Three priests and a teacher have been arrested in connection with a sex abuse scandal in Granada.
The arrests follow the suspension last week of 10 priests accused of sexually abusing at least one boy.
Police are conducting a closed investigation into the abuse, which was uncovered when a 24-year-old man wrote to Pope Francis during the summer, describing what happened. The man has claimed that the abuse he suffered as a teenager also extended to other boys in the parish.
The Pope has reportedly called the young man at least twice to discuss the matter and apologise on behalf of the Church.
Those arrested on Monday were the “principal suspects” according to Santiago Pérez a local government official quoted by El País newspaper. The priests are part of a group known locally as Los Romanescos, a reference to their leader, who was named by El País as Román Martínez, one of those detained.
Announcing the arrests Spain’s interior minister Jorge Fernández Díaz emphasised the tough approach adopted by the Church.
“I don’t think anyone can doubt that John Paul II, Benedict XVI and now Pope Francis, have been extremely aggressive in their efforts to eradicate this type of behaviour from the heart of the Church,” he said.
“It was the Pope himself who brought this case to light.”
On Sunday Archbishop Francisco Javier Martínez Fernandez of Granada prostrated himself in the city cathedral, with other clerics, seeking pardon for the abuse committed in their diocese.
“The evils of the Church are the evils of all of us,” said the archbishop.
Loading ...
