Fr. Louis M. Diogo

From the Azores, where he was ordained in 1946. Arrived in the U.S. in 1954 to work in the Diocese of Providence. Incardinated in 1983. Retired in 1993 after his cousin told the Diocese that he had sexually abused her and her sister as children in the 1950s and 1960s, beginning when she was age 5 and through her teens. Diogo was teaching the girls piano lessons, and assigned to St. Francis Xavier in East Providence during the time in question. The Diocese found the woman to be credible. Diogo was not charged criminally due to the statute of limitations. He was named “pastor emeritus” of St. Elizabeth Parish in Bristol, where he had been assigned since 1972, apparently without restrictions. In 2005 one of Diogo’s victims reported that Diogo had returned to Rhode Island and was saying mass; the Diocese immediately told him that he could not say mass or function as a priest. In 3/2006 another woman reported to the Diocese that she and her sister were sexually abused as children by Diogo; her sister confirmed that she was abused, beginning at age 11, at St. Francis Xavier. Diogo died 4/4/2015. Included 7/1/2019 on the Diocese’s list of credibly accused. Included in the RI Attorney General’s 3/20/2026 report.