TOLEDO (SPAIN)
The Tablet [Market Harborough, England]
February 5, 2025
By Bess Twiston Davies, Francis McDonagh
‘The exceptional nature of my case reveals that it should not be necessary to have to speak to the Pope for a trial to open.’
An ex-seminarian said abuse victims need press coverage and even the Pope’s intervention for the Spanish Church to investigate allegations of clergy abuse.
The man – under the pseudonym “Carlos” – alleged 15 years ago that Fr Pedro Rodríguez Ramos had abused him while he attended the minor seminary of the Archdiocese of Toledo.
After Carlos met the Pope in 2023, the Dicastery of the Doctrine of Faith (DDF) ordered the Spanish Church to open a canonical trial last March.
“The exceptional nature of my case reveals that it should not be necessary to have to speak to the Pope for a trial to open,” Carlos said. “Do all victims need to come and speak to him before anyone pays them any attention?”
He claimed the archdiocese finally sent the details of the allegation to Rome 12 years after his initial allegation because the case appeared in the Spanish daily El País.
“This demonstrates that had my case not come out in the press it would never have reached Rome,” he said. “It also shows the great work the press does to help victims. Francis has always told me I have his complete support for going to the press and continuing to fight for justice,” he told El País last week.
Carlos has denounced two Archbishops of Toledo – Spain’s primatial see – of covering up the abuse. Carlos’ mother had informed then-Archbishop Braulio Rodriguez of the abuse in 2010. The incumbent Archbishop Francisco Cerro gave the accused priest roles in the archdiocese until 2021.
Carlos added: “In all this time, only three priests and Pope Francis have kept their word and tried to get justice on my behalf until the end of the process. And even so, Francis himself is encountering obstacles.”
Carlos demanded Rodriguez face trial by the tribunal of the Roman Rota or another Spanish diocese instead of Toledo.
Last year, a civil court found Rodríguez guilty of abuse in a civil court but acquitted him on appeal due to an error in the initial investigation. The guilty verdict was upheld by the prosecutor’s office of the Supreme Court.
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In a separate case in Madrid, Fr Manuel González López-Corps went on trial last week for the sexual abuse of a younger man, now also a priest, over 15 years between 2000 and 2015 on church premises.
El País reported that the alleged victim complained to the Archdiocese of Madrid in 2019, where a canonical investigation found the case proved with the additional offence of abuse of the sacrament of confession. González had forced the younger man to confess and ask for absolution for acts they had both committed.
Sexual abuse of an adult cannot be prosecuted under canon law after a period of three years, but the abuse of the sacrament can be punished up to 20 years later, allowing the Madrid investigators to rule González guilty of “abuse of conscience”.
The then-Archbishop of Madrid Carlos Osoro Sierra banned González from public ministry for nine years, banned him permanently from teaching theological disciplines and from contact with seminarians, and ordered him to pay for his victim’s therapy.
González refused to comply, while a later ruling from the DDF rejected the archbishop’s sentence and also rejected an appeal by the victim, El País reported.