Argentine bishop resigns amid allegations, citing ‘personal reasons’

Bishop Carlos Domínguez is not the first Argentine prelate to be accused of sexual misconduct in recent years

The Bishop of San Rafael, Argentina resigned last week for “personal reasons,” the latest in a string of controversial episcopal resignations in the country.

Bishop Carlos María Domínguez. Credit: Diocese of San Rafael.

Local media have reported that Bishop Carlos María Domínguez is facing accusations of sexually misconduct involving three young adults. He has also been accused of mishandling a sexual abuse case in the diocese.

Domínguez announced his resignation Feb. 13 for “personal reasons” at just 59 years old. He has been Bishop of San Rafael for the last two years.

Domínguez said in a Feb. 13 statement that “for reasons of a personal nature, I have tendered my resignation ... as diocesan bishop of San Rafael to the Holy Father, whom I thank for his confidence when he appointed me bishop of this diocese.”

He added that he “sensed the perplexity this decision might cause in all of you. But, believe me, this decision causes deep pain to me” and asked for “forgiveness for the things I did wrong, for the things I did not do, and for the things I did not know how to do.”

The resignation of a 59-year-old bishop after just two years in his diocese is extremely unusual, and has drawn considerable speculation in the local Church – especially after it was announced that there would be no farewell Mass for the bishop, who promptly flew to Buenos Aires and then to Rome, after the announcement.

The Argentine Catholic website Caminante Wanderer, widely regarded as an insider in Argentine Church matters, wrote on Feb. 15 that Domínguez actually resigned due to “a case of sexual abuse, namely, sexual acts without the free and valid consent of the victim, involving three young male adults. Also, one of the conducts of Bishop Domínguez likely led to latae sententiae excommunication.”

According to the post, the complaint of abuse was “filed in the Diocese of San Rafael in the first days of February and sent to the metropolitan see of Mendoza.”

Sources close to the case told The Pillar that the complaint was also sent to the Dicastery of Bishops through the apostolic nunciature in Argentina.

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Local observers believe that Pope Francis hand picks most episcopal appointments in Argentina. Domínguez was the provincial in Argentina of the Augustinian Recollects between 2006 and 2012, a time during which he allegedly developed a personal friendship with then-Cardinal Bergoglio.

Pope Francis then made him auxiliary bishop of San Juan del Cuyo in 2019.

Domínguez is not the first Argentine bishop close to the pope to be accused of sexual misconduct.

Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta resigned at 53 years old in 2017 as Bishop of Orán, initially citing “health reasons” for his resignation. However, several senior diocesan clergy stated publicly that they presented allegations of sexual abuse by Zanchetta to Rome in 2015, and again in 2017. The Vatican has claimed it only received complaints of sexual abuse against Zanchetta in late 2018 — after he had resigned.

Those complaints led to the charges of “aggravated continuous sexual abuse” of two adult seminarians, for which Zanchetta was convicted in March of 2022.

After Zanchetta resigned as diocesan bishop in 2017, at the age of 53, Pope Francis created a special position for him in the Roman curia, naming him assessor at the Administration for the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, which functions as the Vatican’s sovereign wealth manager and government reserve bank.

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Domínguez has also been accused of failing to respond adequately to at least one claim of sexual abuse and cover up in San Rafael.

The case involves the Institute of the Incarnate Word — the IVE — an Argentine-based religious order which in January was placed under the authority of a Vatican delegate, over concerns about its formation and governance practices, and its ongoing promotion of its founder, a priest found guilty of sexual abuse of young men.

The institute was founded in San Rafael in 1984, and has its own minor and major seminary in the diocese.

In 2022, former IVE priest Luis María de la Calle alleged that he had been sexually abused by Miguel Ángel Paz starting in 1997. At the time of the abuse, de la Calle said, he was an IVE minor seminarian and Paz was an IVE transitional deacon.

De la Calle said in his testimony that he had reported the abuse to Fr. Gabriel Zapata, then-provincial superior of IVE in Argentina, in 2005. He said Zapata asked him not to write anything down and not to tell anyone else about the case.

According to de la Calle’s testimony, Paz was then recalled from Peru, where he was serving as a missionary, to an IVE monastery in San Rafael to “do penance and be rehabilitated.” But a few years later, de la Calle said, Paz was again taking part in IVE clergy meetings, including the general chapter, and concelebrating Mass in public with other IVE priests – including de la Calle himself.

In 2015, de la Calle filed a formal complaint against Paz with the then-bishop of San Rafael, Bishop Eduardo Taussig. Paz admitted guilt and was subsequently laicized and expelled from the IVE.

De la Calle also left the priesthood and the IVE in 2017.

However, in 2023 he went to the Diocese of San Rafael to file a complaint that Zapata had covered up his initial abuse report. He claimed that Zapata never took his abuse complaint to the Diocese of San Rafael, but only informed the institute’s founder and superior general, Fr. Carlos Buela, about it, resulting in informal restrictions on Paz.

The 2023 report was brought to Domínguez, who was at that point leading the Diocese of San Rafael.

According to de la Calle, Domínguez conducted an investigation that cleared Zapata of any wrongdoing.

Domínguez signed an October 2022 document, reviewed by The Pillar, which informed de la Calle that the diocese would not place any canonical sanctions on Zapata.

Domínguez argued in the document that Zapata had not covered up the abuse case because he informed the General Council of the IVE about the complaint.

“There is also no record that the Superior General, Fr. Carlos Buela, had ordered Fr. Zapata to notify the then-diocesan bishop, Eduardo María Taussig, and as understood, the Institute of the Incarnate Word took the decisions it thought were adequate, pursuant to the legislation in force at the time regarding the crime committed in 1997,” the document states.

“Fr. Miguel Ángel Paz did not exercise his priestly ministry publicly for 10 years and was sent to a program to help priests, after he acknowledged the facts. Nonetheless, Fr. Zapata accepts that Fr. Paz concelebrated on some occasions in Masses with priests of the Institute, understanding that it was an inopportune mistake on his part [to allow it],” the statement adds.

“[Zapata] also accepted the fact that he did not inform you of what happened with your complaint, but this cannot be considered a cover-up as he did not hide it from his superiors, and the rules in force at the time did not establish an obligation to inform the complainant.”

However, de la Calle alleges in a separate letter that Zapata had failed to follow 2003 IVE protocols that were in place at the time he made the report to Zapata in 2005. He says the protocol requires all allegations deemed plausible to be investigated by a provincial-appointed commission, reported to the local ordinary, and - in cases involving minors - reported to the CDF.

De la Calle argues that Zapata - who is currently serving as the rector of the IVE minor seminary in San Rafael - failed to take the correct steps, and that Dominguez failed to account for those failings in his investigation.

According to local sources, Domínguez enjoyed a friendly relationship with IVE during his time in San Rafael.

“His relationship with IVE was kind of a crony friendship, he exonerated Zapata quickly from de la Calle’s complaint and had an arrangement with the provincials of IVE, kind of like ‘don’t bother me and I’ll cover your backs’,” a local priest told The Pillar.

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Domínguez’s resignation is the most recent in a series of early resignations and scandals in the Argentine Church.

Bishop José María Baliña, auxiliary of Buenos Aires, was chosen to lead the diocese of Mar del Plata in November 2023.

However, he resigned less than a month later, before he could be installed as bishop, citing serious health problems, including vision complications that were likely to result in short-term blindness.

Claretian Bishop Gustavo Larrazábal, auxiliary of San Juan de Cuyo, was then announced to head the Diocese of Mar del Plata.

But he was quickly deterred by complaints of harassment and abuse of power between 2007 and 2013 in other dioceses, and he submitted his resignation a few weeks later.

Archbishop Gabriel Mestre of La Plata resigned in 2024, at the request of Pope Francis, amid controversy over his role in trying to push for a candidate to succeed him in his previous position as bishop of Mar del Plata.

Domínguez’s own predecessor, Bishop Eduardo Taussig, also resigned before he turned 75 years old, the customary retirement age for diocesan bishops, amid issues in the Diocese of San Rafael.

Since his appointment in 2004, Taussig had clashed with the IVE and a large sector of the diocesan clergy in San Rafael, known to be the most traditional and conservative of Argentina.

Tensions escalated when Taussig ordered during the 2020 Covid pandemic that Communion could only be received on the hand. Seminary formators refused to obey the order, and the bishop ultimately shut down the seminary later that year, leading to significant protests.

Taussig resigned in 2022.