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“The Pope Covered Up Priest’s Abuse of My Son” by Público (Madrid, Spain) by Ana Delicado, Buenos Aires Correspondent on May 3, 2013

The digital newspaper based in Madrid, Spain called Público published “The Pope Covered Up Priest’s Abuse of My Son” on May 3, 2013 by reporter Ana Delicado, Buenos Aires Correspondent. 

Below this introduction is the translation into English by the liberal BishopAccountability.org which I think is faulty to some extent. Below it is the original Spanish version from the website called causabeatrizvarela.blogspot.com.

Here is one paragraph, that in my opinion, is faulty in the liberal BishopAccountability.org translation into English:

“"Bergoglio was aware of my complaint,"” she [Beatriz Varela] added.  'No one is given residence in a vicarage without the authorization of the Archbishop. Such is the commitment of Bergoglio, lip service or not,' she said."

"She went on: 'Faced with cases of pedophilia, the Church acts by covering up the abuses with hypocrisy, lies, and complicity.'"


This is the original Spanish version from causabeatrizvarela.blogspot.com:

"'En la Iglesia todos saben y todos callan, así que todos son cómplices'
'Bergoglio estaba al tanto de esta denuncia", señala la mujer [[Beatriz Varela]. "Nadie se instala en una vicaría sin la autorización del arzobispo. Ése es el compromiso de Bergoglio: de la boca para fuera', arremete. "Ante casos de pedofilia, la Iglesia actúa encubriendo, con hipocresía, con mentiras, con complicidad.'"

The liberal BishopAccountability.org made one paragraph into two paragraphs and translated "arremete" which means attacks or lashes out" into "she said. [new paragraph] She went on."

A better translation is:

"Such is the commitment of Bergoglio, lip service or not,' he lashes out. 'Faced with cases of pedophilia, the Church acts by covering up the abuses with hypocrisy, lies, and complicity.'"

The liberal website version appears to minimize Bergoglio's blame in the cover-up and blame the Church separate from Bergoglio by making one paragraph into two paragraphs and using "she said. [new paragraph] She went on" instead of "he lashes out."

The liberal website translation appears to contradict or at least minimize, to some extent, the headline:

"The Pope Covered Up Priest's Abuse of My Son"."

Pray an Our Father for the restoration of the Church.

“The Pope Covered Up Priest’s Abuse of My Son”

Público (digital newspaper based in Madrid, Spain)
By Ana Delicado, Buenos Aires Correspondent
May 3, 2013
 [Translated into English by BishopAccountability.org. Click below to see original article in Spanish.]
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/Argentina/news/2013_05_03_Delicado_The_Pope_PARDO_Spanish.pdf

Reprinted on May 4, 2013 in Edición UNCuyo, a digital publication of the Center for Information & Communication at Universidad Nacional de Cuyo
http://www.edicionuncuyo.com/novedades/index/el-papa-encubrio-al-cura-que-abuso-de-mi-hijo

The Argentine justice system, for the first time, rules that the Church acted as an accomplice in a pedophile case, and that it must pay compensatory damages to a mother and her son, who was violated by a priest.

For the protagonists, their story isn’t easy to narrate.  Beatriz Varela and her son, Gabriel, have had to wait nearly 11 years for the Argentine justice system, in an unprecedented verdict in this country, to hold the Catholic Church accountable for its role in acts of pedophilia committed by one of its priests against a 15-year-old boy.

This week, the Court of Appeals of Quilmes, a municipality in the province of Buenos Aires, confirmed the decision of a civil court, which in December ruled that the Office of the Bishop of Quilmes is obligated to pay compensatory damages of 155,600 pesos plus interest (23,000 euros) for psychotherapeutic treatment expenses and moral damages caused to the boy and his mother.

The crime occurred on August 15, 2002, when Varela invited priest Rubén Pardo, a vicar in the local parish, to her home to give her two sons instruction in Catholic precepts.

As published by journalist Mariana Carvajal in the Argentine newspaper Página/12, the priest, in his 50s, talked to Gabriel alone and, over dinner, asked his mother’s permission for her son to spend the night at Casa de Formación, Pardo’s place of residence, where they could continue Gabriel’s religious instruction, and so that he could assist Pardo in celebrating next day’s Mass.
Gabriel testified that Pardo invited him to sleep in his bed, which the boy interpreted as a paternal gesture. It was there that the priest sexually abused him.  “I knew he was violating me, but I didn’t know how to avoid it because I was very scared and in a state of shock,” he declared in court.  After Pardo fell asleep, Gabriel fled home in terror and confessed to his mother what had happened.

Soon after, Gabriel’s mother met with then-Bishop of Quilmes, Luis Stöckler.  “At first he was alarmed, but in the days to follow, [he] didn’t give me the impression that he’d take necessary action,” Varela told this newspaper.  The bishop “attempted to minimize the incident, telling me to show mercy to those who’ve taken a vocational vow of celibacy, as they have moments of weakness.”

She told the bishop that she’d come to him because she wanted “truth, justice, and for no others to go through [what her son had],” at which point the prelate began to pressure her for “the paychecks.” "At the time, I worked at a school in the diocese," she explained.

Varela then presented her case to the ecclesiastical court, “whose presiding authority refused to hear my complaint,” and where two weeks later she was interviewed by four priests “who subjected me to a humiliating interrogation, with wanton and tendentious questions, pinning me as the assailant and expressing the certainty that, within 96 hours of the incident, he [Pardo] had confessed to his bishop, who admonished him.”

Varela also went to the Metropolitan Curia, the residence of former Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Bergoglio, better known today as Pope Francisco, and where she was escorted off the premises by security personnel.

At the Cathedral adjacent to the Curia, she learned that the pedophile priest had been assigned to a residence at the vicarage in the neighborhood of Flores.  The house [where Pardo was assigned] belonged to the Office of the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, at the time presided over by the current pope of the Catholic Church and commander-in-chief of the Vatican.

“Bergoglio was aware of my complaint,” she added.  “No one is given residence in a vicarage without the authorization of the Archbishop. Such is the commitment of Bergoglio, lip service or not,” she said.

She went on: “Faced with cases of pedophilia, the Church acts by covering up the abuses with hypocrisy, lies, and complicity, and without a commitment to God or society.  Everyone knows and everyone remains silent, so they’re all accomplices.  What is more, it [the Church] is an institution revered by society.  The Church laughs in face of society and is satisfied that the Argentine people are under the spell of their scepter,” she said.

Varela regrets the trust she placed in the Church.  “The priests are trained to give Masses for the manipulation of minds,” she said.  “I hope society becomes aware of the fact that belief in God doesn’t suffice to register one’s name in the book of any religion, and less so in a religion supported by the State.”

Related Case Reported

Any trace of Varela’s contentment arising from the verdict against the Diocese of Quilmes has been diminished by a phone call she received last week. “Two priests were transferred to the Archdiocese of Córdoba [in the geographical center of Argentina] after I issued the criminal complaint,” she said. “On Friday I got a call from a distressed mother whose 4-year-old daughter had been raped by these same two priests, who remain employed at a school.  Her daughter had anal fissures, there [is evidence in] photos taken of her and her classmates.  And other children are in harm’s way.”

The abused girl’s mother, who wished to not disclose the specifics of the case, had filed seven months ago a criminal complaint against the priests, but the two men to this day work at the school.  “This is a pedophile ring, as the teacher is no stranger to the fact that three or four girls disappear from recess and reappear later on.  It’s a deliberate cover up,” said Varela.

The judicial process that Varela and her son have passed through hasn’t been an easy road.  Although pleased with the verdict, she believes that justice came too late.  “When the priest who abused my son died [of AIDS, in 2005], the criminal case files disappeared for two years.  We were close to the statute of limitations, and my son attempted suicide and was treated for a month and a half at a psychiatric ward.  No amount of money will compensate for all that we’ve suffered.”

In contrast to the mother [of the 4-year-old girl] in Córdoba, Varela agreed to talk about what she and her son have endured.  “Stöckler [who still serves as Bishop Emeritus of Quilmes] attempted to silence me, but I told him: ‘My silence is for when I’m dead.  My son has already suffered.  No other boy will suffer the same because of my silence.’”

In Gabriel’s Words

Like his mother, Gabriel, now 25 years of age, consented to the public dissemination of his case.  “The court ruling sets a legal precedent and can help other victims so that their quest for justice isn’t so laborious,” he said.  “We're talking about an institution that is extremely powerful.”

He speaks from the first-hand experience he suffered in the flesh.  “I had nightmares, I couldn’t sleep.  At the time, I had feelings of guilt about what had happened, what with the Church telling my mom that she was the instigator, and that I’d provoked this individual [Pardo] to do what he did.”

One of the most difficult moments was when the criminal case files went missing.  “I felt we had lost, that so many years of struggle and exhaustion were all in vain,” he said.

With psychological support, and through the efforts of his mother and siblings, Gabriel ultimately succeeded in pushing forward and arriving at the understanding that nothing that had happened was his fault, that “you can’t be held responsible for the perversion of another, you’re simply a victim.”

He believes it isn’t acceptable to stay in the role of victim.  “There are many who don’t report the abuse out of fear or embarrassment of what other might say about someone who condemns an individual who wears the insignia [of the Church].  But you must take action.”

Gabriel no longer self-identifies as Catholic and is trying to formally abandon his ties to the religion.  “Any decision made by the Church represents you as a faithful member of their institution.  The Constitution states that the State is under the obligation to subsidize the creed that has a majority.  With my desertion, the Catholic institution will diminish in power,” he concluded.[http://www.bishopaccountability.org/Argentina/news/2013_05_03_Delicado_The_Pope.htm]



Público.es | "El Papa encubrió al cura que abusó de mi hijo"

La Justicia argentina, por primera vez, considera a la Iglesia cómplice en un caso de pedofilia y la condena a indemnizar a una madre y su hijo violado por un sacerdote.

 No es fácil narrar esta historia para sus mismos protagonistas. Beatriz Varela y su hijo Gabriel han tenido que esperar casi 11 años para que la Justicia argentina, en una resolución sin precedentes en este país, sentencie a la Iglesia católica por su responsabilidad en los actos de pedofilia cometidos por un cura de su diócesis contra el joven cuando éste tenía 15 años.

La Cámara de Apelaciones del municipio de Quilmes, en la provincia de Buenos Aires, ha confirmado esta semana el fallo de un tribunal que en diciembre condenó al obispado de esa localidad a pagar 155.600 pesos más intereses (más de 23.000 euros) por gastos en tratamientos psicoterapéuticos y por el daño moral causado al chico y a su madre.

El delito ocurrió el 15 de agosto de 2002. Varela invitó a su casa al cura Rubén Pardo, vicario de una parroquia del lugar, para que instruyera a sus dos hijos varones sobre los preceptos católicos. Según adelantó la periodista Mariana Carvajal en el diario argentino Página12, el sacerdote, de unos 50 años, conversó con Gabriel en solitario, y llegada la cena, pidió a la mujer que permitiera al muchacho pasar la noche en la Casa de Formación, donde el religioso residía, para continuar con el diálogo y para que al día siguiente lo ayudara en la celebración de una misa.

Gabriel contó a la Justicia, tiempo después, que Pardo lo invitó a dormir junto a él, un gesto que el adolescente interpretó como una actitud paternal. Fue entonces cuando el sacerdote abusó sexualmente de él. "Sabía que me estaba violando, pero no podía pensar en qué podía hacer para evitarlo, porque tenía mucho miedo y estaba shockeado", expuso. Una vez Pardo se durmió, Gabriel huyó despavorido a su casa y le confesó a su madre lo sucedido.

Varela se presentó de inmediato ante el que era el obispo de Quilmes en ese momento, Luis Stöckler. "En principio se mostró consternado, pero con el correr de los días no mostraba decisión de tomar alguna medida", explicó a este diario. El obispo "intentó minimizar el hecho, diciendo que yo tenía que ser misericordiosa con las personas que eligen el celibato por vocación porque tienen momentos de debilidad".

Pero la mujer le comunicó al obispo que si ella estaba allí era porque quería "verdad, justicia, y que a nadie más le ocurra". El prelado recurrió entonces a presionarla "por las pagas". "Yo trabajaba en una escuela del obispado", explica la mujer.

"Bergoglio estaba al tanto de la denuncia. Su compromiso es de boca para fuera"
Varela se dirigió a continuación al tribunal eclesiástico, "cuyo presidente no quiso tomarme la denuncia", y en donde quince días después la entrevistaron cuatro curas "que me sometieron a un interrogatorio humillante, con preguntas lascivas y tendenciosas, poniéndome a mí en el lugar del victimario, cuando ellos tenían certeza de que el hecho había ocurrido porque el abusador había admitido el hecho a las 96 horas ante su obispo, que lo amonestó".

La madre de Gabriel acudió también a la curia metropolitana, residencia del exarzobispo de Buenos Aires Jorge Bergoglio, más conocido hoy como el Papa Francisco, de donde la quisieron expulsar con personal de seguridad. En la catedral, colindante con el edificio de la curia, se enteró de que el cura pedófilo había sido alojado en una casa de la vicaría del barrio de Flores, dependiente del Arzobispado de Buenos Aires, que presidía el que es hoy es el máximo pontífice y jefe del Estado del Vaticano.

"En la Iglesia todos saben y todos callan, así que todos son cómplices"
"Bergoglio estaba al tanto de esta denuncia", señala la mujer. "Nadie se instala en una vicaría sin la autorización del arzobispo. Ése es el compromiso de Bergoglio: de la boca para fuera", arremete. "Ante casos de pedofilia, la Iglesia actúa encubriendo, con hipocresía, con mentiras, con complicidad y sin compromiso ante Dios y la sociedad. Todos saben y todos callan, así que todos son cómplices. Y encima es una institución reverenciada por la sociedad. La Iglesia se le ríe en la cara, y así y todo ésta es feliz porque un argentino ocupa un cetro", sentencia Varela.

La mujer se arrepiente de la confianza que depositó en la Iglesia. "Los curas se capacitan para el manejo de masas, para la manipulación de mentes", añade. "Espero que la sociedad se conciencie de que creer en Dios no pasa por estar registrado en el libro de ninguna religión, y menos en una mantenida por el Estado".

Un nuevo caso relacionado
Cualquier atisbo de alegría que hubiera podido surgir con la llegada de la sentencia contra el Obispado de Quilmes se ha empañado ahora con una llamada que Varela recibió la semana pasada. "Hay dos sacerdotes que fueron trasladados a la Arquidiócesis de Córdoba [centro del país] cuando hice la denuncia", cuenta. "El viernes me llamó una madre desgarrada porque su hija de 4 años había sido violada por estos dos curas, que todavía trabajan en una escuela. Tenía fisuras anales, hay fotografías de ella y de otras compañeritas. Y otros niños están todavía en riesgo".

La madre de la niña abusada, que no ha querido por ahora que el caso trascienda con datos concretos, comenzó hace siete meses una causa penal contra los curas, pero los dos clérigos todavía trabajan en la escuela. "Esto es una red de pedofilia, porque la maestra no es ajena al hecho de que tres o cuatro nenas desaparecen del recreo y aparecen más tarde. Eso se llama encubrimiento", afirma Varela.

El sacerdote que abusó de Gabriel murió de Sida en 2005
El proceso judicial por el que han pasado ella misma y su hijo no ha sido tampoco un trago fácil, y aunque agradece el fallo, siente que la Justicia se hizo esperar demasiado. "Cuando el sacerdote que abusó de mi hijo falleció [de Sida, en 2005], el expediente desapareció durante dos años. La causa corría el riesgo de prescribir, y mi hijo tuvo un intento de suicidio y estuvo internado un mes y medio en una clínica psiquiátrica", recuerda. "Con ningún dinero compensarán lo que hemos padecido".

A diferencia de la madre de Córdoba, Varela sí ha decidido dar a conocer lo que han soportado. Stöckler [que sigue siendo obispo emérito de Quilmes] pretendía silenciarme, pero yo le dije: "esto lo callo sólo muerta". Mi hijo ya lo padeció. Por mi silencio no lo va a sufrir ningún otro niño", puntualiza.

Palabra de Gabriel
Su hijo Gabriel, que hoy tiene 25 años, también ha consentido la difusión de su caso. "El dictamen judicial sienta una jurisprudencia y puede ayudar a otras víctimas a que no se les haga tan engorroso la búsqueda de una resolución", expone a Público. "Estamos hablando de una institución que tiene muchísimo poder".

Él lo sabe bien al haberlo sufrido en carne copia. "Tenía pesadillas, no me podía dormir. A veces sentía culpa por lo que había pasado, que es lo que buscaba la Iglesia diciéndole a mi mamá que ella había inducido eso o que yo había provocado a esta persona [Pardo] para que sucediera".

Gabriel: "Hay que actuar porque mucha gente tiene miedo o vergüenza a denunciar"
Uno de los momentos más difíciles llegó cuando el legajo penal se perdió. "Sentía que habíamos perdido, y que tantos años de lucha y desgaste eran en vano", admite Gabriel. Pero, con apoyo psicológico y la contención de su madre y hermanos, pudo al final salir adelante y darse cuenta de que nada de lo que había ocurrido era culpa suya, "que uno no puede manejar la perversión que tenga otra persona, y que uno es víctima". Pero el joven considera que no es bueno quedarse en ese papel. "Hay mucha gente que no denuncia porque tiene miedo o vergüenza al qué dirán por querellarse contra una persona con investidura. Por eso hay que actuar".

Gabriel ya no se considera católico y está intentando tramitar su apostasía. "Cualquier decisión que tome la Iglesia te representa como fiel de esa institución. Y la Constitución indica que el Estado tiene la obligación de subsidiar al credo que tenga mayoría. Con mi desafiliación, la institución perderá poder", concluye.

Publicada en Público.es






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