.

Question. Do you think Catholic Church officials are successfully taking on the challenge of adapting to the diversity of their believers in today’s society?

Answer. There was a great theologian who once said: “Catholicism is defined by unity and diversity.” In other words, this is not a monolithic Church. When I go to Mass on Sunday and I look around me, I see over there two gay men who’ve been in a relationship for a long time. Over on my right hand side I see two gay women who’ve adopted a child. There is also a couple who have divorced and been remarried. All of us are using birth-control methods, and many women have had abortions. This is the reality of the Catholic Church today. The Church is not a building somewhere in Rome; it’s not a building in Madrid. The Church is all of the people and the people as we are manifesting ourselves today have a very different sexual aspect than what the hierarchy has emphasized.

All of us are using birth control methods, and many women have had abortions. This is the reality of the Catholic Church today ”

Q. Do its doctrines correspond to reality?

A. It seemed as though the last two papacies, John Paul II and Pope Benedict, were very focused on the pelvic zone, very focused on our genitalia, and very focused on adherence to a rule. No matter where you go, if you ask Catholics what they believe, if you ask Catholics what they do, it’s very different than what they do in the hierarchy. I think that’s the reality of the Church. My biggest problem is that they have failed us as Catholics to follow them. And they do not represent, I would argue, we Catholic people – they represent themselves. The Bishops now go to Congress in the United States, they go to the UN, and they go to the government in Spain, and they try to convince them to turn their theology into law that doesn’t represent us.

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SNAP Update: A “Shout Out”–and A Challenge–to Prosecutors

MISSOURI
Hamilton and Griffin on Rights

Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Last week, a Missouri prosecutor did something I’d never seen before. His courage prompted me to think about how district attorneys handle child sex abuse cases, especially involving influential institutions and oppressive cultures.

My conclusion: prosecutors deserve both praise and prodding. Too often, they seem to play it safe, pursue only the low hanging fruit and carefully avoid confronting powerful organizations. But increasingly, some of them seem to be acting with more creativity and vigor. They deserve recognition for doing so.

So first, the praise:

In Platte County Missouri, after two hours of police questioning, Darren L. Padden pled guilty to sexually assaulting a girl 200 and 300 times over a decade, starting when she was four.

Sadly but not surprisingly, almost 20 adults in the community publicly rallied to Padden’s side. Here’s the shocking part though: The local district attorney called them out by name.

Upset by such callousness, prosecutor Eric Zahnd sent out a new release. He blasted these irresponsible individuals for adding to the now 18 year old victim’s pain by writing letters or testifying on behalf of the admitted predator. And Zahnd named each one of them: a local school board member, a former bank president, a former county official, a female church elder, a male church trustee, a nurse and two ex-teachers and two ex-school district employees. (Their names are listed at the end of this blog.)

So again, kudos to prosecuting attorney Eric Zahnd. Thanks to him, a serial predator is behind bars and a girl is no longer being assaulted. And thanks to him, many in northwest Missouri now know who sides with predators and against victims. Hopefully, others who are tempted to back a child molester – and hurt a victim – will think twice before minimizing horrific crimes, helping sick predators and hurting already-wounded victims.

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Survivors Of Clergy Sex Abuse Screen ‘Spotlight’ Film

MASSACHUSETTS
WBUR

BOSTON Survivors of the Boston clergy sex abuse scandal are praising “Spotlight,” the new film that details The Boston Globe’s investigation into the abuse and its cover-up.

Many of those abused by priests gathered for a private screening in Boston Thursday night, ahead of the movie’s public release next week.

One word seemed to come to mind for survivors after seeing the film: validation.

“First of all, it’s very validating for any victim, especially from this area,” said David Lewcon, of Uxbridge.

He saw the movie for the first time at the Regal Fenway theater Thursday night. The screening was closed to the media, and organizers kept the location secret out of respect for those in attendance.

“There are a lot of moments in the movie, I mean, I had my tissue in my pocket and used it quite often just to wipe my eyes because it just brought out the emotion of the moment and what I’ve been experiencing most of my life,” Lewcon said.

As buzz for the movie spreads around the city, an anti-abuse group called on the Boston Archdiocese to require church staff to watch the film.

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Catholics protest outside archbishop’s birthday gala

GUAM
KUAM

By Sabrina Salas Matanane

It’s clear the Catholic Church remains divided in Guam. Those who attended a birthday fundraiser held in Tumon, were greeted by a stream of protestors upset with the archbishop.

Inside the Hyatt-the sweet sound of jazz music fills the room. Outside a much different tune.

Teri Untalan said, “He’s got a gala in their for his pseudo-seminary.

Inside: precious items up for silent auction. The archbishop said, “They will announce it as well as other items out there that you may see icons, statutes, figurines whatever.”

Outside: picket signs of protestors vocal about their discontent. “Just get him out of here, we just want him out,” said protesters.

Untalan was among a group of 50 members of the Catholic Church, that are part of the Laity Forward Movement Group, upset with Archbishop Anthony Apuron. As he celebrated his 70th birthday inside the Hyatt Sunday night, they stood outside in protest of the $200 a plate birthday fundraiser .

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Protesters Call for Archbishop’s Resignation, Call Actions “Heresy”

GUAM
Pacific News Center

[with video]

Written by Janela Carrera

Some members of the catholic church held a protest in front of the Hyatt Hotel Sunday evening to coincide with Archbishop Anthony Apuron’s benefit event also held at the Hyatt.

Guam – Picketers staged a protest outside the Hyatt Hotel last night calling for the resignation of Archbishop Anthony Apuron who was hosting a benefit dinner at the hotel.

The protest was organized by a group of members of the catholic church who have been holding protests almost on a monthly basis.

This time, the message was stronger than ever. In addition to expressing dismay at the archbishop’s decision to remove two beloved priests from their duties, as well as the controversial alleged turnover of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary to a third party, organizers of yesterday’s protest say they’ve finally had it and want the archbishop to step down.

Teri Untalan is a spokesperson for last night’s protest. “We are at this point just asking the archbishop to restore these priests to their parishes, return the Yona property that he stole from the catholics of Guam and resign. We are not looking for reconciliation at this point. We are just asking him to resign from his position. We have no confidence in him and we feel that the only solution when you have no confidence in your leader is to step down,” Untalan says.

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Former Brisbane students come forward to royal commission into abuse

AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

November 2, 2015

Jorge Branco
Journalist

More former students of one of Queensland’s most prestigious schools have come forward with complaints of abuse at the hands of a disgraced paedophile former school counsellor.

As the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse prepared to hear stories from abuse victims at both Brisbane Grammar School and St Paul’s School over the next two weeks, BGS confirmed the inquiry had caused more victims to come out of the woodwork.

“The work of the Royal Commission has already encouraged others to come forward, and we are glad that they have now chosen to do so,” the school posted to Facebook on Friday.

“The School has already started to engage with them, as we have done with many others to date, with a response built on a personal apology, counselling and mediation.”

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Child sex inquiry: ‘Skippy’ victims may be in hundreds

AUSTRALIA
The Australian

NOVEMBER 2, 2015

Michael McKenna
Reporter
Brisbane

The victims of notorious pedophile Kevin “Skippy’’ Lynch may be in the hundreds, with new ­evidence given to the royal commission into child sexual abuse about the unknown extent of his private “relaxation sessions’’ with students.

Lynch’s appointment diaries from his almost 10 years as a counsellor at St Paul’s Anglican school in Brisbane have emerged, showing hundreds of students were booked for regular visits to his locked rooms up until his arrest and suicide in 1997.

At least 100 boys are known to have been abused in the ­sessions by Lynch at Brisbane Grammar School, where he worked between 1974 and 1988, and later at St Paul’s.

It is understood the appointment diaries have never been handed over to authorities, with police closing their covert operation soon after Lynch, 64, gassed himself in a car after he was charged with seven counts of ­indecent dealing with a student.

The royal commission is understood to have unearthed evidence of inaction over complaints and a subsequent cover-up of Lynch’s offending over decades. Two weeks of hearings will begin in Brisbane tomorrow, after the commission said in September that it was reopening the Lynch case and that of Gregory Robert Knight, who taught at St Paul’s in the late 1980s and early 90s and was convicted of child abuse in 2005.

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November 1, 2015

VATICANO, VIOLATO IL COMPUTER DEL REVISORE GENERALE. “NO COMMENT” DELLA SANTA SEDE

CIUDAD DEL VATICANO
Rai News

31 ottobre 2015

Un episodio che mostra il riemergere di un nuovo clima di “veleni” e sospetti, quasi una nuova stagione di “corvi”, come nella non rimpianta era-Vatileaks. In Vaticano è stato violato il computer del revisore generale Libero Milone, 67 anni, il professionista scelto da papa Francesco nel giugno scorso con il compito di supervisione e controllo sui conti e i bilanci di tutti gli organismi, gli uffici e le istituzioni della Santa Sede. Insomma, su tutta la finanza vaticana.

La notizia, anticipata in tv da Luigi Bisignani e pubblicata dal quotidiano Il Tempo, in via ufficiale non viene confermata né smentita, né tanto meno commentata, dalla Santa Sede. “Al momento non abbiamo nulla da dire”, replica la Sala stampa vaticana. Ma sul fatto che sia vera non ci sono dubbi e nelle stanze d’Oltretevere se ne parla parecchio.

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Vatican investigates mystery over hacked computer belonging to finance chief

VATICAN CITY
Telegraph (UK)

By Nick Squires, Rome 01 Nov 2015

Vatican police are investigating whether an insider unhappy with Pope Francis and his drive for transparency hacked into a computer belonging to the Holy See’s auditor general.

The Vatican gendarmerie, which is responsible for security in the sovereign city state, is trying to find out who may have tried to steal information from a laptop belonging to Libero Milone, the head of the audit office.

There were rumours the person behind the attack could be someone within the Vatican who opposes Pope Francis’s reform of Holy See finances and his drive for more accountability.

That could include someone who has lost influence or power as a result of new appointments.

The prime suspect in the case was a monsignor working within the Vatican, according to Ansa, Italy’s national news agency.

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Tom Doyle Reviews Spotlight

UNITED STATES
Hamilton and Griffin on Rights

One fall morning in 2001 I was sitting with Dick Sipe in a hotel coffee shop in Oklahoma City. We were both there for depositions in a case in which we were both expert witnesses. Not long after we sat down Dick asked me “Have you talked to Mike Rezendes yet?” I told him I hadn’t and what’s more, I didn’t know who he was. Dick proceeded to tell me that Mike was an investigative reporter with the Boston Globe and had been talking to him for information on clergy abuse cover-up in the Archdiocese of Boston. “I gave him your name. He’ll be calling you soon. This is really big”

Mike did in fact call me very soon after my visit to Oklahoma City. I was in the Air Force then stationed in Germany but back in the States on a short leave. Before the end of our first conversation I was impressed. This guy really “gets it.” He’s gutsy, very bright and most important, committed to finding the truth.

I already knew the foundation of the story. In March 2001 Kristen Lombardi, then with the Boston Phoenix, was doing a story about the cover- up of the late John Geoghan’s serial sex abuse of young boys in the archdiocese of Boston and the serial cover-up by Cardinal Law and his staff. Her story came out with a full-page picture of Cardinal Law on the cover. It was a great story and had a very important effect but nothing like the nuclear reaction caused by the cover story published by the Boston Globe on Sunday, January 6, 2002…the Feast of the Epiphany.

I happened to be back in the U.S. the first week of January 2002. I was at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama at a continuing education program for officers. I had remained in contact with Mike and had a head’s up that the story was coming out on January 6. It was a major, major explosion in the seemingly never-ending exposure of the Catholic Church’s bungling of the sexual and spiritual violation of minors by the clergy.

January 6 was only the beginning. I cynically expected that the explosion would dominate the news, put some well-deserved fear into the bishops and wake up the complacent laity for a while and then after a couple weeks things would go back to the way they had been. There had been other explosions that we thought would cause a significant shakeup…..the Fr. Porter scandal in 1993, the revelation of widespread sex abuse of young seminarians at St. Anthony’s Seminary in California and St. Lawrence Seminary in Wisconsin, also in 1993 and then the Rudy Kos trial in 1997. This time I was wrong, very wrong. The aftershocks from the Globe’s Spotlight investigations are still happening. People have tried to figure out why the Boston phenomenon was different from anything else but it really doesn’t matter. What does matter is that Martin Baron, the Globe’s editor, had the insight to see that the real story was about the Archdiocese’s systemic, destructive response to the victims and had the courage to take on the ultra-formidable Catholic Church to find the truth. What does matter is that the Spotlight Team had the brilliance, courage, determination and just plain guts to keep digging until the mind-boggling reality of what was really happening in the Archdiocese was forced into the light.

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El paraíso de los legionarios

GUADALAJARA (MEXICO)
Gatopardo [Mexico City, Mexico]

November 1, 2015

By Emiliano Ruiz Parra

Read original article

La Legión de Cristo goza de un poder desmedido en Cancún y en varias poblaciones de Quintana Roo. La prelatura Cancún-Chetumal, a cargo de los legionarios desde 1970, ha servido a la congregación religiosa para refugiar a sacerdotes acusados de pederastia.

Los Legionarios de Cristo siempre cuentan dos historias: una versión oficial –cargada de designios divinos– y una verdad disidente. Durante sesenta años la Legión sostuvo, por ejemplo, que Marcial Maciel –su fundador– era un santo en vida. Pero después tuvo que reconocer lo irrefutable: que había sido un pederasta, drogadicto, mitómano y había abusado hasta de sus hijos.

En la prelatura de Cancún-Chetumal, a cargo de los Legionarios de Cristo desde 1970, también se cuentan dos historias. [1] La versión oficial retrata la prelatura de Cancún-Chetumal como la abnegada evangelización del pueblo maya y de los cientos de miles de inmigrantes que poblaron el Caribe mexicano con el auge del turismo. Llegaron cinco sacerdotes legionarios y, 45 años después, se multiplicaron a 75. Encontraron siete parroquias y en menos de cinco décadas construyeron más de cincuenta. Y se adaptaron a uno de los crecimientos demográficos más acelerados del país, pues Quintana Roo pasó de menos de 90 mil habitantes a un millón 600 mil entre 1970 y 2015.

Sin duda, una parte de esa versión es cierta. Los números son reales y los legionarios gozan de influencia en la entidad. Algunos de sus sacerdotes se han entregado con convicción a sus labores religiosas, ya sea en comunidades indígenas o en barrios de trabajadores. Pero esa verdad oficial convive con la versión de los críticos de la Legión de Cristo, algunos de ellos, ex legionarios que conocieron las entrañas de la congregación y se han convertido en sus denunciantes más elocuentes.

Según la versión de los críticos, la prelatura de Cancún-Chetumal ha funcionado como una “Siberia tropical” para relegar a los elementos indeseables, ya fueran sacerdotes acusados de pederastia o elementos críticos con la línea oficial de la Legión de Cristo. Según ellos la prelatura se ha usado como un gran negocio, al ser explotada como un polo de bodas en hoteles de lujo.

En la historia oficial, el Vaticano les pidió a los legionarios encargarse de Quintana Roo en 1970 y “ni el profeta más santo […] se iba a imaginar la explosión demográfica”. Según la versión alternativa, que cuenta el ex legionario Pablo Pérez Guajardo, Maciel cabildeó la prelatura para los legionarios porque poseía información (debido a su cercanía con el secretario de Gobernación, y luego presidente, Luis Echeverría) de que el Estado mexicano invertiría grandes sumas de dinero para desarrollar un gran centro turístico en el Caribe.

La región ha vivido, según la versión oficial, “una frenética cruzada por dotar a la prelatura de templos dignos para el culto”.[2] La versión alternativa acepta este hecho, pero acusa a los legionarios de invadir áreas verdes y apropiarse de espacios públicos para construir iglesias. En su expansión, la prelatura contó con el apoyo de un empresario hotelero, Fernando García Zalvidea, que estuvo preso trece meses por lavado de dinero del Cártel de Juárez, y luego fue absuelto.

Este 21 de noviembre, la prelatura de Cancún-Chetumal cumple 45 años, todos ellos bajo el control de los Legionarios de Cristo, la congregación que fundara Marcial Maciel el 3 de enero de 1941 en un sótano de la colonia Juárez de la Ciudad de México. Los legionarios, ahora, emprenden dos obras monumentales: la construcción de la basílica de Santa María Guadalupe del Mar, un templo de 110 metros de altura que pretenden convertir en el ícono de Cancún, con un costo anunciado de unos doce millones de
 dólares; y un seminario de 57 millones
 de pesos con alberca olímpica y canchas de futbol y basquetbol y capacidad para cien seminaristas.

“No te preocupes, habla con las víctimas y procura tranquilizarlos. Pídeles que no les digan nada a sus papás”, dijo Maciel.

Los pederastas

Cuatro seminaristas se acercaron al sacerdote Juan José Vaca, director espiritual del seminario de Ontaneda, España. Le revelaron que el rector, el padre Jesús Martínez Penilla, se los había llevado a la cama y los había masturbado. Por las confesiones de los niños se deducía que los abusos llevaban ya dos o tres meses. Vaca de inmediato le informó a Marcial Maciel por teléfono.

—No te preocupes, habla con los apostólicos [las víctimas] y procura tranquilizarlos. Pídeles que no les digan nada a sus papás—, le dijo Maciel.

En tres horas, Martínez Penilla había tomado el tren a Madrid. De ahí abordó un avión a la ciudad de México y de inmediato salió a Chetumal, en donde se puso a las órdenes de Jorge Bernal, el legionario de Cristo que era administrador apostólico de la prelatura, designado por Maciel Degollado.[3] Corría el año de 1970 y el papa Pablo VI acababa de encargarles la prelatura de Chetumal a los Legionarios de Cristo.

A miles de kilómetros de sus víctimas, Martínez Penilla apareció en la primera fila de las más importantes ceremonias de la prelatura. El 19 de marzo de 1974 flanqueó a Jorge Bernal por las calles de Chetumal durante la consagración de éste último como obispo prelado. En una fotografía se aprecia a cuatro mitrados que los siguen en procesión.[4]

Martínez Penilla desarrolló una carrera como párroco en la prelatura. El directorio eclesiástico de 1991 lo registra al frente del templo de la Inmaculada Concepción, en Bacalar. En el mismo directorio, pero de 2007, aparece como responsable de la parroquia de Nuestra Señora del Perpetuo Socorro en el municipio de José María Morelos.

Para 2010 había cambiado nuevamente de adscripción. En la página 43 de Una Iglesia de corazón misionero hay dos imágenes del sacerdote: en una de ellas se le ve leyendo un libro, quizá los evangelios, en una banca; en la segunda fotografía lo flanquean 18 personas. Son parte de su comunidad en el templo de la Inmaculada Concepción de María de Isla Mujeres.

Cuando Juan José Vaca estaba a punto de salir de la Legión de Cristo le escribió una extensa carta a Marcial Maciel fechada el 20 de octubre de 1976. En ella le reprochaba una década de abusos sexuales que habían empezado en 1949. Vaca revelaba los nombres de veinte legionarios que habían pasado por situaciones similares a la suya. Entre ellos había tres sacerdotes que trabajaban en la prelatura: Javier Orozco, Ángel de la Torre y Jesús Martínez Penilla.

La prelatura, sin embargo, albergó un caso más grave que el de Martínez Penilla. En el capítulo “El caso del Instituto Cumbres, 1983” de Marcial Maciel, el historiador Fernando M. González detalla la primera historia de abuso sexual de la Legión contenida en expedientes judiciales.

Una madre de familia (a quien González identifica como Elsa N) denunció los abusos sexuales sufridos por su hijo a manos del prefecto de disciplina, un laico de nombre Eduardo Enrique Villafuerte Casas Alatriste. La justicia mexicana atrapó a Villafuerte y lo condenó a 18 años de cárcel. El examen médico comprobó las violaciones sexuales. En ese entonces, el director del Instituto Cumbres (una preparatoria de los Legionarios de Cristo) era el sacerdote Eduardo Lucatero Álvarez.

En su declaración ministerial, consignada en la averiguación previa 163/83, del 7 de junio de 1985, Villafuerte acusa que Lucatero “tuvo conocimiento de los hechos, y se concretó únicamente a despedirlo de su empleo, y a avisarle a su familia, aconsejándole que abandonara el país porque iba a tener problemas”. Villafuerte relata que no era el único abusador de niños en el colegio. Identifica a Guillermo Romo, Francisco Rivas y Alfonso NJ como otros empleados del Cumbres que tocaban a los niños.

“Que también sabe y vio en ocasiones al subdirector [sic] confesando a los menores, y que dicho [sujeto] se llamaba Eduardo Lucatero (LC), el cual también se llevaba a las niñas, hermanas de los menores y les acariciaba sus partes nobles obscenamente”, continúa. Sin embargo, al sacerdote Lucatero sólo se le impuso una multa por encubrimiento.

Antes de acudir a las autoridades ministeriales, una de las madres de las víctimas acudió a las del plantel. Fue un error. “Mi vida cambió totalmente. Perdí el trabajo por culpa de los legionarios, perdí mis amistades de toda la vida, mi dinero, mi condominio, y de la noche a la mañana haga de cuenta que se me abrió un hoyo. Son gente muy poderosa. Me amenazaron, me trataron de sacar del periférico varias veces con un auto Mustang para que no fuera a juicio”, le contó a González.

Lucatero Álvarez terminó en la prelatura de Cancún-Chetumal, que nunca disimuló su presencia en el Caribe. En la tercera de forros de Una Iglesia de corazón misionero se le ve en segunda fila entre el clero de Quintana Roo, con ornamentos sacerdotales y en oración. El grupo lo encabeza el obispo Pedro Pablo Elizondo.

El mismo volumen lo registra como sacerdote adscrito a la catedral de la Santísima Trinidad, en Cancún. En una fotografía (página 85) aparece en el extremo derecho de un grupo de veinte personas que posan delante de la fachada de la catedral. Alto, de lentes, guayabera y crucifijo al hombro, posa con una sonrisa.

En el Directorio eclesiástico 2 014 de la prelatura se le consigna como sacerdote del clero religioso. El directorio lo identifica como titular de la Dimensión de la Doctrina de la Fe en la Pastoral Profética. Es decir, era el “guardián” de la disciplina y el cumplimiento de los dogmas en la Iglesia de Quintana Roo.

El perro, el vino y el psiquiatra

Pablo Pérez Guajardo se pasaba el día adormilado. Su depresión no desaparecía a pesar de la ingesta de pastillas. Hasta que decidió dejar de tomar su dosis de diazepam y dárselas al perro de raza pastor alemán, una de la mascotas en la casa de Vía Aurelia 677. Pablo poco a poco perdió la somnolencia. En cambio, el perro dormitaba todo el día ya sin ganas de jugar. “Los superiores se preocuparon por el perro que estaba muy mal. El perro sí les alarmaba y yo no”, recuerda con rabia.

Pérez Guajardo se ha convertido en una de las voces más críticas de la Legión. Sin ser nunca un directivo de la orden, durante veinte años estuvo cerca de la cúpula legionaria y del propio fundador Marcial Maciel. Entre 1986 y 2006 perteneció a la comunidad de seminaristas y sacerdotes que residía en Vía Aurelia, Roma, en la sede de la dirección general de los Legionarios de Cristo.

Lo encuentro en fotografías antiguas: la del 3 de enero de 1991 en la basílica de San Pedro. Para celebrar los 50 años de la Legión de Cristo, Marcial Maciel dispuso que sesenta legionarios fueran ordenados por el papa Juan Pablo II. Con las manos en oración, se le ve a escasas tres personas del pontífice. Ese día recibió la ordenación sacerdotal después de quince años en la congregación.

Lo vuelvo a ver en Una Iglesia de corazón misionero, libro de nuestra historia, el libro que los legionarios editaron para celebrar los cuarenta años de la prelatura. Aparece tres veces: en la tercera de forros (con el resto de los curas del estado) y en las páginas 132 y 133. Una fotografía en gran angular lo retrata en medio de un centenar de personas, la mayoría niños: su comunidad de la capilla San José en la colonia Guadalupana, un barrio proletario en la periferia de Playa del Carmen. En la página impar tiene un micrófono en la mano y se lo acerca a un niño.

En esas imágenes quedó su época de cercanía legionaria. Pero el 29 de septiembre de 2011 envió al entonces director general de los legionarios, Álvaro Corcuera, una “Carta de Fuego”, en donde exigía a la congregación un deslinde de su fundador Marcial Maciel.

“Fue amortajado con vestiduras sacerdotales un maricón, drogo, borracho y mujeriego […] No sólo él se rió de Dios, de la Iglesia y de nosotros, también usted y buen número de superiores mayores se han burlado de la autoridad del Papa al acompañar a nuestro pedófilo fundador en sus viajes con la concubina y la hija sacrílega [……] Sus labios han besado el cadáver de un falso profeta que usted y los superiores mayores nos han presentado como Alter Christus siendo un 
Anti-Cristo”, le escribió.

A esa carta siguieron una decena de cartas más en donde denunciaba el lavado de dinero, el encubrimiento sistemático de pederastas, el culto a la memoria de Maciel, la explotación financiera de los colegios y otras presuntas desviaciones de la Legión de Cristo.

Delgado, de ojos verdes, orejas puntiagudas y cabello escaso, Pablo Pérez Guajardo fue expulsado de la Legión de Cristo en mayo de 2015, pero desde septiembre de 2012 lo echaron de la capellanía de San José. Cuando lo entrevisté, en septiembre pasado, acondicionaba la cochera de una casa como capilla. Se dice vetado: “el obispo (Pedro Pablo Elizondo) me prohibió que entrara a las escuelas católicas y a los hospitales”.

Conversamos durante tres horas. De su vida, el capítulo más vivo, y el más desgarrador también transcurría en Roma: en 1986 fue asignado a la dirección general de los legionarios, el centro de mando de la congregación religiosa. Ahí convivió con Maciel y Luis Garza Medina, ‘número’ dos de la orden religiosa y cerebro financiero de ésta.

La vida legionaria afectó las emociones del padre Pérez Guajardo. Se deprimió. Garza Medina le pidió atenderse con Francisco López Ibor, hijo del célebre psiquiatra español Juan José López Ibor. Se negó. Pero después fue el propio Maciel quien le pidió consultar al psiquiatra. Las sugerencias de Nuestro Padre eran órdenes. Pérez Guajardo desconocía entonces que era una práctica de Maciel enviar a los sacerdotes problemáticos a la clínica madrileña. Cada cuatro meses viajaba a Madrid a surtirse de dosis de medicamentos psiquiátricos que lo mantenían dormido o sonámbulo, sin ganas de rechistar.

Su computadora tenía acceso a internet. Navegando, se dio cuenta de que su dosis de antidepresivos era mayor a la necesaria, y que su tristeza obedecía a su vida de religioso: soledad, alejamiento de su familia desde los 18 años, falta de estímulos. Empezó a darle sus medicamentos al perro pastor alemán que cuidaba con celo otro sacerdote legionario, Juan Manuel Dueñas Rojas.

Al quitarse los medicamentos volvió a estar despierto, pero pagó un precio. Tenía estallidos de ira y simas de tristeza. Sus padres estaban enfermos y deseaba ir a pasar con ellos sus últimos años. Con su padre no lo logró: cuando aterrizó en México ya lo estaban velando.

Una escena retrata su furia: a los curas sólo les estaba permitido beber un vaso de vino con la cena. Los superiores se servían dos o tres porque tenían permiso del padre Maciel. Enojado y con ganas de venganza, Pablo se robaba las botellas aflojando el triplay detrás de la repisa. Las ocultaba en el baño o en los ductos de aire acondicionado.

Una tarde, uno de los superiores lo llamó para regañarlo. Pablo Pérez Guajardo, que ya se la esperaba, traía una de las botellas de vino, ya descorchada. La sacó de entre sus ropas y la derramó sobre el escritorio.

—¿Cómo se atreve? ¡Aquí hay cartas de Nuestro Padre!— le reprendió el sacerdote (¿Y qué que hubiera esas cartas?, se preguntaría años después Pablo: si la mayoría de las cartas de Maciel eran plagios o escritos de otros autores, todo lo que ofreció Maciel fue un fraude).

Hartos de su indisciplina, le autorizaron que se trasladara a la Ciudad de México, a una casa de legionarios en la que pudiera estar más cerca de su madre, enferma de cáncer.

Derramar el vino fue la primera de
 sus indisciplinas. Ahora la recuerda como un acto calculado de rebeldía para conseguir su traslado. Vista a la distancia era una travesura. Su auténtico desafío vino después, con sus denuncias públicas escritas en cientos de cuartillas de cartas y en sus confesiones, la catarata de recuerdos que iban reconstruyendo el rompecabezas de una congregación en donde campeaban el fraude y el abuso. La tarde que conversamos, algunas de esas escenas vinieron a su cabeza: la noche anterior a la profesión de votos, Marcial Maciel llamó a uno de sus compañeros y pasó la noche con él. Ese cura fue enviado a la prelatura. Cuando se hizo público que Maciel había tenido una hija, el sacerdote abusado (ya de 50 años) contaba compulsivamente su historia; o de la vez que el cardenal Angelo Sodano, secretario de Estado del Vaticano, les dijo a él y otro grupo de legionarios: “Dichosos ustedes porque obispos y cardenales hay muchos, pero fundador [Marcial Maciel] uno solo””; o de cuando se enteró de que Luis Garza Medina —hermano de Dionisio Garza Medina, presidente de Grupo Alfa y uno de los hombres más ricos de México— había urdido un plan para controlar a la Legión de Cristo: hizo seguir a Maciel por detectives privados, recabó la información sobre su doble vida y le hizo un chantaje: su silencio a cambio del control financiero de la congregación religiosa.

Tras cuarenta años en la Legión, Pablo Pérez Guajardo observó y escuchó cientos de historias, pero guardaba fidelidad a sus votos privados.[5] Después de su regreso, lo destinaron a una casa de religiosos en el Estado de México y, al final, la prelatura de Cancún-Chetumal. Según su relato, estuvo asignado a la catedral de Chetumal en donde reactivó las misas matutinas y salió a las calles a ofrecer bautizos gratuitos a los niños. El obispo Pedro Pablo Elizondo, al ver su energía, lo mandó a una encomienda más difícil: una colonia proletaria en Playa del Carmen.

De su paso por la colonia Guadalupana se puede contar su historia como cura de barrio marginal (él la llama zona atolera en contraste con la zona hotelera) pero resultan más pertinentes para este artículo sus impresiones sobre la prelatura de Cancún-Chetumal, contenidas en una carta que le escribió a su obispo Pedro Pablo Elizondo el 24 de septiembre de 2012. Allí le dice, por ejemplo, que la prelatura ha sido, desde su creación, el destino de los indeseables: aquellos que no cuadraban con la línea de Maciel, ya fuera porque se habían negado a trabajar en colegios para niños ricos, como un grupo de curas irlandeses que se sentían frustrados de hacer pastoral sólo para clases acomodadas.

La prelatura se había hecho de tres buenos negocios, acusaba Pablo Pérez: las bodas glamour celebradas en las capillas de los hoteles de lujo. Los curas legionarios habían sido reducidos a un servicio de escort: un apuesto sacerdote impecable, bien vestido, con la raya del cabello perfecta, para adornar las ceremonias de los ricos. A esas bodas, por cierto, se les negaba el acceso a los trabajadores de los hoteles.

El segundo negocio, la Ciudad de la Alegría: un complejo de casas-hogar para niños, ancianos y enfermos terminales “es, en buena medida, la confeccionadora de recibos deducibles de impuestos para los hoteles y empresas (Best Day) de Fernando García Zalvidea”.

Y una tercera fuente de ingresos: los donativos que los legionarios recababan en Estados Unidos y Europa con el argumento de destinarlos a la evangelización de los pueblos mayas, a los cuales “nunca [les] ha llegado dinero: la inmensa mayoría de las regiones o colonias pobres carecen de dispensarios católicos, escuelas parroquiales, templos y servicios sociales”.

Pérez Guajardo se fue de la prelatura. Buscó lugar en Saltillo, con el obispo Raúl Vera López, promotor de derechos humanos, y antagónico a los legionarios. Apenas estuvo unos ocho meses e hicieron cortocircuito. Pérez Guajardo lo acusó de usar a los pobres para su beneficio, y Vera respondió calificándolo de espía.

“¿A dónde voy a mis casi 60 años?”, se preguntó el sacerdote. Y regresó a Playa del Carmen, a la zona obrera, a instalar una capilla en el garaje de una vivienda en obra negra. Cuando lo visité, se movía en un automóvil Chevy viejo y sucio, sin asientos, y vivía con una familia, rodeado de costales de cemento y cortinas de polvo. En 2015 la Legión lo había expulsado de sus filas: “En términos canónicos no tengo licencias ministeriales, quedando firme que no hay ninguna sanción o pena canónica ya que no existe ningún delito (ni pederastia, pareja sexual, fraude, problemas doctrinales o enseñanzas morales erróneas)”, me dijo.

Cuando conversamos se le notaba el cansancio tras cuatro años de denuncia sin que nada hubiera cambiado. Estaba irascible y resignado a su trabajo pastoral: dar catecismo, celebrar bautizos, avanzar en la construcción de su capilla. Le pregunté por qué había invertido tanta energía en las cientos de cuartillas de denuncia. Tenía esperanza: su esperanza era que lo escucharan en el Vaticano y le retiraran la prelatura a los legionarios. A Quintana Roo, me dijo, le faltaba un obispo franciscano, jesuita o diocesano que usara morral, huaraches y mezclilla, y se mezclara con los obreros y los indígenas de tierra adentro, y ya no con los magnates de la zona hotelera.

La leyenda del santo lavador

Fernando García Zalvidea fue uno de los miles de inmigrantes que atrajo el auge turístico de Cancún. A bordo de una limusina, ofrecía excursiones a los gringos fascinados por el paraíso caribeño. Uno de ellos le dijo un día: This is my best day. Le gustó la frase y la hizo suya. Cancún estaba en permanente expansión y era territorio fértil para los emprendedores como García Zalvidea que, al paso de su fulgurante ascenso como hotelero, tejió una red de relaciones políticas, religiosas y empresariales con la élite de Quintana Roo. Sus negocios fructificaron hasta que llegó a ser dueño de una cadena de hoteles a la que llamó Real Caribe y de la empresa Best Day, que fue pionera en ofrecer viajes todo pagado por internet.

Pero su emporio se tambaleó en 1998. La Procuraduría General de la República (PGR) lo relacionó con el “maxiproceso”: una investigación sobre narcotráfico y lavado de dinero del Cártel de Juárez en Quintana Roo. Se acusaba al gobernador Mario Villanueva Madrid, El Chueco, de haber puesto la Procuraduría de Justicia local al servicio del capo Ramón Alcides Magaña, El Metro. Fernando García Zalvidea fue acusado de lavar dinero del cártel en la compra del hotel Gran Caribe Real. Lo detuvieron y lo internaron en el Reclusorio Sur de la Ciudad de México.

Los resultados del maxiproceso fueron ambiguos. El ex gobernador Villanueva Madrid fue detenido, encarcelado y extraditado a los Estados Unidos (en donde sigue preso) pero su caso fue excepcional. La mayoría de los indiciados fueron absueltos, entre ellos el propio García Zalvidea, que obtuvo su libertad el 4 de marzo de 2000 tras catorce meses preso en el Reclusorio Sur de la Ciudad de México.

Tres años después, en marzo de 2004, la revista Contralínea publicó diversas conversaciones telefónicas entre el ex procurador Antonio Lozano Gracia, el ex candidato presidencial del PAN, Diego Fernández de Cevallos y el abogado de García Zalvidea, Germán Rangel. Lozano y Fernández de Cevallos, ambos panistas, hablan de las “gestiones políticas” para liberar al hotelero y luego para que la PGR cerrara el caso.

Fernando García Zalvidea se convirtió en el benefactor más visible de los Legionarios de Cristo en Quintana Roo. En el año 2000 auspició la construcción de la Ciudad de la Alegría, la mayor obra social de la prelatura en Quintana Roo: un centro que concentra escuelas, casas de ancianos, niños y enfermos terminales, y tratamiento de adicciones.

Pero Fernando García Zalvidea extendió sus redes a la política a través de su hermano Juan Ignacio, El Chacho, quien fue diputado federal del PAN en el 2000 y luego brincó al Partido Verde. Con las siglas ecologistas ganó la alcaldía de Benito Juárez (Cancún está adentro de Benito Juárez) en febrero de 2002. Fue el primer alcalde de oposición en la ciudad. En 2004 El Chacho se acercó a quien encabezaba las encuestas para la elección presidencial, el izquierdista Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Juan Ignacio hizo saber que quería ser candidato de un frente opositor a la gubernatura de Quintana Roo. Y meses después de hacer públicas sus aspiraciones, fue destituido por el congreso y, ya fuera del cargo, encarcelado por quebranto del erario municipal. Estuvo preso más de un año, hasta que su hermano Fernando garantizó una fianza de 71 millones de pesos.

Los García Zalvidea eran de las familias más poderosas del estado. El Chachoya había mandado señales de disciplina con el PRI al apersonarse, en 2010, a los actos de campaña del ahora gobernador Roberto Borge. Y en otra pista, Fernando se congraciaba con el PAN: en 2012 le organizaba actos a su candidata presidencial Josefina Vázquez Mota con hoteleros. A uno de esos encuentros invitó también al obispo Pedro Pablo Elizondo.

Los invasores

En la Supermanzana 30, los Legionarios de Cristo se quedaron con un pedazo del parque. Se metieron poco a poco. Los vecinos tenían siete mil metros cuadrados para espacios públicos. Lo partieron en cuatro: un pedazo para el kínder, otro para la primaria, otro para el kiosco y uno más para área verde. En ese pedazo levantaron una capilla pequeña. Cuando el padre —legionario de Cristo— iba a celebrar la misa, uno de los vecinos le abría y le cerraba la puerta.

Un día, ese vecino, Mario Cortés, salió de viaje y le dejó las llaves al cura. Estaba claro que estaban prestadas hasta su regreso. Pero nunca las volvió a ver. A partir de entonces la prelatura se quedó con la capilla y, años después, con mil metros cuadrados del parque.

La céntrica ubicación de la capilla atrajo a cientos de vecinos de otras supermanzanas. Rodeada de parque, se convirtió en un espacio ideal para bodas y bautizos. Cuando Juan Ignacio El Chacho García Zalvidea era alcalde de Cancún, trató de legalizar la invasión de la Supermanzana 30. Le dio a la prelatura una “orden de ocupación” del parque.

A partir de entonces empezó una larga batalla. Dos de sus protagonistas me cuentan su historia, Herminia Peña y Luz María Elguero, que residen en el perímetro del parque. Con el aval del Chacho García Zalvidea, la prelatura levantaba bardas alrededor del terreno; los vecinos acudían a derribar los castillos. La prelatura metía maquinaria para hacer socavones; los vecinos boqueaban el paso de los camiones con sus vehículos.

No fue una lucha fácil. La prelatura actuaba de noche y daba sabadazo: las obras siempre empezaban en Semana Santa para pillar a los vecinos de vacaciones y tenían de su lado a la fuerza pública. Un miércoles de Semana Santa dos vecinos hacían guardia para impedir la instalación de castillos: llegó la policía y se los llevó a declarar (salieron libres unas horas después). Y había una presencia frecuente en torno de la Supermanzana: Fernando García Zalvidea. Los vecinos se acostumbraron a ver su camioneta Porsche blanca recorriendo las obras.

Durante el gobierno del Chacho García Zalvidea la prelatura quiso comerse cuatro mil metros cuadrados del parque. Presumieron una maqueta que tenía templo, guardería, recámaras y criptas. El entonces presidente de la colonia estampó su firma en los planos y, con ese aval, la prelatura empezó las obras de bardeado y cimentación.

Pero cayó El Chacho cuando amenazó con irse a la filas de Obrador, y los alcaldes que lo sucedieron ya no estaban tan entregados a la causa de los legionarios. Un perredista, Gregorio Sánchez, buscó una solución intermedia. Canceló la orden de ocupación que había regalado El Chacho pero le dejó a la prelatura mil metros cuadrados del parque.

Estos años de historia se cuentan en unas líneas. Para las vecinas —en su mayoría mujeres— de la Supermanzana 30, representó cientos de horas de tocar puertas, acudir a ventanillas, redactar quejas, hacer antesalas, revisar pilas de documentos, aprender leyes y reglamentos, cruzar llamadas, hacer reuniones, con su dosis desagradable de soportar las caras de los curas que, desde el púlpito, las acusaban de tener el corazón endemoniado y de conspirar para quemar la iglesia.

El ayuntamiento cedió de nuevo. El 17 de mayo de 2013, el director de obras arquitectónicas y civiles, Humberto Aguilera, expidió la licencia de construcción de obra nueva 66 231 para la parroquia de la Sagrada Familia. Le daba a la prelatura del 16 de mayo hasta el 16 de noviembre para terminar la obra en una superficie de mil 12 metros cuadrados.

Desesperados, los vecinos inconformes fueron a levantar una denuncia penal. Acusaron al obispo Elizondo, al empresario Fernando García Zalvidea y al sacerdote Luis Alberto Chavarría LC (representante legal de la prelatura) de despojo y delitos contra el desarrollo urbano. La procuraduría admitió la denuncia y abrió la averiguación previa 4819/13 el 17 de septiembre de 2013. A partir de entonces la demanda durmió el sueño de los justos (o de los injustos) y no pasó nada.

Pero la prelatura se impuso. Ahora se aprecia una iglesia a todo lujo: dos niveles, altar en mosaico dorado, dos pantallas planas y doce ventiladores. Las banquetas se ampliaron (a costa de derribar árboles) para convertirlas en estacionamientos. Una de ellas ostenta un letrero: “exclusivo sacerdote”.

La Supermanzana 30 no es la única que fue invadida por la prelatura. El 22 de septiembre pasado estuve en la colonia Hacienda Real del Caribe de la Región 200. Los vecinos me enseñaron un predio que era una de las áreas verdes de su barrio: un predio con árboles de donde colgaron llantas para que se columpiaran los niños.

Primero apareció una cruz. Después vino la barda y un letrero que anunciaba la capilla del Señor de la Divina Misericordia. “Si los niños se cuelan a jugar, al rato llega a sacarlos la gente de la iglesia”, me contó una chilanga que se mudó a esa colonia popular de Cancún.

No lejos de ahí, en la Supermanzana 117, la prelatura también consumó un acto de invasión. El mismo método: primero una cruz, luego cuatro palos y un techo de nylon, y al final ladrillos: la capilla de Santiago Apóstol se comía el jardín que estaba frente a la primaria La Raza de Bronce.

La invasión provocó reacciones encontradas en la comunidad. Lourdes Ibarra y Alicia Vázquez encabezaron el bando que se oponía al agandalle. Otras vecinas apoyaban a los legionarios. Las primeras eran cristianas evangélicas y las segundas, católicas. Lo cierto es que ambas estaban de acuerdo en una cosa: había sido una invasión de un área pública. Si acaso la justificaban porque ahora el parque estaba desmontado y limpio.

En estas páginas cuento tres ejemplos. Acaso sean muchos más. Cuando el perredista Julián Ricalde era alcalde de Cancún se contabilizaron trece invasiones. Y, según Tulio Arroyo, lo difícil es encontrar una iglesia en Cancún que no sea una invasión. Los legionarios lo han adoptado como modus operandi: identificar un lote vacío y apropiárselo a golpe de misas y bardas.

Tulio Arroyo transpira una obsesión: defender las áreas verdes de Cancún. Y ese propósito lo ha puesto en el punto de colisión con los legionarios, acostumbrados a hacer su voluntad en Quintana Roo. Tulio Arroyo es un ingeniero especializado en energías alternativas. Chilango con estudios en Nueva York, se convirtió en defensor del medio ambiente cuando el ayuntamiento pretendió deforestar la última reserva ambiental del centro de Cancún, un parque conocido como el Ombligo Verde. La alcaldesa priista Magali Achach pretendía entregarle un lote a la prelatura para que hiciera una catedral.

Arroyo Marroquín y su esposa Bettina Cetto, encabezaron el movimiento En defensa del Ombligo Verde. Se convirtieron en expertos en derecho administrativo y acompañaron los brotes de protesta que surgían aquí y allá a las invasiones de la Iglesia. Arroyo les ayudaba a convocar ruedas de prensa, redactar comunicados y orientar los intrincados caminos de los tribunales; y consiguió salvar el Ombligo Verde de su deforestación total. Pero no pudo impedir que los legionarios construyeran ahí la catedral de Cancún. Arroyo y Cetto vivían enfrente del parque. Justo frente a su ventana se levantó la catedral.

La historia extraoficial dice que esos 10 mil metros fueron el pago de Vicente Fox a Marcial Maciel por facilitar su divorcio.

Notre Dame del Sureste

Los Legionarios de Cristo apuestan a la monumentalidad. Su red de colegios se llama Semper Altius (siempre más alto) y sus escuelas aluden a las alturas: Cumbres, Himalaya, Everest, Alpes, Highlands. En la prelatura de Cancún-Chetumal se han propuesto erigir el mayor símbolo religioso del sureste: la basílica de Santa María de Guadalupe del Mar, un edificio con una cruz de 110 metros de altura, con capacidad para mil 500 personas y con un costo estimado de 12 millones de dólares.

Pero los planes de la prelatura se han topado con la resistencia de ecologistas. Se asentaría frente a la laguna Nichupté, una zona de manglares y especies protegidas. Uno de ellos es Pedro Canché. Indígena maya, Canché pasó nueve meses en la cárcel acusado de sabotaje. Su encarcelamiento era, en realidad, una manera de callarlo. El gobierno de Quintana Roo tuvo que soltarlo tras la presión internacional y ahora se le ve como un emblema de la libertad de expresión.

Según Canché —en un escrito dirigido al ayuntamiento— el proyecto Tajamar (del que la basílica es una parte), representará un “inminente ecocidio que devastará la flora, fauna y humedales […]. De llevarse a cabo la construcción, se devastaría totalmente uno de los ‘pulmones’ naturales que posee Cancún y que son invaluables”.

Como en otras historias de legionarios, de la megabasílica de Cancún se cuentan dos historias. La historia oficial dice que Fonatur le regaló los 10 mil metros a la prelatura. Y surge la pregunta: ¿Por qué un órgano del Estado mexicano tendría que donar un terreno público a la Iglesia católica?, ¿por qué no cederle también un predio a los cristianos, adventistas, mormones, Testigos de Jehová o a los ateos de Cancún?

La historia extraoficial la ofrece el padre Pablo Pérez Guajardo: esos 10 mil metros fueron el pago del presidente Vicente Fox a Marcial Maciel por facilitar su divorcio religioso ante el Vaticano. Por su calidad de jefe de Estado, su solicitud de nulidad debía pasar por la Rota Romana, un tribunal de la curia pontificia. Ya divorciado de Lilian de la Concha, el sacerdote Alejandro Latapí, legionario de Cristo, celebró su boda religiosa con Marta Sahagún.

Encuentro con el obispo

Detrás de su escritorio colgaba el cuadro Head of Christ del pintor estadounidense Warner Sallman, que se conoce también como “El Cristo legionario” porque el fundador de la congregación, Marcial Maciel Degollado, la introdujo como la imagen oficial en seminarios, casas y escuelas de la Legión de Cristo. En tres cuartos de perfil, representa a Cristo de rasgos afilados, cabello ondulado y túnica blanca.

Entrevisté al obispo Pedro Pablo Elizondo el 23 de septiembre de 2015 en las oficinas de la curia, a un lado de la catedral de Cancún, en el Ombligo Verde. En 40 minutos, surgieron en la conversación algunos rasgos que han hecho célebres a los Legionarios de Cristo: el éxito como insignia; el énfasis en el carácter emprendedor de la Legión y la abundancia de sus frutos materiales; la molestia ante las preguntas incómodas (pederastas, la doble vida de Marcial Maciel) y, al final, la advertencia de llevarme a tribunales si no era fiel a sus palabras. Acá una versión resumida de nuestra conversación:

—¿Cómo ha sido en términos de complejidad, de reto, atender una población que creció diez veces en 45 años?
—El crecimiento explosivo que trae grandísimos retos para la evangelización. Como destino turístico y belleza ambiental es sumamente atractivo y agradable vivir aquí, como el paraíso. La gente viene de paseo y se queda. Son muy atractivas la playas, la arena, [el mar] turquesa, el sol, la brisa que sopla.

—¿Cuál era el manpower cuando se fundó la prelatura?
—Llegamos cinco sacerdotes y había cinco parroquias. Ahora son 115 sacerdotes y 53 parroquias. Ha habido dos periodos, el obispo anterior, monseñor [Jorge] Bernal. Cuando me hicieron obispo, en 2004, recibí 52 sacerdotes y ahora son lo doble y lo mismo las parroquias, se han duplicado. ¿Cómo le haces para doblar las parroquias, cuando no hay nada, cuando es selva, cuando es monte? Llegar a chapear, a desmontar, a hacer iglesita de palitos. Así fue la zona hotelera, cuando yo llegué así estaba. Y poco a poco llegar a hacer una iglesia digna, grande, sagrada, acogedora y ése es el carisma que han traído los Legionarios de Cristo: el espíritu emprendedor y misionero que logró construir muchas iglesias. Todavía están en construcción la catedral, la basílica, nuestro seminario.

—De estos 115 de ahora, ¿cuántos son diocesanos?, ¿cuántos legionarios?
—Setenta legionarios, 35 diocesanos, y el resto de otras congregaciones. Tenemos una gran necesidad [de sacerdotes].

—Llama mucho la atención la basílica, por los 110 metros. Supongo que será la construcción más alta de Cancún, ¿por qué tan monumental?
—Inicialmente se tuvo un encuentro con el presidente Vicente Fox y con los presidentes de la república después. Y hay un lugar que se llama Malecón Tajamar que se ha convertido en el centro social más importante de Cancún. Y providencialmente ese terreno se ha donado por Fonatur a la Iglesia católica. Este proyecto sale de la ubicación tan preciosa para ser el centro religioso de Cancún y que al mismo tiempo se convierta en un ícono y atractivo turístico para todos los turistas. Que sea un lugar como la [catedral] de Colonia o la Sagrada Familia de Barcelona o Notre Dame de París donde la gente va, reza y los turistas se encuentran con una ventana al evento guadalupano. Y podemos hacerlo con la máxima tecnología audiovisual e interactiva para presentar Guadalupe a los 14 millones de turistas. Es un proyecto de turismo religioso. Es un proyecto turístico.

—Tiempos y presupuestos para la basílica…
—Primero los permisos. Llevamos años y años gestionando. El día de mañana voy a tener una entrevista con el secretario de turismo para ver si ya sale.

—Quisiera tener la versión institucional del obispo, de la prelatura, el caso ya muy publicado en la prensa de dos sacerdotes, Eduardo Lucatero y Jesús Martínez, que han estado aquí y que fueron en algún momento señalados o acusados en algún abuso. Se dijo que la prelatura servía como para encubrir o proteger o resguardar.
—Son casos de 20, 30 o 40 años. Casos sobreseídos que podían estar aquí o en cualquier otra parte. Son sacerdotes que ya están retirados. Uno de ellos está enfermo, en silla de ruedas, atendido muy caritativamente, que no tiene nada pendiente, que tiene un ministerio muy reducido o nulo, que es Lucatero, de 75, 76 años. Y el otro [Martínez Penilla] es de 80 años, ya pasó la edad, no está en ningún ejercicio de su ministerio y [se le trata] con toda la caridad cristiana que se merecen personas que han trabajado por la Iglesia, y la Legión tiene la obligación de no tirarlos como trapos sucios, inútiles, sino hacer que se les dé un trato digno y respetuoso como seres humanos y servidores. Eso es todo, ¿qué más?

—¿Cómo se vivió la etapa crítica, la revelación de que el fundador de la congregación, Marcial Maciel, tenía una hija?
—Desde luego que lo vivimos con mucha pena, con mucha tristeza y con mucho respeto para no juzgar, condenar lo que solamente le toca a Dios. Nosotros creemos que Jesucristo es el único juez de todos, también de los que juzgamos a los otros, superficial y ligeramente, sin estar enterados. Respeto porque es un misterio, misterio cómo una persona con una vida desordenada crea una congregación tan ordenada. Es lo que dijo Benedicto XVI. Dijo: Es un misterio para mí. Frente al misterio lo menos que puedes hacer es ser respetuoso si es que estás ubicado, si no estás ubicado dices todo lo que puedas decir para sacar provecho, pa vender el periódico. Pues sí, cada uno tiene derecho a hacer su luchita, ¿no?, pues qué bueno. Aquí [en Quintana Roo] la confianza no se perdió.

—De la invasión en la Supermanzana 30, [y] de una escuela primaria en donde se construyen iglesias que son terrenos públicos, son parques…
—La última es en Playa del Carmen, se llama Villas del Sol. Está metido en el monte. Los fieles católicos insisten que les den un espacio como en todas partes del mundo, que es terreno de equipamiento. Este terreno de equipamiento está señalado que es el 15 por ciento del desarrollo para que hicieran escuela, iglesia, hospital, mercado, bomberos, policía, servicios públicos. En el municipio el encargado de Asuntos Religiosos les dice: ‘si quieren la Semana Santa ahí, limpien su terrenito y celebren las ceremonias religiosas de la Semana Santa’. Limpiaron, pusieron la cruz y pues llegaron los periódicos: ‘Que el obispo está invadiendo, que es el más rico del mundo’. Yo ni sabía, yo no tenía ni idea. Aquí [en Cancún] es enormemente mucho más grande y ha habido lugares sin que se entere nadie. Los fieles han dicho: ‘Aquí vamos a hacer nuestra iglesita’. ¿Y por qué no? Y comienzan, y ponen su tingladito, y al rato llaman a un padre, y al rato están rezando el rosario debajo de un árbol, y se juntan. Digo, ¿no tienen derecho a tener un espacio donde puedan alabar a Dios, crecer en las virtudes, en fin, ser hermanos, construir comunidad, que están solos, que vienen uno de Tabasco, otro de Campeche, otro de Veracruz y quieren los vecinos juntarse para tener un ratito de convivencia…

—Con este crecimiento de Quintana Roo, demográfico y de infraestructura, ¿todavía se justifica una prelatura?
—Esa es la gran pregunta que me hacen todos los obispos. La razón por la que todavía tenga que ser prelatura, es el crecimiento exagerado de la población, que no ha dado tiempo para que vayan creciendo los sacerdotes nativos.

El paraíso intocable

La Legión de Cristo no es sólo una congregación religiosa, sino un holdingreligioso, empresarial y financiero: una hiedra que se extiende en asociaciones de miles de laicos agrupados en el Regnum Christi —algunas de sus integrantes, sobre todo mujeres, trabajan de tiempo completo para la Legión—, un emporio educativo con colegios y universidades en más de veinte países; el banco Compartamos; sociedades para la recaudación de recursos como Kilo de ayuda y Teletón, además de una red de alianzas con los empresarios más ricos de México, como Carlos Slim —a quien casó Maciel— y Emilio Azcárraga Jean —Maciel celebró las exequias de su padre, a pesar de que ya se le había señalado como abusador de niños.

Benedicto XVI dimitió al gobierno de la Iglesia en febrero de 2013. Su sucesor, el jesuita argentino Jorge Mario Bergoglio, llamado Francisco, labró una pastoral popular y progresista, en las antípodas de la Legión de Cristo, pero no se atrevió a tocar el imperio que había fundado Maciel. Incluso permitió que la congregación regresara a la normalidad, ya sin interventores pontificios encima.

El Vaticano tampoco ha castigado uno de los desempeños más ineficientes en México. En Quintana Roo, según el censo de 2010, los católicos representan 63 por ciento de la población. Esa cifra está muy por debajo del 82 por ciento nacional. Mientras los legionarios construyen iglesias con fervor, 14 por ciento de los quintanarroenses se declara cristiano no católico, y otro 13 por ciento se dice sin religión.

En Quintana Roo, la Legión ha gozado de un ambiente propicio para hacer lo que ha querido: albergar a pederastas —y a encubridores de pederastas— y apropiarse de terrenos públicos sin que existan consecuencias. Desde 1970 el estado de Quintana Roo ha sido un paraíso para los Legionarios de Cristo.

NOTAS
1. De manera habitual, la Iglesia católica se divide en diócesis: porciones territoriales bajo el mando de un obispo. Sólo en casos excepcionales se crean ‘prelaturas’: zonas en donde la Iglesia tiene una estructura tan débil que es incapaz de atender a la población local y, por lo tanto, la delega a una congregación religiosa. Suelen ser zonas indígenas con pobreza extrema y de difícil acceso. En México, a los franciscanos se les han cedido las prelaturas de El Nayar (Nayarit) y El Salto (Durango), y a los salesianos, la prelatura de Mixes, en Oaxaca. Entre 1958 y 1992, los jesuitas se encargaron de la Tarahumara, en Chihuahua. La prelatura de Cancún-Chetumal comprende el estado de Quintana Roo.
2. Hasta aquí, las citas textuales provienen de Una Iglesia de corazón misionero, libro de nuestra historia, que la prelatura editó en 2010 para celebrar su 40 aniversario, páginas 34 y 39, respectivamente.
3. La historia del abuso y la fuga de Martínez Penilla la cuenta el historiador Fernando M. González en Marcial Maciel, los legionarios de Cristo: testimonios y documentos inéditos, pp. 365-366.
4. Una Iglesia de corazón misionero, p. 28.
5. En diversas congregaciones religiosas se toman tres votos: castidad, pobreza y obediencia. Maciel inventó dos votos más: el de caridad y el de humildad. El voto de caridad prohibía a los legionarios criticar a sus superiores, y el de humildad les impedía buscar puestos directivos en la organización. A través de ambos votos, el fundador consiguió que, durante décadas, ningún legionario denunciara sus crímenes.

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Child abuse campaigner: I’ve walked across Europe but now my message must cross the world

SCOTLAND
Daily Record

1 NOV 2015
BY MARION SCOTT

WALKING 10,000 miles across Europe to try to end child abuse was just the start of a journey now taking actor Matthew McVarish across the world.

The CBeebies star has just returned from Geneva, where he gave a talk to the United Nations on how to tackle the ­problem.

Matthew knows all about the issue from bitter experience. He was abused by his uncle from the age of seven.

He got to speak to delegates after walking through Europe to raise awareness of the issue.

He met the Pope and political leaders during his hike to press for the removal of statutes of ­limitations so sex crimes dating back decades can be prosecuted.

Eight EU countries have amended their laws since his walk and he has now been invited to speak in India and Thailand.

Matthew, who played buffet car manager Raymond in CBeebies show Me Too, said: “Hungary, ­Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, ­Lithuania, Portugal, Malta and Romania removed their ­statute of limitations as a result of my walk.

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Protesters: ‘We want our church back’

GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Jojo Santo Tomas, jsantotoma@guampdn.com November 2, 2015

Holding signs that read “Reform, Restore, Resign” and “I Love my Catholic Church,” at least 50 Catholics gathered for a protest in Tumon on Sunday.

The protest brought together many concerned Catholics who feel their church being torn apart. Protesters gathered at four corners of the entrance to the Hyatt Regency Guam hotel, where Archbishop Anthony F. Apuron was inside, celebrating his birthday with hundreds of guests who paid $200 each for the gala fundraiser.

Many protesters said the money could better be used elsewhere.

“We have been waiting for more than a year for him to talk to us about the problems of our church, and he has said nothing, done nothing, to address our issues,” said Vangie Lujan, of Chalan Pago. She is a 30-year Catholic and sings for the choir at the Agana Cathedral.

“We want transparency. Why we’re here? He wants to raise $300,000 tonight … but he never uses this amount of resources, or effort, to raise funds for other parts of the church like Kamalen Karidat. He doesn’t use his resources to help Catholic Social Services.

“And yet, he will do everything for the RMS? Or the St. John Paul II? And they’re saying the bills of the Cathedral … but we know it’s going to support the Neocatechumenal way. When is he going to start supporting the rest of us Catholics? We want our church back.”

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Haitian officials look into new allegations against man who founded orphanage

HAITI/MAINE
CentralMaine.com

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti —Haitian investigators are looking into new allegations of child sex abuse against an American man who founded an orphanage for boys in Haiti’s capital decades ago and who successfully sued a Freeport, Maine, man for defamation this summer.

Police with an arrest warrant searched unsuccessfully Friday for Michael Geilenfeld at a modest private residence in a mountainside community above Port-au-Prince and the nearby Wings of Hope home for about 30 physically and mentally disabled children and young adults. On its website, the facility says it is a “critical part” of Geilenfeld’s charitable organization.

Geilenfeld and his North Carolina charity, Hearts with Haiti, this year sued Paul Kendrick of Freeport for defamation. In July, a federal jury in Portland, Maine, agreed with Geilenfeld and the charity that Kendrick had been reckless and negligent in launching an email campaign spreading false claims that Geilenfeld had sexually abused some orphans in his care.

The jury awarded $7.5 in damages to the charity and $7 million to Geilenfeld.

Kendrick said Saturday that he welcomed the new investigation of Geilenfeld.

“In my mind, children in Haiti are still not safe from Michael Geilenfeld,” Kendrick said. “Now, Haiti officials are stepping in and I applaud that.”

Kendrick said a U.S. District judge in Portland dismissed a motion to order a new trial and another asking that the award be determined excessive in the defamation case. He said his lawyer will file an appeal with the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this month.

Geilenfeld is already the subject of another criminal case in Haiti that accused him of sexually abusing boys in his care. He spent 237 days in detention before being released in April by a Haitian judge who dismissed the charges in a brief trial that was not attended by the accusers, now adults. But the country’s justice minister granted a re-examination of the case and it is now in court again on appeal.

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Catholic church reaches out to heal those impacted by past clergy abuse

MINNESOTA
Brainerd Dispatch

By Jennifer Stockinger on Oct 31, 2015

A Brainerd Catholic church is reaching out to the community and to the survivors who were abused by clergy in hopes to help them heal.

Father Tony Wroblewski of St. Francis Catholic Church said the Brainerd church is keeping with the theme of “A Year of Mercy” as declared by Pope Francis and have created a diverse group of parishioners to reflect on how the church, the Brainerd lakes Catholic community, can integrate the Pope’s focus on the Catholic faith and to present actions taken, both within and without the Catholic church, to address the past abuse of young people by clergy.

Wroblewski said the church wants to help victims, families and the community heal. The group, named the Mercy Task Force, is studying ways the Catholic community can promote atonement, healing and where fitting, forgiveness.

Wroblewski said since the Minnesota Child Victims Act went into effect a number of lawsuits about abuse of young people by clergy have been filed. The act changed the statutes of limitations and gives child sexual abuse victims until May 25, 2016, to file civil lawsuits.

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Clergy, laity pray for justice for Cassidy

ILLINOIS
The Community Word

Hundreds of Central Illinoisans for years watched Father Terry Cassidy mimic a fish that’s unaware it’s surrounded by water. It’s been his light-hearted effort to show how people often don’t realize they’re surrounded – by grace.

But Cassidy, 64, now finds himself feeling surrounded, too – by an allegation of sexual misconduct with a minor, by a group advocating for such victims, and by a handful of influential people within the Catholic Diocese of Peoria (CDOP).

“What’s happened to Father Terry is evil,” says an ordained deacon who spoke on the condition his name not be used since the Diocese instructed clergy to not respond to media inquiries.

“I’m not defending child abusers,” he continues. “They should be held accountable. But I am defending a wonderful man persecuted, I think, for his popularity, his success as a minister.”

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Dianne Williamson: Clergy sexual abuse scandal in ‘Spotlight’

MASSACHUSETTS
Telegram & Gazette

Dianne Williamson

Posted Nov. 1, 2015

Today, it’s hard to remember a time when innocent victims of clergy sexual abuse were derided and scorned, when damaged families were hushed by a hierarchy, when the Catholic Church used its considerable power to protect and cover for the criminals within its ranks.

That culture of denial was upended in 2002, when The Boston Globe published an investigative series showing how the church enabled scores of pedophile priests by transferring them from parish to parish, while settling secretly with families who complained.

I don’t catch many movies in the theaters these days, but one I plan to see is the well-received “Spotlight,” which opens this month and recounts how the Globe’s Spotlight team broke the scandal wide open. Its stories led to the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law and a seismic shift in the public’s acceptance of the realities of clergy sex abuse. …

On a professional level, I’m well aware of the deep pain caused by the scandal within the diocese of Worcester. More than five years before the Globe’s investigative team tackled the topic, this newspaper was writing strikingly similar stories about priestly abuse. Years before the Globe won a Pulitzer Prize for its reporting, brave victims were telling us their stories.

One of them, now a middle-aged man who lives in a nearby town, was sexually abused by a priest when he was an altar boy. Years later, still traumatized, he sought counseling from another priest who also sexually abused him. I’ve written about this man many times and used his name, but last week he said he’s trying to put the past behind him.

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