Catholic Church in the Philippines Accused of Impunity Over Priest Abuse
A watchdog group on Wednesday accused the Catholic Church in the Philippines of a culture of impunity, saying it had found scores of priests who had been accused of sexually abusing children and that many remain in active ministry.
The group, Bishop Accountability, said it had identified 82 priests and brothers with links to the Philippines who had been accused of abuse in recent decades. It said it compiled the list from reputable media reports, court records, church documents and other public sources.
But not one priest has been convicted of sexual abuse in the Philippines, the group said, citing Bishop Buenaventura Famadico. The country has the third-highest number of Catholics in the world, about 85 million, after Brazil and Mexico.
It was the latest sign that the Catholic Church’s global abuse scandal is still ricocheting, this time in Asia, a region that the Vatican is eyeing for growth.
The list almost certainly did not cover all abuse because it often goes unreported. The group was established in Boston in 2003, and has compiled similar lists of priests publicly accused of abuse in the United States, Argentina, Chile and Ireland.
Take the example of the Rev. Jose Belcina, who was charged by prosecutors in the city of Cebu in 2006 with rape and child abuse. The church removed him from his parish and made him undergo “a process of spirituality,” Ms. Doyle said.
But when the police tried to arrest Father Belcina they could not find him. According to Ms. Doyle’s group, when a journalist asked the spokesman of the Archdiocese of Cebu about Father Belcina’s location, he responded that he was not the priest’s custodian.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/29/world...abuse.html
A watchdog group on Wednesday accused the Catholic Church in the Philippines of a culture of impunity, saying it had found scores of priests who had been accused of sexually abusing children and that many remain in active ministry.
The group, Bishop Accountability, said it had identified 82 priests and brothers with links to the Philippines who had been accused of abuse in recent decades. It said it compiled the list from reputable media reports, court records, church documents and other public sources.
But not one priest has been convicted of sexual abuse in the Philippines, the group said, citing Bishop Buenaventura Famadico. The country has the third-highest number of Catholics in the world, about 85 million, after Brazil and Mexico.
It was the latest sign that the Catholic Church’s global abuse scandal is still ricocheting, this time in Asia, a region that the Vatican is eyeing for growth.
The list almost certainly did not cover all abuse because it often goes unreported. The group was established in Boston in 2003, and has compiled similar lists of priests publicly accused of abuse in the United States, Argentina, Chile and Ireland.
Take the example of the Rev. Jose Belcina, who was charged by prosecutors in the city of Cebu in 2006 with rape and child abuse. The church removed him from his parish and made him undergo “a process of spirituality,” Ms. Doyle said.
But when the police tried to arrest Father Belcina they could not find him. According to Ms. Doyle’s group, when a journalist asked the spokesman of the Archdiocese of Cebu about Father Belcina’s location, he responded that he was not the priest’s custodian.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/29/world...abuse.html
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"
