The Archbishop of Belém, the capital of the Brazilian Amazon state of Pará, Mgr Alberto Taveira, is being investigated by the local police and by the Vatican after at least four ex-seminarians accused him of psychological and sexual abuse.
The accusations were initially reported by the Brazilian edition of the Madrid newspaper El Paísin late December 2019. A Church source in Belém familiar with the situation told The Tablet that the accusations were credible, and that the complainants were “serious people”.
Thirty-seven local civil society organisations have signed an appeal for the archbishop to be suspended until the allegations have been fully investigated.
The ex-seminarians’ statements, disclosed to The Tablet, relate to the period 2010-2014 and were made to local parish priests and a neighbouring bishop.
While differing in detail, they describe private meetings with the archbishop in which Mgr Taveira questioned them in detail about their sexual feelings and any sexual activity, and about their sexual organs, sometimes touching them.
The archbishop allegedly insisted in crude terms that they were homosexual, and in at least one case the seminarian and the archbishop were allegedly both naked, supposedly as a therapy to help the seminarian resist homosexual feelings, and the archbishop allegedly tried to get the seminarian to have sexual relations with him.
Archbishop Taveira, in a statement on his diocesan website on 5 December, wrote: “I was saddened to be informed a few days ago that investigations were in progress as a result of serious accusations against me, without my having been previously questioned, interviewed or had any opportunity to explain these alleged facts mentioned in the accusations…. In this painful calvary, but with a clear conscience, I shall face the calumnies, slanders and insults launched against me in the hope that in the end the truth will shine forth.”
The accusations against the archbishop featured in the popular Brazilian TV programme Fantástico last Sunday, which interviewed the four ex-seminarians. The archbishop’s lawyer gave a statement to the programme denying the allegations. The programme also included messages of support from prominent charismatic priests – Mgr Taveira is responsible for the charismatic movement in the bishops’ conference – and from the bishops’ conference itself.