Colombia Court Finds Catholic Church Diocese Liable in Sexual Abuse Case

By Libardo Cardona
Metro News
October 7, 2015

http://www.metronews.ca/news/world/2015/10/08/colombia-court-finds-catholic-church-diocese-liable-in-sexual-abuse-case.html


Colombia's Supreme Court has ordered a Roman Catholic diocese to pay about $220,000 to the families of two children molested by a priest. It would be the first time the church has paid a financial penalty in Colombia for abuse committed by one of its priests.

The priest, Luis Enrique Duque, is serving time for abusing two boys, then aged 7 and 8, in 2007 in a town northwest of Bogota. The Supreme Court decision, announced Thursday, upholds a 2011 lower court ruling that found the diocese liable and ordered that the money be distributed among the boys, their siblings and their parents.

The church had appealed, arguing that the abuse was a violation of Duque's pastoral mission.

The Supreme Court decision affirms that the church is liable because priest took advantage of his religious role to commit his crimes.

"The diocese must right the wrong that the institution, via one of its agents, inflicted on the defendants," the court wrote.

At least four of Colombia's 5,500 priests have been arrested on charges of child abuse since 2010.

While the judgment is the first in Colombia, the Catholic Church in other parts of the world has been forced to pay billions of dollars in court judgments, settlements, compensation claims and legal fees over the years.

In the United States, for example, dioceses have paid more than $3 billion on settlements with victims since 1950, according to the bishops' own studies and news reports.

The Vatican as a rule doesn't comment on such cases, leaving it to the local church to do so. The Colombian diocese did not immediately respond to the ruling Thursday, but four years ago said it would respect any judicial decision in the case.