Obispo Antonio Santarsiero Rosa, O.S.J.

Bishop Santarsiero was prelate of Huarí from 2001 to 2004 and bishop of the diocese of Huacho from 2004 to 2026. On April 8, 2026, Infovaticana reported that it had obtained a dossier with two testimonies alleging sexual wrongdoing by Bishop Santarsiero. One of the alleged victims was a minor at the time of reported abuse, which began soon after he entered the minor seminary of the Huacho diocese, and included “forced embraces, genital touching, and coercion linked to promises of scholarships and employment in diocesan companies.” The other complainant, now a priest, was a deacon serving as Santarsiero’s assistant in his early years as bishop when Santarsiero allegedly subjected him to non-consensual touching, sexually explicit behavior, and retaliation when the man resisted. Infovaticana reported that the dossier been hand-delivered on March 31, 2026 to Peru’s papal nuncio and that it was sent simultaneously to Cardinal Víctor Fernández, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. The priest alleging abuse said he had conveyed both testimonies twice in the past but had received no responses: he reported in November 2024 to then-Cardinal Robert Prevost, in his capacity as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops; and in December 2025 to the office of Pope Francis. Santarsiero denied the allegations. On the day after the Infovaticana report, the Peruvian bishops’ conference announced that Santarsiero would be stepping down as the conference’s general secretary while the allegations were investigated. On July 15, 2026, one month after Santarsiero’s 75th birthday, the Holy See announced in a one-sentence statement that Pope Leo had accepted Santarsiero’s resignation as bishop; no explanation was given.