Washington, DC – The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston (Texas, USA) has removed priest Jesus Suarez from his duties for his alleged involvement in abuse of minors in Colombia, the religious institution said in a statement Monday.
The archdiocese stressed that Suarez could have been the biological father of babies as a consequence of these alleged abuses of minors.
The note states that the priest, whose nationality he did not specify, could have carried out these sexual assaults in Colombia, before arriving in the United States in 1994.
The institution added that it learned recently about these allegations against Suarez, and noted that a letter has been read to the parishioners of all the churches of the archdiocese in which the priest had previously served.
The last place in which the priest has exercised has been the parish of Saint Philip of Jesus in Houston.
The text underscored that the Houston Police have been notified of the accusations against Suarez.
The priest does not appear on the list published at the end of January by fifteen dioceses of the state of Texas, including that of Galveston-Houston, with the names of 286 religious who allegedly abused children and adolescents.
After the publication of a judicial report in the state of Pennsylvania in August, documenting 300 cases of sexual “predatory priests,” nearly 50 dioceses across the United States have published lists with names of more than 1,200 priests accused of child abuse. .
After the scandal uncovered in Pennsylvania, the country’s Episcopal Conference announced a comprehensive plan to address the “moral catastrophe” suffered by the bosom of the American Church.
For its part, the Vatican has described as “criminal” the abuses described in the report of Pennsylvania and has considered that “there should be assumption of responsibility” of abusers and those who “allowed them to occur.”
After the scandal, several Catholic congregations in the states of Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and New York have made known the identities of priests involved in these types of activities and have condemned the facts. (EFEUSA)
