BOGOTá (COLOMBIA)
The Tablet [Market Harborough, England]
June 3, 2025
By Francis McDonagh
The court ruled that Church confidentiality was less important than the right of journalists to investigate, ‘especially as regards matters of particular relevance to society’.
Colombia’s Constitutional Court ruled that the Catholic Church must release information about priests accused of sexual abuse.
The ruling was a victory for two journalists, Juan Pablo Barrientos and Miguel Ángel Estupiñán, resolving a dispute that began in 2020 when the Archdiocese of Medellín refused to release information to Barrientos about 105 priests.
The Church had argued that the information was covered by the canon law rule of “the pontifical secret”, or confidentiality. The court ruled that this was less important than the right of journalists to investigate, “especially as regards matters of particular relevance to society”.
One of the cases Barrientos investigated concerned the Bogotá priest Luis Ángel Cuenca Serrano, reported to have abused at least 12 children. Although the Archbishop of Bogotá Cardinal Luis José Rueda was told of the reports, he promoted the priest to episcopal vicar. The matter had been reported to the Vatican, which ordered Cardinal Rueda to open an investigation, after which the priest was laicised.
The Society of Jesus admitted to only one case of sexual abuse by a member, the priest Víctor Manuel Torres González, now serving a prison sentence after his conviction in 2015. The Jesuits have argued that they do not have all the information required to publish all the information about alleged abusers, as over their 400-year presence in Colombia they were twice expelled and their archives destroyed or lost.
In a response to the court order issued on 27 May, the Colombian bishops’ conference said they respected the decision and would study it, reiterating their “commitment to solidarity with the victims and the search for truth, justice and the comprehensive protection of the rights of boys, girls and adolescents”.
However, they continued: “The request to surrender the biographies of all priests, living or dead, belonging to the Catholic Church throughout its history … is based on a general assumption made in bad faith that goes against the presumption of innocence and constitutes a stereotype that in itself implies an act of discrimination.”