CHILE/PARAGUAY: Two Church sex abuse cases open in Latin America; Chile protest over Church link between gays and paedophilia

Record ID: 334606

  • Title: CHILE/PARAGUAY: Two Church sex abuse cases open in Latin America; Chile protest over Church link between gays and paedophilia
  • Date: 16th April 2010
  • Summary: SANTIAGO, CHILE (APRIL 15, 2010) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PROTESTORS GATHERED OUTSIDE APOSTOLIC NUCIATURE TO HAND-IN LETTER OF PROTEST OVER COMMENTS MADE BY VATICAN SECRETARY OF STATE TARCISIO BERTONE POLICE ARRIVING ON SCENE VARIOUS OF SEXUALITY RIGHTS ACTIVIST FERNANDO MUNOZ ATTEMPTING TO DELIVER LETTER POLICE AT NUCIATURE DOOR YOUNG PEOPLE IN PROTEST (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) SEXUAL MINORITIES UNIFICATION MOVEMENT LEADER, FERNANDO MUNOZ, SAYING: "When homosexuality is related to paedophilia, they are branding us as criminals. We are not criminals and we are here to show our faces. We haven't committed any crimes and so the implications (of what Bertone said) offend us and are judgmental. So we are here protesting outside the Vatican offices, outside the Nuciature which is the Vatican's embassy in our country, so that Cardinal Bertone apologises. Because he has offended and hurt all the lesbians, transgender and homosexual people in our country." VARIOUS OF PROTESTORS OUTSIDE NUCIATURE (4 SHOTS) (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MUNOZ, SAYING: "Linking homosexuality with pedophilia has no basis. The problems of pedophilia belong to the Church and are due to its structure, its power relations, its culture of secrecy, the money they have, the way power is managed in an institution like that. We don't want another Spanish Inquisition, we don't want a witch hunt where the hunt is for gays or lesbians or transgenders rather than witches. What we want is for human rights to be respected." CHURCH OFFICIAL SPEAKING WITH POLICE MUNOZ ENTERING TO HAND IN LETTER GENERAL VIEW OF PROTEST
  • Embargoed: 1st May 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVABIC54WW0ZIOZPYB5FRRDFUJ9S
  • Story Text: The Vatican's second top official came under fire on Thursday (April 15) for linking pedophia to homosexuality during a visit to Chile, days after Chilean prosecutors opened a second case against a Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing minors.
    Priest Ricardo Munoz Quintero was already under preventative detention on charges of abusing minors, whom he supposedly paid to have sex.
    Prosecution lawyers opened a new case against him this week.
    This time there are seven victims involved.
    "At this moment in time there are seven victims and eight charges have been formalized," prosecutor Cristian Caceres said.
    Munoz was arrested by police in January on one charge of sexual abuse and three charges of sexual exploitation of young people between the ages of 14 and 18.
    His partner, Pamela Ampuero Escobar, was also arrested, charged with helping Munoz to get in contact with the young women.
    Both also face charges for the possession of child pornography.
    Munoz's lawyers said he is innocent of all charges.
    "We believe that our client is innocent on all charges and we are going to use all of the rights established by the law and the constitution to defend him," said defense lawyer Rodrigo Perez.
    A video from last year showed Munoz entering a motel in Santiago with one young woman.
    The case comes as Chilean activists protested against comments made by the Vatican's Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone linking homosexuality to pedophiliac.
    Protestors gathered outside the Apostolic Nuciature in Santiago on Thursday, which acts as the Vatican's embassy in Chile.
    They demanded an apology from Bertone, who is dubbed the Deputy Pope.
    "When homosexuality is related to pedophilia, they are branding us as criminals. We are not criminals and we are here to show our faces. We haven't committed any crimes and so the implications (of what Bertone said) offend us and are judgmental. So we are here protesting outside the Vatican offices, outside the Nuciature which is the Vatican's embassy in our country, so that Cardinal Bertone apologises. Because he has offended and hurt all the lesbians, transgender and homosexual people in our country," said protestor Fernando Munoz from the Sexual Minorities Unification Movement.
    Bertone's visit to Chile comes as the Catholic Church has been buffeted by scandals concerning sexual abuse of children -- most of them boys -- by priests.
    There also have been allegations of cover-ups and even that the Pope mishandled cases when he was a bishop in Germany and a Vatican official before his election in 2005.
    Adding to the growing number of cases, was the suspension of three priests in Paraguay for what the Church called "homosexual practices."
    In a press release the Paraguayan Catholic Church specified that the suspensions were not related to any charges of pedophiliac.
    The action came as an investigation was opened against a former parish priest on charges of sexual abuse of a minor.
    In a news conference on Wednesday Bishop Rogelio Livieres of the Alto Parana diocese said the Church had evaluated the sex abuse case but found it lacking in evidence.
    "We took all the available measures and the investigation lasted a month. We spoke to all the participants involved in the incident at length. We confronted them and judged their reaction. It did not seem to us that (the accusations) had any basis and I didn't not raise the issue with the Vatican because incidents only have to be reported when the bishop considers them to have substantiated a real claim," Livieres said.
    Prosecutor Juliana Gimenez opened the case against the former priest Mario Sotelo, who practiced in the town of Juan Leon Mallorquin, after receiving a statement from Alcides Guzman, a young man who said he was abused by Sotelo in 2008 when he was just 16 years of age.
    "We are obtaining details from the priest and preparing a report. If (the Church
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