Colombia: The names of 26 priests accused of pedophilia have been released

The names of 26 priests in Colombia accused of pedophiliawith the archdiocese of Medellin acting at the behest of Justice.

The list, which contains the names of priests who were “reported” to the prosecutor’s office from 1995 to 2019, was made public after a request was submitted to the Justice Department by journalist Juan Pablo Barrientos, who has systematically investigated the case of sexual crimes with victims in recent years children in the Colombian church.

“The majority of these priests (…) who raped children were suspended for a short period and then reinstated”commented the journalist yesterday Saturday.

The archbishop of Medellín, Ricardo Tombon, assured that the church wanted to “show transparency (…) and demonstrate that it has no intention of covering up”.

In a video uploaded to the archdiocese’s Twitter account, Monsignor Tombon also denounced what he said was an “aggressive smear campaign” by Mr. Barrientos.

In 2019, Mr. Barrientos published the book “Dejad que los niños vengan a mí” (s.b. “Let the children come to me”), an explosive investigation into the sexual crimes covered up by the country’s Roman Catholic church hierarchy, where Catholicism is the dominant religion.

Most of the crimes revealed in the book were committed in Antioch (northwest) and the archbishop of Medellinthe capital of this very conservative prefecture, allegedly protected a pedophile priest.

The Roman Catholic Church tried to prevent the publication of the book by taking legal action.

In 2021, the journalist published a second investigation, under the title “Este es el cordero de Dios” (s.b. “Behold the lamb of God”), with which revealed a pedophile ring in the diocese of Villavicencio, 120 kilometers southeast of the capital Bogota. They were involved 38 priests accused of sexual assault and rape of minors.

At least six priests have served prison terms for raping minors in the Latin American country.