BUENOS AIRES (ARGENTINA)
Buenos Aires Times
Dec. 21, 2019
Eduardo Lorenzo, an Argentine priest accused of a series of sexual abuses against children, committed suicide Monday, just hours after Judge Marcela Garmendia ordered his arrest.
The priest’s death renewed debates about the impact of the Catholic Church’s ongoing sex scandal and the inefficacy of attempted soutions thus far.
Monsignor John Kennedy, who runs the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith (CDF), the Vatican entity responsible for processing clergy sex abuse complaints, told the Associated Press his office received a record 1,000 denunciations this year, describing the congregation as “overwhelmed” by a “tsunami.”
Argentina has joined the United States as one of the countries sending the highest number of cases to CDF.
According to law enforcement sources, Lorenzo’s body was found at the La Plata offices of Caritas, the Catholic social services organisation where he worked and lived. They found him “on the floor,” with multiple “blood stains and a firearm.”
He had reportedly learnt of the arrest warrant just hours before, Efe reported.
The Network of Survivors of Ecclesiastic Abuse in Argentina issued a statement responding to Lorenzo’s suicide. “His death confirms the victims told and always tell the truth,” it said. “We highlight that even in this situation, the only victims are the survivors of Eduardo Lorenzo.”
The judge’s detention order arrived 11 years after Lorenzo was first denounced for alleged sexual abuse. Victims spoke out about a series of attacks that allegedly took place at San Benito church between 1990 and 1995 and at another church between 1999 and 2001. Both churches are in La Plata, Buenos Aires Province.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.