Argentina: Priest convicted of abuse of minors expelled from the clerical state

The Bishopric of the Santísima Concepción of Tucumán (Argentina) communicated that Father Justo José Ilarraz was expelled from the clerical state after being found guilty of crimes against the sixth commandment—“Thou shalt not commit impure acts”—with minors.

In 2018, the Civil Justice had condemned Ilarraz unanimously sentenced to up to 25 years in prison after being found guilty of having abused seven minors between the ages of 10 and 14 when he was their preceptor at the Nuestra Señora del Cenáculo Archdiocesan Seminary, in Paraná, between 1984 and 1995.

Since then, he has been serving his sentence in house arrest in the city of Paraná, monitored by an electronic anklet.

At the ecclesiastical level, the priest’s case was subjected to a criminal administrative process by the Buenos Aires Interdiocesan Court, and later elevated to the Vatican Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. The Holy See organization presented him to the Holy Father, who determined the expulsion.

According to the Argentine newspaper La Naciónthe Ilarraz case was the driving force behind a reform in the Penal Code, since the law of “Respect for the Times of Victims” was introduced, a procedural tool that allows sexual crimes to be imprescriptible, that is, it offers victims victims the possibility of accessing justice resources regardless of how much time has passed since the crime was committed.

By releasing the information, the Diocese of the Most Holy Conception reaffirmed its commitment “to the search for truth and justice,” condemning all types of abuses, and expressed its support with prayers to the victims.