Father Bernardo Mercado, the Jesuit provincial in Bolivia. / Credit: ACI Prensa/YouTube screen shotACI Prensa Staff, May 24, 2023 / 11:15 am (CNA).The Jesuit provincial in Bolivia, Father Bernardo Mercado, admitted that his religious order made mistakes in handling cases of sexual abuse committed by some members of his community in previous years and encouraged his fellow Jesuits to continue cooperating with law enforcement.In a recent interview with EWTN News, Mercado said that in prior years the order conducted internal investigations into cases of abuse but that they were not reported to the justice system in a timely manner."I think it is a first procedural error that we have to recognize. . But we didn t know how to handle it that way," he said.Mercado added that the Jesuits have redoubled their efforts to care for the victims.The priest explained that a professional team has been assigned to assist those who want to file a complaint and provide them with psychological s
Father Mercado encouraged the victims not to remain silent, to express the pain and suffering they experienced in order to prevent these atrocities from happe.
The Society of Jesus in Bolivia has announced that a Jesuit prelate, Archbishop Alejandro Mestre Descals, SJ (1912-1988), was accused in 2021 of raping a young adolescent boy.
LA PAZ (Reuters) - Bolivian authorities are investigating whether any Catholic Church officials in the country should be held accountable following the publication of a diary of a late Jesuit priest that contained multiple confessions of child abuse. | 07:04am