THE COUNTRY launches investigation into pedophilia in Spain and the Spanish Church in 2018 database Updated all known cases. If you know of an incident that has not yet come to light, please let us know below. abuse@elpais.es. If this is Latin America, the directions are: abuseamerica@elpais.es.
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The church has had its last success in dealing with the fallout of the scandal, as Bishop Rafael Zornoza of Cadiz and Ceuta prepares for his imminent resignation and learned last year that the Vatican had launched an investigation in the summer into allegations of child abuse in the 1990s, which were cured in Getafe. Spanish church officials have told Barron’s that they hope a decision will be made soon and that Zornoza will leave his post.
The possible dismissal arrives four days after EL PAÍS exclusively revealed the incident. The city of La Santa Sede had no knowledge of the death this summer, although the victim had sent a complaint by mail to the diplomatic service seeking clarification on the doctrine of the faith. The closure of the case comes four months after the Vatican, the Spanish state church, removed Zornoza from his post as a precaution. light.
Two formulas can be used for Rafael Zornoza’s sending off. One is that the pope has accepted his resignation, and the other is that the pope has been removed from his position as a precautionary measure in open canon law proceedings against the pope. The steps that could have been taken had the accusations been known, and above all the acceptance of a significant reduction, made possible a cautious exit, but both the Vatican and the Spanish Church underestimated or downplayed the seriousness of the incident.
In reality, Zornoza’s resignation was automatically offered in 2024, when he would be 75, according to canon legal norms for when bishops reach that age. Normally, the pope would extend each prelate’s term for several more years, unless they are sick or in poor health. When the Pope readily accepts it, it appears to be a subtle sign that something is not good. This is interpreted as some kind of disapproval message from the Vatican for his work, or that there is some problem.
In this case, the resignation would require a process that is at the heart of the news in this country, and that the bishopric, which is responsible for bishops around the world, would convey the order directly to the pope and that it would be carried out decisively. It would also give the impression that the Holy See had intervened in extreme ways to quell crises in other countries, partially repudiating the Spanish Church. It all depends on what message you want to convey in the face of the scandal that has damaged your organization.
But if Zornoza is removed as a precautionary measure, it would be a clearer signal that the Spanish church itself is willing to deal with the scandal. Because, according to Article 58 of the Vatican Council on Abuse Processes, the order depends on local ordinances. In this case, the Archbishop of Seville, Prefect of the Bishopric Doctrina de la Fe, was responsible for directing the case. The Spanish headquarters remains the archbishop of the Andalusian capital, who can decide on preventive measures, although it relies on the Council (the Vatican’s embassy in Spain) and delegates authority to the Tribunal of Rota, which can involve complex procedures.
The Rota court opened a preliminary investigation, but for about four months, Santa Sede and the Spanish Church continued to investigate Zornoza’s contact with minors.
Zornoza denied the accusations in a statement this month and also announced he was putting the matter on hold “to clarify the matter.” He also revealed for the first time that he has advanced cancer and needs treatment. “The accusations made, which refer to events over a three-year period, are both very serious and false,” the press note said.
The abuse the victim reports in her complaint began when she was 14 in 1994, when she gained access to the periodical, and escalated until she was 21. At the time, Zornoza was rector of a new seminary in Getafe, Madrid, a diocese founded three years earlier. The first line of the letter sent by the complainant reads: “I am writing this letter alone with the intention of preventing what happened to me from potentially continuing to happen to other children.” The sexual assaults the victim described – touching her private parts, fondling her, kissing her on the mouth – occurred at night: “Come to my room and be abused. Come in my bed, caress me and kiss me.”
The abuse continued after he arrived at the mayor’s office and entered the mayor’s seminary. During this time, she said, Zornoza would kiss her and touch her private parts “every night and in the morning” while she was in bed. “Several times I complained to Rafa that what we had was not good. He always told me it was a close friendship,” the victim wrote.
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