P. Manuel Mendoza Ruiz

Manuel Mendoza Ruiz, a priest of the Prelature of Huamachuco in northern Peru, was the prelature’s chancery secretary when he was accused of sexually touching a 15-year-old boy in 2015. According to the account given by the victim to the media outlet Connectas, Mendoza, a friend of his family, went with him to a weekend retreat in Chimbote in May 2015. On the bus back to Huamachuco, the boy said, he woke to find the priest’s hand inside his trousers; Mendoza apologized, and then tried again.

Two seminarians had reportedly accused him earlier of seeking sex.

Bishop Ramis was told of the accusation in January 2016 and heard the boy in person. According to the mother, the boy’s statement was torn up and she was called a liar; Ramis says he tore it up because she wanted no action.

In 2016, following publicity about alleged abuses in Huamachuco, Ramis suspended Mendoza. In August 2018, Bishop Cisneros, who headed the prelature as apostolic administrator after Ramis’ retirement, provisionally lifted the suspension. In April 2019, Cisneros barred Mendoza from presenting himself as a priest pending psychological therapy, but the bishop accused the boy of having contradictory accounts.

In May 2017, the mother filed a criminal complaint for acts against modesty. The church authorities called it ongoing in mid-2020, and a 2023 column says it was closed.

Mendoza denied the accusation and says the Church never found him guilty. In August 2020, he was living with his family in Huamachuco, not exercising ministry. The Prelature of Caravelí had agreed to take him.