The Bolivian Bishops’ Conference (CEB) apologized this Wednesday for the case of abuse of the priest Alfonso Pedrajas, the Spanish Jesuit who died in 2009, who admitted in a secret newspaper to having abused dozens of children in different schools of the order in the Andean country and how the command covered everything up. “As a church we condemn these acts, we stand in solidarity with the victims who have suffered sexual abuse, we ask their forgiveness and we tell them that we share their suffering and disappointment at these serious events that have shaped their lives and have caused deep pain,” the bishops of Bolivia said in a statement. The Bolivian Church’s reaction comes three days after this newspaper published the diary of a pedophile priest. An unusual reaction, both because of the speed with which the Bolivian prelates spoke up and because of the strong condemnation when compared to other European churches, such as the Spanish one.
The CEB has promised to offer support to the victims, to listen to them and accompany them. He has also asked not to politicize the case, as he says has been done “in some statements on the subject”. “We are committed to ensuring that the investigations are conducted with transparency and impartiality,” the bishops added.
On the other hand, the Society of Jesus in Bolivia filed a complaint with the National Police on Wednesday to launch an official investigation into the case. This is “general” and is motivated by the report published by EL PAÍS on the newspaper left by the Jesuit. It is not the Order’s first action after learning of the case. The Order’s Provincial Superior, Bernardo Mercado, announced this Tuesday that the company has sanctioned eight former high-ranking officials of the congregation accused of covering up the crimes of Pedrajas, known as Padre Pica. The Order has not yet released the names of these former senior officials. Yes, he qualified that five of them held the position during the time Pica committed the abuses and another three did so after his death. “In accordance with our commitment to the population and government authorities with whom we have been in contact, we will formalize the complaint today; Father Bernardo Mercado will sign the lawsuit so that the investigation can begin,” Jesuit lawyer Audalia Zurita told the media before entering the offices of the Special Unit for Combating Violence in La Paz.
On the other hand, Ombudsman Pedro Callisaya, in a statement published this Wednesday, called on the Bolivian government to intervene and ensure that the victims of Pedrajas receive “comprehensive care”, since “they certainly continue to suffer the effects of these anomalies “. It has also urged the Catholic Church to “apply preventive measures and make every effort” to prevent children “being exposed to sexual assaults in reception or educational establishments, which should be spaces that offer them security… and where they can fully express themselves Your rights The Ombudsman has also offered to hear and legally accompany victims who need his help.
The alumni association of the Bolivian Juan XXIII School in Cochabamba, which Pedrajas headed and where he carried out many of the attacks he acknowledges in the newspaper, reports that decades ago they denounced the Society of Jesus in Bolivia for which they ” had full knowledge” of the facts and hushed them up. “Not only because of the repeated confessions made by Pedrajas Moreno to the Catalan provincials and priests of this institution (which come to light in the newspaper), but also because of the complaints made by the students at various times ‘the school for which they were expelled’. Or in other cases “violently to silence them,” according to a statement released by the association on Tuesday.
The General Assembly of Former Students of the Colegio Juan XXIII met on May 1 to discuss a position on the publication of the case and the testimonies of five of the Jesuit’s victims published by this newspaper. After the meeting, he “strongly” condemned the “events (…) in the years 1972-1987 of which Pedrajas is the professed author”. They also expressed their solidarity with the victims, many of whom are part of their collective, and called on the Bolivian bishops and state to “carry out the investigations that the case warrants.” The president of the alumni organization, Hilarión Baldiviezo, told the press that the suspension of the company’s superiors, ordered by the provincial, “is not enough” and they are asking for criminal sanctions.
The Juan XXIII school is a boarding school for children of rural origin. It was founded in 1964 and passed into the hands of the Society of Jesus at the end of that decade. The Spaniard Alfonso Pedrajas became deputy director in 1972. For 15 years he was the main Jesuit authority at the Education Center, which he used to abuse minors, crimes he considered a “disease.”
He kept a record on his computer of his actions and also of the religious with whom he spoke about them. 13 years after his death, this newspaper came into the hands of his nephew Fernando Pedrajas, who reported it to the Bolivian church authorities and gave the newspaper to EL PAÍS. The Bolivian Jesuits only responded to this complaint after the report was published. Previously they had said that they had not validated it.
Audalia Zurita, the Society of Jesus’ lawyer in Bolivia, argued that the order has a “safe environment” policy that follows Pope Francis’ treatment directives for victims of child abuse. He also told the press that the company was “not the accused but the accuser.”
The Attorney General of the Bolivian State, Wilfredo Chávez, reported this Wednesday that he had already requested information from the Spanish Public Prosecutor’s Office, as well as from EL PAÍS, in order to use the data obtained to support a criminal case in Cochabamba, the epicenter of the activities of Pica. “These are events that happened a few decades ago, but there are still some people who took part and learned about these heinous criminal acts that are still working in the Society of Jesus,” he explained on a Wednesday Press conference.
Chávez pointed out that the revelations about the abuse of Father Alfonso Pedrajas were “not an isolated case” as other members of the Society of Jesus in Bolivia had been accused of similar crimes. In 2019, the Efe news agency published allegations of pedophilia against another Jesuit who died that year, by a former religious man who was allegedly his victim.
The President of the Human Rights Commission of the Legislative Assembly, Magalí Gómez, also sided with the investigation. “We will follow up this case,” he told Bolivian journalists. The revelations about Pedrajas, whose fatalities he himself estimated at around 85 children, shook Bolivia and made headlines in the media these days.