EL PAÍS launched an investigation into pedophilia in the Spanish Church in 2018 and has updated with all known cases. If you know of any case that has not seen the light, you can write to us at: . If it is a case in Latin America, the address is: .
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The Peruvian cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani, and other restrictive measures after being accused of pedophilia, has replied that he is innocent and attacks Francisco for the decision: he assures that these penalties were imposed on him “without having been heard, without having known more and without a process would be opened.” He maintains this in a letter sent today to this newspaper by email, after this Saturday. This newspaper tried without success to obtain his version of the events since Wednesday afternoon, since Opus Dei, to which he has belonged for 62 years, claimed that it could not contact him because “it does not depend on Opus Dei, it is part of the Holy See.”
Cipriani, who was archbishop of Lima between 1999 and 2019, confirms the published information, but assures regarding the complainant’s accusations that “the facts they describe are completely false.” A 58-year-old man accuses him of having abused him when he was between 16 and 17 years old in 1983 at an Opus Dei center in Lima. She claims that during the confession he touched her buttocks under her clothes, caressed her and gave her kisses. This person maintains that he then told those responsible for the Work, but they did nothing.
In 2018 he decided to write to the Pope with the story of what happened, encouraged by the outbreak of the abuse scandal in Chile and Francis’ drastic measures in that country. The Pontiff acted immediately, sending a trusted priest to meet with the complainant and gather information. Furthermore, another accusation had already come against the cardinal in 2002, which was not followed up. The Pope gave credibility to the accusations and forced the retirement of Cipriani, who in December of that year turned 75 years old and, by practice, was obliged to present his resignation at that age. Normally the Pontiff does not accept it, he allows a few years to pass, but in this case he accepted it at the moment and dismissed it. He then punished him with exile and prohibited him from wearing cardinal symbols and making public statements.
However, Cardinal Cipriani, who was one of the greatest exponents of the Latin American Catholic extreme right, now publicly confronts the Pope’s decisions and rejects how he handled the case: “I have not committed any crime nor have I sexually abused anyone or in 1983, neither before nor after.” He then makes his reconstruction of what happened, which coincides with what was published in this newspaper: “In August 2018 I was informed that a complaint had arrived that was not delivered to me. Subsequently, without having been heard, without having known more and without a process being opened, on December 18, 2019, the Apostolic Nuncio verbally informed me that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had imposed a series of penalties on me limiting my priestly ministry and asking that he have a stable residence outside of Peru. I was also asked to remain silent, which I have done until now.”
The prelate believes that “it is serious that information is partially published that seems to come from documentation reserved by the Holy See that not even I have in my possession.” As for the victim, he declares that “despite the pain that all this causes me, I do not hold any grudge against the accuser, I pray for him and for all the people who have suffered abuse by the Catholic clergy, but I reiterate my complete innocence.” “Unfortunately, this is not the first time that a cardinal has been falsely accused, with stories full of lurid details,” he says.
Transfer to Madrid
Cipriani adds that on February 4, 2020 he had an audience with the Pope and “he allowed me to resume my pastoral tasks.” “This is demonstrated by my extensive pastoral activity carried out during these years, preaching spiritual retreats, administering sacraments, etc. In these years outside Lima I lived in Rome dedicated to my work as a cardinal member of the Dicastery for the Cause of Saints until I turned 80 and retired from all occupation in the Roman Curia and moved to Madrid,” he summarizes.
The cardinal reiterates in his writing his “total rejection and rejection of sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable people” and his commitment “to the Church’s fight to eradicate this scourge, following the instructions of John Paul II, Benedict XVI and the special leadership of Pope Francis, putting the victims at the center.”
