Spanish justice condemns priest exonerated of abuse by Doctrine of Faith

The Supreme Court of Spain has sentenced a priest from the Archdiocese of Toledo to 8 and a half years in prison and to pay compensation of 100,000 euros after being found guilty of a crime of abuse against a teenager from which he had been exonerated after a canonical investigation. of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The events date back to 2011, when the girl was between 14 and 17 years old and was a student at the Talavera de la Reina school where the priest was assigned and served as the young woman’s spiritual director.

The Archbishopric of Toledo, in a statement published almost midnight from Wednesday to Thursday in Spain, indicates its compliance with the sentence and expresses that “the Archdiocese of Toledo stands in solidarity with the victim and with all victims of abuse and reiterates its commitment to firm reparation.”

Furthermore, it details that the canonical follow-up of the case, “after the prescribed investigative procedures and the appropriate precautionary measures, led to a judicial procedure before the Tribunal of the Rota of the Apostolic Nunciature in Spain.”

Thus, “on November 2, 2021, this court did not find sufficient evidence and absolved him of the accusations received in a sentence that was confirmed by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.”

From the primal episcopal see of Spain, it is announced that “in the coming days there will be a detailed analysis of the Supreme Court’s ruling and its consequences” and it is stated that “the courts have not indicated any subsidiary civil liability for this Archdiocese.”