Cardinal Admits Church Protected Pedophile Priests in Mexico

GUADALAJARA, Mexico – The Alberione house, located in the western Mexican municipality of Tlaquepaque, was a refuge for priests involved in pedophilia cases, Cardinal Emeritus Juan Sandoval Iñiquez confirmed on Wednesday.

In an interview with EFE after the recent publication of his memoirs entitled “Con mi propia voz” (In my own words), the cardinal said that the house was a rehabilitation center for clergy until Pope John Paul II in 2001 sent a letter to bishops asking them not to conceal those cases.

“Since I was in the post, and certainly before, but when in 2001 Pope John Paul II said that pedophiles had to leave the ministry, then I gave the order to the Alberione house not to admit any pedophile priest,” he said.

Since that time, a group of physicians, psychologists and psychiatrists were connected to the house – located several kilometers from where Sandoval lives – attending to priests suffering from alcoholism, depression or who had “problems with authority,” said the 83-year-old prelate.

Sandoval recalled that after the cover-up scandal involving pedophile priests at the Boston Archdiocese, John Paul II sent the bishops in May 2001 a document classifying pedophilia as a sin and at that point reforms were launched “that have been made stricter and stricter.”

With those reforms, bishops now have the obligation to immediately and “thoroughly” investigate if they learn of a case of clerical pedophilia, to send a report to Rome and to inform the civil authorities.

“It has to be done, it must be done because it’s been ordered done,” said the cardinal emeritus in response to a question about whether bishops are complying with these obligations.

On June 4, Pope Francis decreed that the rules against pedophilia cases be strengthened, whereby bishops can be ousted from their posts if they have acted in a negligent way or have failed to fully comply with the order.

In the interview conducted at his home in downtown Tlaquepaque, the cardinal – retired since 2011 – said that during his 17-year-mandate at the head of the Guadalajara Archdiocese he had to deal with only “a single case” of clerical pedophilia.

“He was sent to prison, and I left him there and later they let him go because he was old. They threw him out. But I did not defend him, he didn’t conduct himself like a priest,” Sandoval, who was one of the cardinals close to John Paul II, said without providing additional details.