Shocking record of Cardinal Fernández on sexual abuse. Victim travels to Rome to seek justice.

He is the former La Plata archbishop Víctor Manuel Fernández.

Pope Francis appointed him to a high rank in the Holy See.

Victims went to the Vatican today to demand zero tolerance in the abuse of minors.

An archbishop very close to the Pope is accused of covering up sexual abuse in Argentina, Víctor Manuel Fernández together with Pope Francis, who appointed him the new prefect of the Doctrine of the Faith. 

A victim of the La Plata priest Eduardo Lorenzo, the priest who was accused of pedophilia and ended up committing suicide, traveled to the Vatican. What he seeks is to prevent the former archbishop of La Plata, Víctor "Tucho" Fernández, whom he considers to be a cover-up for the priest denounced by more than five boys who went to the parish, from holding one of the highest positions in the Catholic Church. of the.

Diego Pérez (32), the victim who was 16 years old when the abuse occurred, traveled to Rome on Tuesday, via Ezeiza, accompanied by lawyer Sergio Salinas, from the International Network Against Ecclesiastical Child Abuse ECA (Ending Clergy Abuse) and complainant of the victims of the Próvolo Institute.

On this Thursday morning, the young man who suffered humiliation and torture, participated in a protest meters from Saint Peter's Basilica, in front of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, inside the Vatican, where Archbishop Fernández has been appointed , one of the priests closest to Pope Francis.

The Pope has promised to end sexual crimes within the Church and has asked for forgiveness from the victims. But activists in Rome want him to sign a zero-tolerance law to be approved by the Synod of Bishops on October 4.

Lawyer Salinas explained that Pérez's trip was financed by ECA, an entity that fights against clerical abuse. “We are about 30 people, from different countries, who make up this network against sexual abuse committed by priests and nuns,” he explained hours before participating in the escrache against Fernández.

Regarding the victim, the lawyer told Clarín: “This trip has been very moving for Diego because he has relived all the terror that he suffered when he was a teenager.”

Former Archbishop Fernández, who will be named Cardinal this Saturday, was appointed on July 1, 2023 as Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and President of the Pontifical Biblical Commission and the International Theological Commission.

Upon making his appointment public, the Vatican Press Office published the letter that Pope Francis dedicated to Fernández.

“Increase intelligence and the transmission of faith at the service of evangelization, so that its light is a criterion for understanding the meaning of existence, especially in the face of the questions raised by the progress of science and the development of society.” ”, this is, according to Pope Francis, the main purpose of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Advice from the Pope

“Dear brother: As the new Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, I entrust you with a task that I consider very valuable. Its central purpose is to guard the teaching that springs from faith to give reason for our hope, but not as enemies who point out and condemn,” begins the letter from the Supreme Pontiff addressed to whoever was one of the closest priests.

“The Dicastery that you presided over in other times used immoral methods. These were times when, rather than promoting theological knowledge, possible doctrinal errors were persecuted. What I expect from you is undoubtedly something very different,” he highlights.

Francis reduces the importance of monitoring cases of sexual abuse: “Given that for disciplinary issues – especially related to the abuse of minors – a specific Section with very competent professionals has recently been created, I ask that as Prefect you dedicate your efforts "personally in a more direct way to the main purpose of the Dicastery, which is to keep the faith."

Later, the Pontiff points out: “It is good that your task expresses that the Church encourages the charisma of theologians and their effort for theological research, as long as they are not content with a desk theology, with a cold and hard logic that  "seeks to dominate everything."

And he calls for: "We need a way of thinking that can convincingly present a God who loves, who forgives, who saves, who liberates, who promotes people and calls them to fraternal service".

The complaints against Lorenzo

The La Plata priest Eduardo Lorenzo committed suicide in December 2019, when he found himself cornered by allegations of sexual abuse and a request for his arrest.

At the headquarters of Caritas La Plata, where he was staying, the priest shot himself with a revolver in a room, where he had been referred by the Church authorities when the abuse to which he subjected the teenage boys and girls was uncovered. 

Lorenzo was accused of at least five cases of abuse against boys who participated in parish activities in ecclesiastical venues in the capital of Buenos Aires, Olmos and Berisso. That same day that he ended his life, Justice had authorized the priest's arrest, after insistent claims from the victims' relatives.

The priest's procedural situation had become complicated when the psychiatric examinations of experts from the Supreme Court arrived. The study by the Buenos Aires Forensic Expert Office concluded that the accused presented “psychopathic, perverse, narcissistic and obsessive traits.”

The episodes involving the religious man span between 1990 and 2008. Five men reported similar situations to Prosecutor Medina: the priest struck up a friendship and became a confidant of the victims and then subjected them to abuse.

The religious had already been denounced in 2008 by three young victims. However, the investigation did not progress. It was filed without citing the injured parties, denounced the plaintiff lawyer Juan Pablo Gallego.

Criticism of the archbishop

When Lorenzo's death became known, the then archbishopric of La Plata, Víctor "Tucho" Fernández, released an official communication with his signature. "The Archdiocesan Community, faced with the death of our brother Eduardo Lorenzo, who took his life after long months of enormous tension and suffering, we can only unite in prayer for him so that the God of life receives him in infinite love ”.

"The Lord himself will help us understand something in the midst of this dark mystery, and he will teach us something even through this pain," Fernández concluded.

A few days after the suicide of the priest, who risked a sentence of 25 years in prison, the La Plata Archbishop called for a farewell mass for Lorenzo, in the Inmaculada Madre de Dios church, in Gonnet, where the response was made.

Knowing this, the relatives of the victims protested the attitude taken by the highest authority of the Archdiocese of La Plata.

Fernández tried to limit the significance of the episode. “We are here with the objective of praying for the consolation of the relatives of the deceased,” explained the person in charge of the La Plata curia to a journalist from the portal www.221.com.ar.

He never approached the victims and regarding the judicial investigation, he argued: “We collaborated with Justice, the prosecutor can say that, hoping that the truth would be known. Unfortunately, death cut short that entire process.”

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