4 bishops referred to superiors in Mexico abuse probe
MEXICO CITY — The Vatican’s representative in Mexico said Tuesday that four Catholic bishops had been referred to their superiors over alleged connections to cases of sexual abuse as part of the church’s efforts to gather information about efforts to cover up abuse.
Nuncio Franco Coppola did not provide details on the bishops’ roles, but noted that in January and December an email address opened to receive abuse allegations took in dozens of allegations, mostly accounts of cover-ups.
Coppola made the comments at a news conference to announce that the Vatican would send its top sex abuse investigators to Mexico this month.
Victims of clerical sex abuse have expressed skepticism over the Vatican investigative commission that will collect statements and information about abuse in Mexico, though most said they would meet with Pope Francis’ investigators.
“Only by speaking with them can you demand results,” said Biani Lopez-Antunez, who was abused by a Legion of Christ school director in Cancun between the ages of 8 and 10. “The results of this visit must be measured only based on the facts, the reports, because I’m already tired of the fake action that operates at all levels of the church.”
The Vatican announced Tuesday that two investigators — Charles Scicluna, archbishop of Malta and deputy secretary for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Jordi Bertomeu — will visit Mexico City on March 20-27. They will meet with bishops, leaders of religious orders and victims who want to speak with them. They promise confidentiality.
Mexico, which after Brazil has the highest number of Catholics in the world, has been accumulating cases of abuse and cover-ups for years. Meanwhile, more and more victims like Lopez-Antunez are speaking up in the face of Vatican claims of “zero tolerance” to say that they are still waiting for justice.
The Mexican Episcopal Conference says the commission is coming at its request. It is made up by the same church officials who went to Chile in 2018 to investigate one case and returned with 2,600 pages of statements from more than 60 victims. It led Pope Francis to ask forgiveness and led to legal action.
Coppola said the investigators are coming because of the “seriousness” of the situation and because Mexico has such a large Catholic presence that it could become a model — “a good example or a bad example” — for other countries.
The investigators are allotting 30 minutes each to those who want to speak with them, so they recommend that they arrive with documents and written statements, Coppola said. The investigators will meet with anyone, from clergy to victims.
Rogelio Cabrera, president of the Mexican Episcopal Conference, said the investigators will have total freedom.
It was not clear what collaboration the church officials will have with Mexican authorities, but the conference’s secretary, Alfonso Miranda, said they had met with Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero so “that each authority does its duty, the state prosecutors as well as each bishop in his diocese.”
“There has to be intervention from some other external authority to determine criminal responsibility because if it is only the ecclesiastic commission, it’s very difficult for something to happen,” said Alberto Athie, a former Mexican priest who has campaigned for more than 20 years for victims of clerical abuse. If not, the commission could become just another example of the Vatican going through the motions but not getting to the bottom of it, he said.
For that reason, Athie believes a proposal before the Mexican Senate to create an independent investigative commission is critical, because it could “reconstruct the truth and turn over to the proper authorities all of those responsible,” including the abusers and those who covered up their actions.