EL PAÍS launched an investigation into pedophilia in the Spanish Church in 2018 and has a data base updated with all known cases. If you know of any case that has not seen the light, you can write to us at: [email protected]. If it is a case in Latin America, the address is: [email protected].
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The archbishopric of Barcelona has admitted a serious scandal of pedophilia hidden for decades in the church of San Félix Africano, a case revealed by EL PAÍS after an accusation of abuse against the parish priest, José Mariné Jorba, in the seventies. One of his former altar boys, Aurelio Álvarez, reported him in 2023 to the archbishopric, which has now informed him that the open canonical investigation has revealed a horror scenario that describes a pedophile network organized around the children of the parish, located in the Ciutadella-Vila Olímpica neighborhood: the priest had an apartment where he took the altar boys to sexually assault them, a house managed by another younger priest where other adults passed by, who even came with a password. This has been confirmed by a key witness, the parochial vicar, Pere Muñoz, who had remained silent until now after witnessing their abuse for years – Mariné, who previously passed through Santa Coloma de Gramenet, was parish priest in this place until 1990. The archbishopric has allowed Álvarez to read his statement, as he has told this newspaper.
In this way Aurelio Álvarez has discovered that the truth was even more terrifying than he imagined. He also claims that he has managed to contact four other altar boys and a woman of the time, from a group that Mariné prepared spiritually to be nuns and who were called blessed, who also confirm everything: “The atmosphere was very sectarian and toxic. It has been very difficult and very hard. It has left us all devastated. I would call this place the church of terror.” This newspaper has also confirmed some details with other witnesses. The archdiocese of Barcelona, consulted on Friday morning, responded that it could not answer this newspaper’s questions until Monday.
The vicar was located in Cartagena, where he lived already retired and at an advanced age. By giving a statement he not only confirmed Álvarez’s accusation, but also expanded the dimension of the scandal. This victim affirms that, according to the information she has collected, “both altar boys and saints were abused in the apartment by Mariné, three other priests and a seminarian.” Álvarez confirms that Father Muñoz never attacked him or the other altar boys, “but he was complicit with his silence.” Mariné, ultra-conservative and who continued to celebrate the Latin mass with his back turned, was a highly respected person in the neighborhood.
Álvarez explains that Mariné “used faith to normalize abuse and, at the same time, created a competitive environment among the altar boys, fostering jealousy, envy and disputes, he had favorites among them, who became attractors of more victims.” “In my case, he abused me separately, separated from the rest, due to my rebellious character. According to what the other altar boys tell me, he told them that I did not participate in the ‘spiritual retreats’, as he called them, because I resisted the actions and tests, and I could ruin everything. I was left alone when they left and when I asked them where they had been they didn’t answer. Only Mariné told me a couple of times: ‘In a very nice place where you will never be there for misbehaving,’” he says.
An altar boy in the group was Miguel Ángel Barco, who later became a priest and was involved in a notorious incident in Zaragoza in 2014, as parish priest of Épila, when he was accused of harassing a 27-year-old deacon with whom he lived. He denied the accusations, but the archbishop of Zaragoza, Manuel Ureña, paid the deacon 60,000 euros, although he assured that he did not believe the accusations. The matter ended up costing the archbishop his job and his departure from the diocese. Barco was later expelled from the priesthood by the Vatican in 2018. Contacted by this newspaper, he has denied that he suffered or witnessed abuse by Mariné, defends the priest’s innocence, and assures that he has the testimony of two other altar boys of the time who give their opinion as he.
The archdiocese of Barcelona, which, although it has financed therapy for the victim, also refused to compensate her on the grounds that the accused was already dead and, despite knowing the truth, for a year it did not inform the victim of their investigations or that the abuses had been confirmed. All under the command of Cardinal Juan José Omella, who was then president of the Episcopal Conference (CEE), a position he left in March. Last October, this newspaper already published several testimonies from victims who were very critical of the treatment received in this archbishopric. On the other hand, the Spanish Church continues to question the testimonies of the victims and only two out of ten are believed, as emerges from its controversial classification of cases as proven or unproven, unprecedented in the rest of the Catholic countries where the scandal has been investigated. .
The archbishopric already had the vicar’s statement in the spring of 2023, but did not say anything to the victim. In response to her questions, anxious to know if her accusations were confirmed, she responded with an email in April 2024: “Good morning, to inform you that a Decree was issued in your file that was sent to the Ecclesiastical Court of Cartagena, which is who should fulfill it as it is the diocese where Father Muñoz resides. For our part, we are constantly monitoring for full compliance with it, so we hope to have more news soon.”
After Álvarez’s insistence, finally last month, a year later, the archbishopric gave him information, but only after the vicar died, and through an enigmatic email: “We have been informed of the death yesterday of Mn. . Pere Muñoz Iranzo. As stated in the Decree issued by our Ecclesiastical Court, the silence of Mn. Pere Muñoz Iranzo, in light of the events that occurred, was imposed the criminal remedy of reprimand, accompanied by penance, consisting of asking for forgiveness in writing from you, Mr. Álvarez, as well as from the rest of the injured victims. (…) Unfortunately, the illness and death of Mn. Pere Muñoz Iranzo has prevented this forgiveness from being formalized in writing, but he did express it orally at his last residence. Therefore, allow us, in his name, to convey to you the request for forgiveness that Mn. “Pere Muñoz Iranzo verbalized before dying.” This is how Aurelio Álvarez found out, bureaucratically, not only that his accusations were confirmed, but that there were more victims. Translated, the archdiocese of Barcelona had “credited the silence” of the vicar about the abuse, and imposed a sentence of penance and that he ask the victim for forgiveness in writing. But in a year he did not give it time, it was only verbal, and in the end it was the diocese that transmitted it.
But Álvarez still did not know what he was asking forgiveness for and what he had kept silent about; the archdiocese did not explain it to him. The most amazing thing remained to be discovered. But it was only because, again, he insisted on it. He demanded to know the content of the vicar’s statement and the archbishopric finally summoned him to show him the text last month. They did not give him a copy, because in canonical processes the victim has practically no right to anything, not even a copy of the sentence. It was then that he learned that there was actually an entire pedophile plot organized by the priest and the terrifying details. He left the archbishopric with a feeling of liberation, that they finally believed him, after so many years of suffering, although it took them a year to tell him, reluctantly.
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