(ZENIT News / Chiclayo, Peru, 12.09.2024).- Following is the full press release, issued by the Diocese of Chiclayo, as the result of defamations in an America Television (Peru) program against Cardinal Francis Prevost, Bishop Emeritus of that Diocese, and current Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops.
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In regard to the coverage of the “Fourth Power” program of America Television, broadcast on Sunday, September 8, the Bishop of Chiclayo states the following:
1.In the first week of the month of April 2022, three young women came to the Bishopric of Chiclayo to complain against Fr. Eleuterio Vásquez González for alleged sexual abuse against minors. They were received and attended by the then Bishop of Chiclayo, Monsignor Robert Francis Prevost, O.S.A.
2.Having received the complaint and keeping in mind the principle of presumed innocence both at the civil as well as the ecclesiastical level (CCC 1321 §1), the application was carried out of the cautionary measures to initiate the prior investigation. The denounced priest, who has never admitted he committed the acts attributed to him, was removed from the parish entrusted to him and was prohibited from exercising the priestly ministry. The priest accepted the imposition of such measures and went to reside in his family’s home in the province of Santa Cruz.
For their part, the young women proceeded to file a complaint in the civil court. It must be added that the alleged victims were offered psychological aid if they so desired.
3.On July 21, 2022 , the prior investigation having been completed, Monsignor Robert Prevost sent the resulting dossier to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, — the Roman Curia’s competent body for complaints of sexual abuse against minors by the clergy –, for their corresponding study.
4.In the first quarter of 2023, the Prosecutor’s Office communicated to the young women the filing of the case due to the prescription of the reported facts.
5.On April 3, 2023, the Bishop of Chiclayo sent the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, as further documentation, the Prosecutor’s Office sentence on the prescription of the reported facts.
6.While the dossier was being studied in the Dicastery mentioned above, on April 12, 2023 Monsignor Robert Prevost took possession of the office of Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops in Rome.
7.Subsequently, on August 10, 2023, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith emitted an answer, filing the case “pro nunc”.
8.In November 2023, Ana María Quispe, one of the complainants, initiated a campaign demanding justice especially through the social networks, as she did not agree with the fiing of the civil and ecclesiastical courts.
9.Monsignor Guillermo Cornejo, at the time Apostolic Administrator of Chiclayo, addressing Ana María Quispe’s public discontent,
decided to open the case for the second time in the ecclesiastical court. The victims were summoned again but one did not attend: Ana María Quispe, who, when she was notified, said publicly that she would not attend alleging security reasons.
10.The investigation having concluded with the testimonies provided, the resulting dossier was sent again to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the case remaining open up to now.
IN CONCLUSION:
-What the “Fourth Power” Program affirmed, that Cardinal Robert Prevost covered up the priest Eleuterio Vásquez González and that he kept silence in face of the complaints, does NOT CORRESPOND TO THE TRUTH.
Nor is it true that the said priest admitted to Cardinal Prevost that he had committed the acts of which he was accused. From the moment of the reception of the complaint, and maintaining the right of the presumption of innocence, it was proceeded according to the guidelines of the Church both in the prior investigation as well as in the application of the precautionary measures: the removal from the parish and the prohibition of the public exercise of the priestly ministry.
-It does NOT CORRESPOND TO THE TRUTH that the priest Eleuterio Vásquez González admitted the acts, matter of investigation, to Monsignor Guillermo Cornejo. What was said in statements to the press regarding “admission of the facts” was related to celebrating Masses publicly, and from that time, he no longer did so.
-What the program mentioned, that “the Church has done nothing to investigate,” does NOT CORRESPOND TO THE TRUTH. As stated previously, the case was sent to the Holy See, was filed for lack of proofs and, in face of the public appeal of one of the complainants, the cause was reopened, was investigated again and is currently being looked at by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. It must be added that although it was stated publicly that there were more alleged victims, only two of the three that initially complained went to make a statement.
-The affirmation that the Catholic Church turned its back on the alleged victims does NOT CORRESPOND TO THE TRUTH. On the contrary, they were given the freedom to file a complaint in the civil court and they were offered the necessary psychological help if they requested it.
IT IS A LACK OF TRANSPARENCY by the “Fourth Power” program when in the coverage only the press release of the Bishopric of Chiclayo were mentioned, where actions carried out by him were detailed, without reading the content.
-In regard to the case of Fr. Ricardo Yesquén, given the serious degenerative illness he is suffering, he does not have the capacity to defend himself, so that a case against him cannot be opened. He has not exercised the priestly ministry for years.
-The Diocese of Chiclayo expresses its commitment to protect the physical and moral integrity of minors and vulnerable personnel, condemning any kind of behaviour that attempts against them.
Finally, the Bishop of Chiclayo makes an appeal to the “Fourth Power” program to rectify the information published in quest of the primacy of truth in its journalistic work.
