Vatican official arrives in Bolivia amid growing abuse scandal
The escalating scandal began when Spanish newspaper El País recovered and publicized the diary of Spanish Jesuit Alfonso Pedrajas, in which he admitted to sexually abusing approximately 85 minors while working at Catholic boarding schools in Bolivia through the 1970s and 1980s. The diary also detailed how multiple Church officials covered up Pedrajas’ abuse during and after his tenure in Bolivia. The cover up led to the Society of Jesus in Bolivia sanctioning eight, as-yet unnamed, former high-ranking officials of the order. Pedrajas died of cancer in 2009.
Since then, several other Catholic priests in Bolivia have been accused of sexually assaulting minors. One, Carmelite priest Milton Murillo, was arrested earlier this month. Bolivian newspaper Pagina Siete reported that, after Church officials were made aware of abuse allegations in 2014, Murillo was punished with a transfer to Rome, but was later reinstated as a pastor in Bolivia. As with Pedrajas, Murillo’s superiors were allegedly aware of his transgressions, but failed to take any meaningful action.
https://www.jurist.org/news/2023/05/vati...e-scandal/
The escalating scandal began when Spanish newspaper El País recovered and publicized the diary of Spanish Jesuit Alfonso Pedrajas, in which he admitted to sexually abusing approximately 85 minors while working at Catholic boarding schools in Bolivia through the 1970s and 1980s. The diary also detailed how multiple Church officials covered up Pedrajas’ abuse during and after his tenure in Bolivia. The cover up led to the Society of Jesus in Bolivia sanctioning eight, as-yet unnamed, former high-ranking officials of the order. Pedrajas died of cancer in 2009.
Since then, several other Catholic priests in Bolivia have been accused of sexually assaulting minors. One, Carmelite priest Milton Murillo, was arrested earlier this month. Bolivian newspaper Pagina Siete reported that, after Church officials were made aware of abuse allegations in 2014, Murillo was punished with a transfer to Rome, but was later reinstated as a pastor in Bolivia. As with Pedrajas, Murillo’s superiors were allegedly aware of his transgressions, but failed to take any meaningful action.
https://www.jurist.org/news/2023/05/vati...e-scandal/
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
