EL SALVADOR
The Tablet (UK)
21 December 2016 | by James Roberts
Mgr Jesus Delgado relieved totally and definitively of all priestly functions, along with two other priests
A former private secretary and biographer of assassinated archbishop Oscar Romero has been removed from the priesthood following allegations that he sexually abused a girl in the 1980s.
Mgr Jesus Delgado, 77, a former top official in the San Salvador diocese where Romero was murdered in 1980, was relieved “totally and definitively” of all priestly functions, along with two other priests, Fr Francisco Galvez and Fr Antonio Molina, La Prensa reported from El Salvador.
Announcing the laicisations yesterday, the Archbishop of San Salvador, José Luis Escobar said: “From now on, [the three] cannot exercise any office or priestly function according to canon 292 of the Code of Canon Law. These resolutions of the Holy See have already been communicated respectively to each of the aforementioned priests.
“We have also communicated it to the victims, to each one of the cases respectively, and today we make it known to all.”
Delgado was the country’s first priest to be suspended for child sex abuse when he was removed last year from his position as San Salvador vicar general.
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