Vatican investigating diocese in Paraguay where accused abuser is vicar general

July 04, 2014

The Vatican has organized an investigation of a diocese in Paraguay where the vicar general is a priest who was accused of sexual abuse while serving in the US.

Father Carlos Urrutigoity, was forced to leave a private school in the Diocese of Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 2002 after reports of sexual abuse there. The Scranton diocese now identifies the Argentine-born priest as a “serious threat to young people.”

Nevertheless, after moving to Paraguay, Father Urrutigoity has been named vicar general by Bishop Rogelio Livieres Plano of the Diocese of Cuidad del Este. The bishop has rejected calls for Urrutigoity’s removal.

This week Archbishop Eliseo Ariotti, the apostolic nuncio in Paraguay, announced that Vatican investigators would visit the Cuidad del Este diocese later this month “to find out some things.” According to the newspaper Ultima Hora, the investigating team will be led by Cardinal Santos Abril y Castello, the archpriest of the basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome, and will include Bishop Milton Troccoli, an auxiliary of the Montevideo, Uruguay archdiocese.

Paraguay’s Ultima Hora newspaper described one of the envoys being sent to Paraguay, Cardinal Santos Abril y Castello, as a “strong man of the Vatican.” It said the other will be Bishop Milton Troccoli, the auxiliary bishop of Montevideo, Uruguay.

 

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Further information:

• Pope orders envoys to visit problem priest’s Paraguay diocese (Global Post)
• Pope sends delegation to Paraguay to investigate Pa. priest accused of molesting boys (RNS)