2023-05-12 17:04:00
May 12, 2023 / 10:04 a.m.
As a result of an investigation published on April 29, 2023 by the newspaper El País, of Spain, with the title “Diary of a pedophile priest”, it was learned that the Jesuit Alfonso Pedrajas Moreno, who died in 2009, had committed abuses against minors. during the exercise of his ministry in Bolivia.
How did the case come to light?
The complainant was the priest’s nephew, who found the newspaper in 2021 and first brought his accusation to the Spanish prosecutor’s office, where they rejected it for having outlawed it. He later assures that he went to the Society of Jesus in Bolivia, and there they also dismissed the case. Finally, he went to El País through an email message.
Who is the Jesuit accused of abuse?
Nicknamed “Padre Pica”, Alfonso Pedrajas Moreno, was born in Valencia (Spain) on June 10, 1943. He entered the Society of Jesus at the age of 17 and arrived in Bolivia in 1971, after a decade working in Peru and Ecuador. .
He was a novice formator in the seminary and director of the Colegio Juan XXIII, in Cochabamba. He also worked in the San Calixto, Nacional Ayacucho schools and in the Juvenile Correctional Facility in La Paz.
He died in Cochabamba (Bolivia) on September 5, 2009.
How many minors would he have abused?
In the message sent by the priest’s nephew to the newspaper, he says that there is a personal diary where “Pica” confesses up to 89 rapes of minors. The last record is dated October 11, 2008.
According to the young man’s testimony, the letter also reveals a network of cover-ups, since it indicates that at least seven superiors and a dozen clergymen were aware of what was happening.
The response of the Society of Jesus in Bolivia
Given this, the current provincial of the Society of Jesus acknowledged having addressed two complaints against the Jesuit: one received in September 2022, and another in April 2023, both under investigation.
Added to this, the Jesuits in Bolivia announced an investigation for cover-up, for which they determined the immediate suspension of eight of their members.
Some of them worked as superiors while the abuses were committed, and others held those positions after the death of the priest, a time when there could have been unheeded complaints.
What have the authorities in Bolivia determined?
The Bolivian State Attorney General’s Office reported that it will investigate the facts linked to the Spanish Jesuit, a process for which the Society of Jesus guaranteed its collaboration.
The attorney general, Wilfredo Chávez, communicated on his social networks that the background information will be requested via the consular, so that “this very serious fact” can be investigated.
The bishops condemn the abuses of “Padre Pica” and the cover-up
The Bolivian Episcopal Conference (CEB) condemned the abuses, apologized to the victims, and the bishops were willing to collaborate with the investigations. In turn, they expressed their commitment to listening and accompaniment.
The former students of the Juan XXIII Institute, in Cochabamba, also spoke on the subject, who in a statement condemned the acts of pedophilia that occurred in the school between 1972 and 1987, “whose confessed author is the Spanish Jesuit Alfonso Pedrajas Moreno”.
They also expressed their “solidarity and unconditional support” to the comrades who were victims “of such reprehensible acts.”
They also denounced “the cover-up by the Society of Jesus of which they were fully aware”, revealed not only in the confessions of the abusive priest, but also in “the complaints filed by the students at different times”, which led to their expulsion.
#case #Jesuit #committed #numerous #abuses