Bolivia: Prosecutor’s Office reopens investigation against Jesuit Luis Roma who committed numerous abuses

The State Attorney General’s Office in Bolivia announced that it will reopen the investigation against the deceased Catalan Jesuit priest Luis Roma Padrosa, for abuses committed against minors during his time in the South American country.

This weekend, the Spanish newspaper El País published a report that reports on the abuses against minors, especially from indigenous communities, committed years ago by the deceased Jesuit priest in Bolivia, and recorded by himself in a diary, and also through photographs he took of his victims.

The scandalous case adds to the Diary of a pedophile priestpublished last year by the same Spanish media, about the abuses of Fr. Alfonso “Pica” Pedrajaswhich gave rise to canonical and civil processes involving several members of the religious order.

In the case of Roma Padrosa, the Spanish media claims that there was an investigation within the order, in which the priest’s crimes and his cover-up were proven. In addition, the report includes testimonies from the victims.

After the journalistic work came to light, this Sunday, the Society of Jesus in Bolivia released a statement in which he admits to having had “negligent, indolent and disastrous” actions in the face of abuse by priests.

Those who acted in this way “must be held responsible for their actions in the handling of such situations, as established by Bolivian justice within the framework of due process,” the document adds.

Along these lines, the Jesuits in Bolivia expressed: “We urge the State Prosecutor’s Office to reopen the case of the Catalan Jesuit Luis María Roma and those it deems appropriate.”

The Public Ministry reopens the case

This Monday, the Attorney General of the Bolivian State, Juan Lanchipa, announced the reopening of the investigation against the priest Roma, with the main purpose of finding those who covered up his crimes for many years.

“The information that is available is regrettable when one becomes aware of the cover-up that this Jesuit community has carried out, of these acts of pedophilia, of sexual abuse of minors for many years,” said Lanchipa.

“In the case of this priest who died in 2019 (Luis María) Rome, the beginning of the investigation in Santa Cruz has been closed because we did not have all the elements, but now we have the possibility of having witnesses who can assist in the reopening of this investigation,” he added, following the testimonies that came to light in the journalistic report.

When referring to the conduct of the Jesuits, he considered it “totally reprehensible” for “protecting and covering up these very delicate facts in the investigation.”

Finally, the prosecutor addressed the public to ask them to report events of this type that had occurred on previous dates and reported that the Public Ministry has more than ten open cases throughout the country, which investigate sexual abuse of these priests who in “ Instead of providing a safe place in these environments, they have generated these sexual abuses.”

Community of victims demands institutional responsibility

After the announcement, the Bolivian Community of Survivors of Ecclesial Sexual Abuse (CBS) considered that the reopening of the case by the State Prosecutor’s Office was not due to the urgency of the Society of Jesus, but rather to what was exposed by the newspaper El País.

“We reject that the current authorities in charge of the government of the Society of Jesus in Bolivia try to wash their hands or appear as champions of justice,” they expressed.

Likewise, they assured that “the negligent, indolent and disastrous actions” referred to in the Jesuits’ statement, “are not only the responsibility of those who were in charge of addressing the complaints of sexual abuse of girls, boys and adolescents; but they are institutional responsibility.”

The group pointed out that in the case of Father Roma, superiors and members of the Jesuit community were aware of what was happening. Therefore, they demand “a thorough and transparent investigation into these accusations to punish those responsible for this cover-up.”

In addition, he publicly requested that the State Prosecutor’s Office “prohibit, as a precautionary measure, the operation of a commission, headed by the delegate of Healthy and Safe Environments of the Society of Jesus, from contacting the victims of the Roma case,” because They consider that “there is a risk of actions of intimidation, co-optation, re-victimization, and to prevent it from usurping exclusive functions of the Public Ministry, the Prosecutor’s Office and the Police, leading to impunity for the perpetrators and concealers.”

Finally, they echo the commitment of the Jesuits not to protect “anyone who is involved in abuse of minors”, and they urge the Company to “keep their word and report to the Prosecutor’s Office” the Jesuits Oswaldo Chirveches – former provincial and former delegate of Healthy and Safe Environments of the Company of Jesus—and Ignacio Suñol—former provincial of the Company in Bolivia—for “covering up and ‘boxing’ the information and files of the Roma case for years.”

The statement from the victims’ group concludes with several complaints of cover-up and protection by some Jesuits of Father Roma.