MEXICO
Mexico News Daily
Thursday, April 6, 2017
The Catholic Church called them martyrs Tuesday but two of them rejected the label, calling themselves “victims of priests” instead.
Joaquín Aguilar and Jesús Romero Colín declared that rather than being martyrs they are the victims of clergymen whose crimes have been covered up by Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera.
The two said their own history of sexual abuse has been repeated in recent cases of sexual assault by priests in the cities of Oaxaca, San Luis Potosí and León, and that bishops have opted to protect the Catholic Church’s image instead of supporting the victims and seeking justice.
Three new cases of priests being accused of sexual abuse have come to light since last September.
Victims were referred to as “present-day martyrs” during a special “day of prayer” organized Tuesday by the church. It was the first time the Mexican Episcopal Conference, the church’s official leadership body, has publicly acknowledged irregularities in the follow-up of cases of pedophilia.
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