UNITED STATES/LATIN AMERICA
GlobalPost
Fugitive Fathers: How the Vatican’s alleged sex abusers hide and preach in South America (VIDEO)
South America has become a safe haven for the Catholic Church’s alleged child molesters
Will Carless on Sep 17, 2015
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — The Catholic Church has allowed priests accused of sexually abusing children in the United States and Europe to relocate to poor parishes in South America, a yearlong GlobalPost investigation has found.
Reporters confronted five accused priests in as many countries: Paraguay, Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil and Peru. One priest who relocated to a poor parish in Peru admitted on camera to molesting a 13-year-old boy while working in the Jackson, Mississippi diocese. Another is currently under investigation in Brazil after allegations arose that he abused disadvantaged children living in an orphanage he founded there.
All five were able to continue working as priests, despite criminal investigations or cash payouts to alleged victims. All enjoyed the privilege, respect and unfettered access to young people that comes with being clergy members.
In the US, Catholic leaders have come under intense pressure for concealing priests’ sex crimes, and for transferring perpetrators among parishes rather than turning them over to law enforcement. The scandal has cost the church billions of dollars and led to a sharp decline in new clergy.
VICTIM ADVOCATES SAY THAT RELOCATING PRIESTS TO POORER PARISHES OVERSEAS IS THE CHURCH’S LATEST STRATEGY FOR PROTECTING ITS REPUTATION.
In response, in 2002 US bishops approved a “zero-tolerance” policy, under which priests who molest children are no longer allowed a second chance to serve in the clergy.
Victim advocates say that relocating priests to poorer parishes overseas is the church’s latest strategy for protecting its reputation. …
The cases GlobalPost found are exactly what the church and Cardinal O’Malley’s commission need to be focusing on, said Peter Saunders, an advocate for abuse survivors and a lay member of the church’s commission.
“Zero tolerance is meaningless unless it applies to the whole institution,” he said. “Arguably, some of the biggest problems are in the less well-off parts of the world, South America, Africa, the Far East. This is where we know many priests flee to in order to carry on their abuse, which is an absolute outrage.”
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