EL PAÍS launched an investigation into pedophilia in the Spanish Church in 2018 and did a database updated with all known cases. If you know of any cases that have not seen the light of day, you can write to us at: Abusos@elpais.es. If it is Latin America, the address is: abusesamerica@elpais.es.
───────────
The Church is preparing an imminent departure for the bishop of Cadiz and Ceuta, Rafael Zornoza, and is finalizing his dismissal to deal with the consequences of the scandal, after learning this Monday that the Vatican had opened an investigation against him in the summer for abuse of a child in the 1990s, when he was a priest in Getafe. Spanish ecclesiastical sources inform this newspaper that they hope the decision will be taken soon and that Zornoza will leave his post.
The possible dismissal comes four days after EL PAÍS revealed the case exclusively. The Holy See became aware of the facts this summer, after a victim sent a complaint via email to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. Four months have passed without the Vatican or the Spanish Church taking action to remove Zornoza from office as a precaution, and the reaction only came when the case came to light.
Two formulas can be used for Rafael Zornoza’s departure. The first is that the Pope accepts his resignation, the other is that he is removed from office as an application of precautionary measures in the canonical trial opened against him. These are two measures that could have already been taken when the complaint became known and, above all, the acceptance of the resignation would have allowed a discreet exit, but both the Vatican and the Spanish Church underestimated or disdained the seriousness of the case.
In reality, Zornoza’s resignation had already been submitted automatically in 2024, when he turned 75, as established by canonical norms upon reaching that age. Normally, the pontiff grants a few more years of extension to each prelate in his office, unless he is ill or in poor health. When the Pope accepts it quickly, it is usually a discreet sign that something was not right. It is interpreted as a message of some disapproval from the Vatican for his work, or that there is some problematic issue. In this case it would be a procedure resolved quickly, after the news arrived from EL PAÍS, and it would mean that the Dicastery of Bishops, responsible for the episcopates around the world, brings the order to the Pope for him to sign. It would also give the image that the Holy See is intervening at the last minute to quell a crisis in another country, partially disavowing the Spanish Church. Everything will depend on what message you want to convey in the face of a scandal that has already caused damage to the institution.
On the other hand, if Zornoza were removed as a precaution, it would be a clearer signal of the Spanish Church’s willingness to address the scandal. Because the ordinance, according to article 58 of the Vatican Vademecum on abuse processes, depends on the local Ordinary. In this case it is the archbishop of Seville, who is the one who was appointed by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to investigate the case. The Seville office then delegated him to the Tribunal de la Rota, dependent on the nunciature (the Vatican embassy in Spain), but it is still he who can decide on precautionary measures.
After receiving the complaint and ascertaining that the facts were credible, in July Rome ordered the archdiocese of Seville – the metropolitan seat on which the diocese of Cadiz and Ceuta depends – to start investigations. However, the Archbishop of Seville decided to withdraw from the case and transfer it to the Court of the Rota of the Apostolic Nunciature in Spain, which has already started a preliminary investigation. In all this time, however, about four months, the Holy See and the Spanish Church kept Zornoza in office, and he continued to come into contact with minors.
Zornoza denied the allegations in a statement on Monday, where he also said he would suspend his agenda “to clarify the facts.” He also revealed for the first time that he was suffering from aggressive cancer and needed treatment for it. “The accusations made, referring to events that occurred almost thirty years ago, are very serious and also false”, reads the statement.
The abuse that the victim describes in her complaint, to which this newspaper had access, began in 1994, when she was 14 years old and continued until she was 21. Zornoza was then rector of the new seminary of Getafe, a diocese founded two years earlier. “I write this letter only with the intention of preventing what happened to me from continuing to happen to another child,” appears in the letter sent by the complainant and to which EL PAÍS had access. The sexual assaults – touching, caressing the private parts and kissing on the mouth – described by the victim occurred at night: “He came into the room and suffered the abuse. He entered my bed, caressed me and kissed me.”
The abuse continued even after he reached adulthood and entered the major seminary. During this period, the letter states, Zornoza went to bed “almost every night and every morning” to kiss him and touch his private parts. “On several occasions I complained to Rafa that what we were doing wasn’t right. He always told me that it was an intimate friendship,” the victim writes.
