“The cover-up and complicity of the highest authorities of the Society of Jesus, who were aware of the illegal conduct of its members, considering the body of constitutional law that governs the plurinational state of Bolivia, makes them go from accessories after the fact to becoming perpetrators by omission, since if, at the time, the means called for by law in a sovereign state were resorted to, hundreds of boys, girls, and adolescents would not have fallen into the clutches of sexual predators, pedophiles, and rapists,” the press release stated.
However, for the Society of Jesus in Bolivia, “they see no sense to the lawsuit.”
In their statement, the Jesuits pointed out: “As for the crimes reported, as established by our laws, they are of a personal nature and these individual responsibilities must be investigated, determined, and punished by the justice system in accordance with the rule of law and the legal system of the country.”
In late April, an unprecedented sexual abuse scandal rocked the Catholic Church in Bolivia following a report by the Spanish newspaper El País that indicated that the Jesuit Alfonso Pedrajas Moreno, who died in 2009, had sexually abused at least 85 minors during his ministry.
As a result of the investigation, numerous cases of abuse in the Society of Jesus and other Catholic institutions came to light. The country’s attorney general reported in May that there were some 23 priests involved in abuse cases in the country.
In the middle of the same month, Mercado, the Jesuit provincial, spoke out about the abuses, acknowledging that the Society of Jesus had made mistakes in handling cases perpetrated by members of his community in previous years.