CHILE
Crux
July 15, 2018
By John L. Allen Jr.
Already the most serious clerical sexual abuse crisis since the United States in 2002-2003 and Ireland in 2009-2010, the unfolding situation in Chile took another turn this week when the former chancellor of the Archdiocese of Santiago, the national capital, was arrested on seven counts of abuse and rape between 2002 and 2018, involving minors between 11 and 17, five of whom reportedly were his own nephews.
The arrest was accompanied by a police raid of archdiocesan offices, which reportedly produced evidence that Church officials were aware of the accusations but did not report them to civil authorities.
What makes the situation especially ironic is that Father Óscar Muñoz Toledo had been the archdiocesan official charged with receiving the testimony of abuse victims who wanted to make a complaint to the Church. Earlier this year, Muñoz reported himself for one count of abuse.
One of the victims who had appeared before Muñoz to tell his story, Chilean philosopher José Andrés Murillo, spoke to a local newspaper on Saturday.
“We are studying what legal actions to follow, because this seems very serious,” Murillo said.
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