Bolivian prosecutors are looking into 35 Catholic Church members after more than a dozen victims accused them of s*xual abuse, authorities said Tuesday.
The announcement comes as the country is reeling from abuse confessions discovered in the personal diary of a Spanish priest who died in Bolivia in 2009 after decades of service.
At present, 35 people are accused and under investigation,” Daniela Caceres, a department head at the Bolivian attorney general’s office, told a press conference.
We have 17 people, identified victims, but out of respect and as a precaution for the protection of the victims, we are not going to give specific details, she added.
Prosecutors launched an investigation after the Spanish daily El Pais published an article in April about the late Spanish priest Alfonso Pedrajas, whose diary revealed that he abused more than 80 minors in Bolivia, where he had lived since the early 1970s.
Pedrajas also wrote in his journal that senior clergy were aware of his crimes but chose to remain silent.
Prosecutors confirmed on Tuesday that the Society of Jesus in Bolivia had delivered a copy of Pedrajas’ diary to them.
Caceres, on the other hand, claimed that the diary was incomplete, with some pages skipped and passages crossed out and erased.
She stated that Bolivian authorities will attempt to obtain the entire document or will seek the cooperation of Spanish prosecutors.
Pope Francis expressed his “shame and dismay” at the clerics’ sexual abuse in a letter released in mid-June by Bolivian President Luis Arce, vowing to shed light on what happened.
Arce’s government has discussed with the Vatican the need to strengthen controls to keep priests with a history of s*x offenses out of the country.
In addition, the Catholic Church has established four commissions to receive and process complaints.
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