In addition to the debt to compensate the damage towards victims of clerical pedophilia by civil and ecclesiastical authorities, it is possible that minors still experience the latent threat of “beasts in a cassock” because they enjoy —or enjoyed, for those who have already died— of the promised paradise of impunity that Mexico offers.
“I died too, but since there was no blood, nobody noticed”; is the phrase that became a trend on TikTok because people on the social network used it to tell the world that at some point in their childhood they suffered sexual violence from a relative, a teacher, a neighbor… a priest.
This virtual communication forum —qualified as a torrent of frivolous content— on this occasion it was a window of collective catharsis for the victims in a country, which according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)heads the world statistics regarding this crime perpetrated against boys, girls and adolescents.
And it is that he sexual abuse towards a minor represents a “psychic murder” that transgresses its development, but when it “is perpetrated by those who should give guidance and comfort, the infamy assumes thunderous proportions”; this is how the book defines the consequences of this offense Sacred Predators, Clerical Pedophilia in Mexico published by Grijalbo in 2021.
To understand from another perspective the repercussions of these attacks provoked by religious leaders, Joaquin Aguilar Mendezmember and founder of the Network of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP)estimated that more than 80 percent of victims attempt suicide.
And those who don’t get it, could suffer a emotional damage forever.
Bernardo Barracomaster in Sociology of Contemporary Catholicism assured that predatory Catholic clerics are someone “evil who wraps himself up and disguises himself with the symbols of holiness. An unfortunate being who seduces and sexually violates his victims with the face and clothing of an angel ”.
Debt and the latent threat
The pederastia clerical it is a criminal phenomenon that translates into abuse and sexual violence; The same that represents “the dark and perverse side of the Catholic Church” and that has been seen in other religions as well, says Barranco; who also defines the perpetrators as “beasts in cassocks”.
For the sociologist, the problem is also that pedophile priests are sheltered by the dominance of a patriarchal cultureincluding the media that have become complicit in covering them up: “In Mexico, the episode of CNI Channel 40 is shameful, with the announced business boycott as coercion for daring to broadcast complaints in 1997. With honorable exceptions, the Mexican media arrived late.”
at least since 1917 the Catholic Church has identified the presence of clerical pedophilia, although not “with the desired forcefulness”explains Professor Barranco who resumed the paragraph 2 of rule 2359 of that time contained in the Canon Law that said: “If they admit a crime against the sixth commandment of the decalogue with minors under sixteen years of age (…) they are suspended, they are declared infamous, in case they have any type of trade, benefit, dignity, or ministry they are deprived of them, and in cases more serious are deposed”
In recent decades, the barrage of complaints about the criminal phenomenon within the Catholic Church has not stopped. For example, the complaint published in 1997 by the American newspaper The Harford Courant about the abuses of Marcial Maciel Degollado, leader and founder of the Legionaries of Christ in Mexico.
As well as a report titled Church allowed abuse by priest for years carried out by the research unit Spotlight From the newspaper The Boston Globeanecdote that even It was taken to the big screen and uncovered the sewer in various parts of the world.
In March 2023 the Dutch journalist Ecke Overbeek published an investigation that further stoned the church founded by the apostle Peter titled Maximum guilt. John Paul II knew it (translated from Polish Maxim Culp. John Paul II knew)which talks about how the charismatic subject —who paralyzed Mexico City from his Popemobile or filled stadiums on each of his visits to our country— It was also concealer of pedophile priests before and during his tenure at the head of the Vatican.
“We have witnessed how the Church in the last 20 years has faced a planetary crisis caused by pedophilia scandals, only comparable to the crisis of the Reformation in the Middle Ages. There are enormous differences between the two, the shock of the 16th century caused an internal fracture, the current crisis of the 21st century is the rupture of the Church with modern society, that is, a civilizational crisis.says Bernardo Barranco for his part.
In Mexico “there is a great debt, we are many victims… The institution does not yet have an accurate mechanism to give adequate, timely care and not re-victimize you” since there must be comprehensive reparation for the damage regardless of whether there was a statute of limitations for the crime, he asserted Joaquin Aguilarleader in Mexico of the Network of Survivors of Sexual Abuse by Priests.
The also lawyer explained that, although the Catholic Church has shown signs of openness to prevent new cases, the truth is that athere is still resistance from dioceses or congregations that continue to cover up and hinder investigations.
“In the congregations it has taken more work and there is a black hole there… There are many cases that have not been treated as they should be and one day a problem (of new complaints) will be triggered, just as at the time it happened with the dioceses ”.
Regarding the actions of the civil authority, the defender of children’s rights assured that it does practically nothing to deal with the cases and estimated that 90 percent of the aggressor priests are not receiving judicial punishment due to the impunity that is endemic to Mexicoreason why many of these have already died without receiving a punishment.
There are hundreds of victims who do not wish to speak before the ecclesiastical or judicial authority, most of them are only looking for psychological support.
Joaquin Aguilar
The expert assured that he has noticed a discrepancy between the number of offenders that the church has withdrawn for committing pedophilic acts and the number of open folders by the authority in charge of prosecuting this crime ex officio, a situation that he attributes, in addition to judicial deficiency, also to the mistrust of the victims in the authorities or the fear of double victimization that they could face due to “the cumbersome processes ”.
“I have been fighting this for nearly 30 years from the moment it happened to me… I am not going to find justice because my attacker has already died… it does me good to help people, it is an encouragement to understand that until the day I die, I have never found justice”, said Joaquín Aguilar, also a survivor of clerical abuse.
“Spiritual power” as a mechanism of coercion
Everything happened in the sacristy. Armando “N” waited at the end of mass, when there was no one to attack with touching whoever was his altar boy, a boy who from 8 to 12 years old suffered hell inside the house of God.
The priest not only took advantage of his moral authority to commit the abuses, but also of the poverty of the minor’s family, for which reason he came to give them groceries or provide them with vitamins as part of the coercion mechanism.
One day, the minor’s mother discovered what was happening to the read a conversation in the Messenger chat between the priest. He went to the authorities of the municipality of Querétaro to file the complaint in 2019, but the priest is free.
“Dirty clothes are washed at home ma’am”claimed at some point the parish secretary to the mother of the victim and who she was also attacked by the rest of the community of faithful for raising his voice to defend his son.
The Congregation of the Passion of Christ, group to which the person involved belongs; promised to remove him from public events, however, witnesses reported that he continued to carry out normal activities.
Regarding the legal process, the road has not been easy: although they managed to learn it thanks to media pressure and little more than two years after the complaint, a control judge released him for “not represent a danger to society”.
The alleged attacker has had lawyers paid by both the congregation and his family.
“There is already a sentence, but they have opted for legal resources that prevent their detention”explained María Fernanda Lazo Pairo, from the Vida Plena group and who shared for Sopitas.com the testimony of this little one and whom his group has supported.
We believe that there are more victims of this priest… I approached the Diocese of Querétaro, asking for their intervention, to speak with more children, but they were very closed. The parish community also opposed it.
María Fernanda Lazo Pairo, for Sopitas.com
Although the minor and his family have had the psychological containment by the Lazo Pairo team to move forward in life, the expert commented that there is still a lot to do on the agenda, since recalled that clerical abusers take advantage of the economic situation of their victims; as well as his “higher spiritual power”.
