{"id":56076,"date":"2015-03-30T12:00:44","date_gmt":"2015-03-30T11:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=56076"},"modified":"2015-05-05T21:25:54","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T20:25:54","slug":"victims-of-clerical-sex-abuse-join-forces-in-latin-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2015\/03\/victims-of-clerical-sex-abuse-join-forces-in-latin-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Victims of Clerical Sex Abuse Join Forces in Latin America"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Actors<\/a>

Actors Luis Gnecco (left) and Benjam\u00edn Vicu\u00f1a in a scene from \u201cKaradima\u2019s Forest\u201d, a film that portrays pedophile Chilean priest Fernando Karadima, seen here with one of his victims, James Hamilton, his \u201cfavourite\u201d, who finally dared to speak out. Credit: Courtesy of Constanza Valderrama<\/p><\/div>\n

20 Mar 2015 – <\/em>Victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests in Latin America are taking the first steps towards grouping together in order to bolster their search for justice \u2013 a struggle where they have found a new ally: filmmaking.<\/p>\n

\u201cBesides entertaining us, movies urge people not to forget, to memorise what is happening to us as a society,\u201d Chilean filmmaker Mat\u00edas Lira told IPS.<\/p>\n

He added that, with respect to the sexual abuse committed within the Catholic Church, \u201cthe media has a pending task, and society has a duty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Based on this premise, Lira directed \u201cKaradima\u2019s Forest\u201d<\/a>, based on real events. The film, which comes out in Chile in April, tells the story of a priest who sexually and psychologically abused dozens of boys and young men, and who was one of the country\u2019s most influential priests thanks to his enormous charisma and his reputation as a \u201csaint\u201d \u2013 which was even his nickname.<\/p>\n

There is great expectation surrounding Lira\u2019s film in Chile, a country with a highly conservative society where 67 percent of the population of 16.7 million identifies as Catholic.<\/p>\n

The film comes after \u201cThe Club\u201d<\/a>, by Pablo Larra\u00edn, winner of the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in February, which also tackles the question of pedophile priests in Chile.<\/p>\n

The case of Fernando Karadima is emblematic. As the parish priest of El Bosque (\u201cthe forest\u201d), in the wealthy Santiago neighbourhood of Providencia, the priest forged an empire with the backing of high-level church authorities from the early 1980s until his retirement from his post in 2006.<\/p>\n

An ecclesiastical court sentenced him in 2011 to \u201ca life of prayer and penitence\u201d for pedophilia and ephebophilia (a sexual attraction to post-pubescent adolescents), after he spent decades abusing boys and young men who trusted him, while amassing a fortune from donations to the church, according to an investigation by the Centro de Investigaci\u00f3n Period\u00edstica<\/a> (Centre for Investigative Reporting).<\/p>\n

Journalist Juan Carlos Cruz was one of those youngsters. He met Karadima when he was 15 years old, right after his father died, when he was grieving and vulnerable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey recommended that I go and talk to this priest, who was considered a saint, a man of enormous kindness. He was a very influential man and it was incredible when he paid attention to me,\u201d he told IPS.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe told me that from then on he would be my father, that I had to make my confession only to him, and that he would be my spiritual director,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Cruz said that at the age of 15 he was dazzled by the priest\u2019s powerful friends: ranging from then dictator Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990) to Angelo Sodano, who during the military regime in Chile was apostolic nuncio (1978-1988) and later became the Vatican\u2019s secretary of state (1991-2006), and including businessmen, senior military officials and high-level politicians.<\/p>\n

Shortly after Cruz met Karadima \u2013 who is now 84 \u2013 the priest began to sexually and psychologically abuse him.<\/p>\n

\u201cPsychological abuse sometimes is the most complicated: living under constant threat, under his yoke, living in fear and not being able to forgive yourself for it even once you\u2019re grown up,\u201d said Cruz from the United States, where he now lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cI consider myself an intelligent guy who has gone far. I\u2019m vice president of a multinational corporation responsible for 130 countries. Nevertheless, I can\u2019t forgive myself for how I let that man torture me for eight years,\u201d he lamented.<\/p>\n

Karadima\u2019s horrific abuse came to light in May 2010, when Cruz and other victims recounted what they had suffered on the weekly programme Informe Semanal of the public TV station Televisi\u00f3n Nacional <\/a>(TVN).<\/p>\n

James Hamilton, the priest\u2019s \u201cfavourite\u201d, had contacted TVN after seeing a report on that channel about the aberrations committed for years by Mexican priest Marcial Maciel<\/a>, the founder of the ultraconservative Legionaries of Christ<\/a> congregation. Maciel had a great deal of influence in the Vatican during the papacy of John Paul II (1978-2005).<\/p>\n

Maciel, the most famous pedophile priest in the region, who even had children despite his vows of celibacy, died in 2008, two years after Pope Benedict XVI (2005-2013) removed him from active ministry for creating a \u201csystem of power\u201d that enabled him to lead an \u201cimmoral\u201d double life \u201cdevoid of scruples and authentic religious sentiment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advocates of the victims unsuccessfully sought to bring to a halt the beatification of Pope John Paul II, arguing that he systematically covered up the sexual abuse committed by the powerful Mexican priest.<\/p>\n

In Chile, Karadima\u2019s victims are now fighting the appointment of Juan Barros as bishop of the city of Osorno. According to Cruz and other victims, Barros witnessed and participated in the abuse by Karadima.<\/p>\n

But far from listening to the victims, the Apostolic Nunciature or Vatican embassy confirmed its support for Barros, who became bishop on Mar. 21.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat support is arrogant and stupid,\u201d Cruz said.<\/p>\n

Karadima\u2019s victims also accuse Cardinal Francisco Javier Err\u00e1zuriz, who was named adviser to Pope Francis, Benedict\u2019s successor, of taking part in the cover-up. Several investigations concluded that Err\u00e1zuriz turned a deaf ear for years to the victims\u2019 complaints, when he was archbishop of Santiago.<\/p>\n

His successor, Ricardo Ezzatti, is also accused by Karadima\u2019s victims of helping cover up the powerful priest\u2019s crimes.<\/p>\n

This is one of the reasons that prompted the victims of abuses by different priests in various countries of Latin America to meet in mid February in Mexico City to join forces and try to draw attention \u2013 mainly the attention of the first Latin American pope, Francis, from Argentina \u2013 to the problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they named Pope Francis, we felt that in the Vatican we had someone from home, someone who spoke our own language, who understood our culture; it was an enormous source of pride. But the first victims he met with were from the United States, Germany and Great Britain; he never met with us,\u201d said Cruz.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to sit down with him and tell him what we have gone through,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

And that is because, even though he believes the Catholic Church in Latin America covered up the abuse by its priests, Cruz is still a fervent Catholic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI go to mass every Sunday,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not going to let them also steal something so precious as my faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lira, the filmmaker, is also Catholic, although he said the priesthood \u201chas a great debt to society\u201d in Chile and the rest of the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey should understand that apologising is not enough; what matters is that actions are taken,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

*******************<\/p>\n

Joining Forces against Regional Cover-Up<\/p>\n

To confront the church\u2019s policy of covering up the sexual abuse by priests, victims in Argentina, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Peru created a network called Unidos (United).<\/p>\n

In the Feb. 16 meeting held to found the network, in Mexico City, they called on Pope Francis to take effective actions and hold to account in civilian court both the perpetrators and those responsible for covering up the crimes.<\/p>\n

In a letter to the pope, they said that only with a profound overhaul of the church and civilian trials of those responsible \u201cwill there be a beginning of the end to this huge holocaust of thousands of girls and boys sacrificed to avoid scandal and to safeguard the image and the prestige of the representatives of the Catholic Church in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

One especially illustrative case, according to the new network, is that of J\u00f3zef Weso\u0142owski, a former apostolic nuncio in Santo Domingo (2008-2013) who was accused of pedophilia and is under house arrest in the Vatican, where he fled from the Dominican justice system.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough the Dominican courts are seeking his extradition, they\u2019re holding him there, where he is protected,\u201d said Cruz.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Latin America they step on us a little because our legal systems aren\u2019t like those of the United States or Europe. In Philadelphia, where I live, there are 34 priests in prison, and they sentenced the vicar general to 21 years for the cover-up,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

In February 2014, the United Nations accused the Vatican of violating the Convention of the Rights of the Child, because of the sexual abuse committed by its priests.<\/em><\/p>\n

________________________________<\/p>\n

Edited by Estrella Guti\u00e9rrez\/Translated by Stephanie Wildes<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 ipsnews.net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

20 Mar 2015 – Victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests in Latin America are taking the first steps towards grouping together in order to bolster their search for justice \u2013 a struggle where they have found a new ally: filmmaking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[183],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-religion-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56076\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}