Clerical abuse scandal hits Argentine president's school
BUENOS AIRES — Rufino Varela was a distraught, confused 12-year-old when he went looking for help from the school chaplain to tell him he'd been sexually abused by a mason at his family's home.
Instead of aiding, Varela says, the Rev. Finnlugh Mac Conastair took off the boy's pants, flogged him and fondled him in a room below the chapel at one of Argentina's most prestigious schools. Then, the Irish priest known by many as "Father Alfredo," offered him candy and told him that they should keep it as a secret with God.
"I had come looking for help, but I felt that it was a punishment from God," Varela said. "I came back to the classroom, holding back tears, went home and never spoke about it."
The secret was kept for nearly four decades. But in recent months, Varela's decision to break his silence has led several other former students to denounce clerical abuse at a school that has educated President Mauricio Macri and many other members of Argentina's elite.
The case is one of several that have shown the church has not been spared sexual scandals even in the home territory of Pope Francis, who has pledged a zero-tolerance policy against abuses that have rocked the church around the world.
While the pope had no connection with the abuse at the time — he led the Argentine branch of the Jesuit order with no relationship to the school — Varela said he received a call from the pontiff this year after revealing the abuse publicly.
The Cardenal Newman school was launched in Argentina in 1948 by the Christian Brothers, a religious order founded two centuries ago to focus on educating disadvantaged youth. In recent years, it has faced abuse claims at many of the schools it has opened worldwide.
At the time of Varela's 1977 encounter with Mac Conastair, the socially conservative church school had evolved into something of a refuge for children of the rich.
Varela said he decided to confront Newman authorities about the abuse after he heard that the school planned to add a crown to the lion in its coat of arms in honor of Macri, a 1976 graduate who was elected president in 2015.
"Instead of a crown, it would give me more comfort to see a whip or a crown of thorns," Varela said in a letter to the rector. "This would be in remembrance of the aberrations that many others suffered."
Varela said Newman's rector, Alberto Olivero, then met with him, offered psychological treatment and tried to dissuade him from going public with the story. The school refused to comment and referred questioners to written statements.
Frustrated at the lack of public acknowledgement, Varela said, he spoke to Argentina's La Nacion newspaper in December 2016. He also began writing about it on Facebook.
In February, his phone rang and Pope Francis was on the line. The pontiff expressed his solidarity and apologized on behalf of the church. "He told me that I needed to understand that I was a very important part of a broken link," Varela said.
The Vatican doesn't confirm or deny such calls, saying they are part of Francis' pastoral activities.