Papal concern, dismay over alleged abuse by priests in Bolivia
June 20, 2023
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CWN Editor's Note: In a letter to Bolivian President Luis Acre, Pope Francis said he shared the president’s “concern, outrage and condemnation” with regard to the sexual abuse of minors, and pledged “the full cooperation of the Church to work alongside the government.”
Father Bernardo Mercado, SJ, the Bolivian Jesuit provincial, suspended several of his predecessors amid revelations of a cover-up of the sexual abuse of an estimated 85 minors by Father Alfonso Pedrajas, SJ (1943-2009), an openly gay Jesuit priest.
The Society of Jesus in Bolivia also revealed that a Jesuit prelate, Archbishop Alejandro Mestre Descals, SJ (1912-1988), was accused of raping a young adolescent boy.
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