Full canonical penal process may be opened against Spanish bishop accused of sexual abuse
A preliminary investigation by the Roman Rota into the allegations against a Spanish bishop accused of sexual abuse of a minor has recommended that the Vatican open a full canonical penal process.
According to reports in El País the investigation carried out by the Roman Rota tribunal in Madrid into the allegations against Bishop Emeritus Rafael Zornoza of Cádiz and Ceuta interviewed a number of witnesses and found credible evidence.
Reportedly, one of the witnesses testified that they saw the bishop in bed with the former seminarian who alleged that Zornoza sexually abused him while he was between 14 and 21 years old.
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The tribunal finished last week and is now waiting to hear whether the penal process will be opened.
The crime Zornoza is accused of is time-barred, so civil courts cannot prosecute him, but under canon law he can be tried.
When the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith initially received the allegations last summer they deemed them credible and ordered the Archdiocese of Seville, of which Cádiz and Ceuta is a suffragan, to open an investigation.
Archbishop José Ángel Meneses of Seville then referred the canonical proceedings to the tribunal of the Roman Rota in Madrid, a step dioceses can take for particularly complex cases.
The Rota has sent its report to the Archdiocese of Seville so that it can send it to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith for review.
The allegations say the abuse took place in the 1990s in Getafe, when Zornoza was the rector of the seminary there. The complainant eventually left the seminary.
According to sources close to the case who spoke to Religion Digital, Zornoza maintains his innocence and has said that he feels betrayed by the Church.
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“The Church has abandoned me, betrayed me, left me alone and the interrogation has been an ordeal,” he has been saying, according to sources close to the case.
In November, when the allegations were first published in El País, Zornoza referred to them as “unjust and false.”
However, Zornoza immediately stepped down from his role as bishop of Cádiz and Ceuta. Pope Leo XIV also confirmed that he was aware of the case and accepted the bishop’s resignation.
“The bishop himself has had to respond and maintains his innocence. An investigation has been opened, and we must allow it to proceed; depending on the results, there will be consequences,” the pontiff said.
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The allegations were first sent to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith last summer which included a letter from the complainant.
“It was at night when he came to the room and I suffered the abuse. He got into my bed, caressed me and kissed me. In the mornings I also woke up the same way. At that time, I never said anything to him, paralysis controlled me,” he said.
“He told me that ‘my wound’ (that’s how he referred to my homosexuality) did not let me see things and to trust him,” he added.
The complainant alleges that these abuses began in 1994 when he was 14 and continued until he was 21 – he entered the seminary aged 18. Zornoza was 45 in 1994.
In the information initially sent to the Dicastery, the complainant alleges that Zornoza used confession as a means to “manipulate and control” him.
“After confessing my homosexual acts I would go to bed, and within minutes he would get into my bed and caress me,” he said.
Ten years after leaving the seminary, the complainant says he sent an email to Zornoza telling the bishop that after some time coming to terms with it, he felt that he’d been abused and manipulated. He said the bishop didn’t respond.
He later met in person with Zornoza and the complainant says that the bishop “acknowledged the manipulation and abuse.”