ROME (ITALY)
Crux
June 4, 2019
By Inés San Martín
As the home country of Pope Francis, Argentina is of obvious relevance to the global Church, especially the ins and outs of its local Catholic scene. Three things developing right now worth keeping an eye on: The clerical sexual abuse crisis; a fight between church and state over the remains of a Gaucho saint; and buzz over a papal visit.
On Sunday, La Nación, Argentina’s biggest daily newspaper, ran a series of articles revealing the closest thing to a comprehensive investigation into the extent of the clerical sexual abuse crisis locally.
There are some 5,600 priests in Argentina, and according to the newspaper, in the past 20 years there have been 63 credible allegations of sexual abuse. In 17 of those cases there’s a criminal conviction, and in 22 there’s an ongoing trial. The rest of the cases never made it to court.
Bishop Sergio Buenanueva, of San Francisco, Cordoba, serves as coordinator of the Pastoral Council for the Protection of Minors and Vulnerable Adults of Argentina’s bishops’ conference. Speaking with La Nación, he said that they don’t have a registry of cases yet, but that he could confirm that “there are certainly no fewer” than those compiled by the paper.
He also said that the clerical sexual abuse crisis is one of the “gravest” the institution has faced in modern times.
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