2023-06-19 15:45:50
Recent protests following revelations could mark a turning point in the sex abuse crisis of the Catholic Church in Bolivia. The leaden screed is also beginning to rise in Brazil over these long-silenced acts.
In Latin America, public outrage over sexual abuse has long been muted, in part because the Catholic Church remains one of the continent’s most powerful institutions.
However, that could change. In Bolivia, a 75% Catholic country, hundreds of people have demonstrated in recent weeks against the Roman Church to denounce the abuses committed by priests in recent decades, according to the Religion News Service agency.
Active concealment by the Church
The affair of the Spanish priest Alfonso Pedraja, revealed by the daily El Pais, set fire to the powder. In his logbook, which journalists obtained, he recounts having abused at least 85 young boys from the Catholic school in Cochabamba, in central Bolivia, in which he worked for 17 years.
His account also highlights the active concealment of these practices by Church leaders for decades. All this blew the screed of lead and opened the floodgates to the indignation and anger of the Bolivians.
The survivors of these abuses have also reacted by filing a complaint and the government has created a commission to investigate and punish these cases of abuse.
Brazil also concerned
Bolivia is not the only country concerned. Brazil, which has some 120 million Catholics, is also since the publication, at the end of May, of a book on pedophilia in the Church. He revealed that 108 priests and Catholic leaders have faced legal proceedings in Brazil since the year 2000. Figures far below reality, according to the two Brazilian journalists who authored the survey.
Their work aims to correct the lack of attention to this decades-long abuse crisis.
According to Religion News Service, recent events in Brazil and Bolivia signal a new awareness of these realities. Last May, for example, a Dominican brother was arrested in Sao Paulo for having produced and stored pornographic photos of teenagers. According to the local police, the Dominican order collaborated with her and the cleric was removed from his priestly duties.
Carole Pirker/asch
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