What’s going on in Cardinal Prevost’s former diocese?

Two priests in the Diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, have faced abuse accusations.

A clerical abuse scandal has been brewing in the Diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, where two priests are accused of having molested three minors almost a decade ago. 

Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops. Mazur/cbcew.org.uk.

What makes the case different from the many others that affect the Church around the world is that the diocesan bishop at the time the allegations first surfaced was the American Robert Francis Prevost, now a cardinal and prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, who led the diocese from 2014 until last year.

Local Catholics have expressed frustration at the course of the investigation, which began after an alleged victim filed a complaint in 2022, accusing the priests of inappropriate touching when she was a minor. Two years on, questions continue to be raised around the case.

Given Prevost’s role in enforcing Vos estis lux mundi, the papal motu proprio on episcopal negligence in abuse cases, the situation has attracted international scrutiny, with some in Peru asking exactly how much the cardinal knew about the case, and whether he could or should have acted differently.

According to the witnesses who would later come forward to accuse Fr. Eleuterio Vásquez Gonzáles and Fr. Ricardo Yesquen, the first cases of abuse allegedly took place in 2007, when the victims were minors. 

Ana María Quispe Díaz, the only alleged victim to have made her accusations publicly, on social media, said she was nine years old at the time. She said that the priests had kissed her on the mouth and fondled her. This would have taken place seven years before Prevost arrived in the diocese in 2014.

Prevost was in place in April 2022 when Díaz first approached the diocese, after turning 18, to denounce the two priests. Two other alleged victims of abuse by the same priests also came forward.

According to a statement released later by the Diocese of Chiclayo, in December 2023, the victims were referred to the diocesan “listening center” while an investigation into the alleged abuse by Fr. Gonzáles was opened. 

The statement made no reference to a second priest, though Prevost’s immediate successor would later confirm that at this time Fr. Ricardo Yesquen was already suffering from ill health in a retirement home, and not in active ministry. 

Gonzáles, however, was removed from active ministry pending the conclusion of the investigation. A first report was sent to the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) on July 21, 2022, according to the diocese.

The diocesan statement said that “a few weeks later,” the victims decided to file a complaint with the civil authorities, indicating that the diocese did not itself refer the case to the civil authorities at the time it first received the allegations. 

According to Peruvian press reports, however, the victims went to the civil authorities in December 2022, around eight months later, because they felt there was no progress in the canonical case.

Civil prosecutors decided to close the case due to a lack of evidence and because the statute of limitations had expired. On Jan. 4, 2023, the Diocese of Chiclayo sent the prosecutors’ decision to the DDF.

Meanwhile, on Jan. 30, Pope Francis named Prevost as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops. He formally took up the post in April of that year 

During this time, the case was in Rome, under consideration by the DDF, which on Aug. 10, 2023, decided to close the case, based on the decision by civil authorities in Peru. 

Toward the end of last year, Ana María Quispe Díaz, unhappy that the cases had been closed, decided to go public. Her videos posted on social media raised awareness and led to more alleged victims coming forward. In one of her videos, she said she had already identified seven victims. She also said that some of them had suffered abuse as far back as 1997. 

At this point, the diocese — now under the authority of apostolic administrator Bishop Guillermo Antonio Cornejo Monzón, following Prevost’s departure — decided to reopen the case. Vásquez was sent away from Chiclayo and told to refrain from ministry, and the three alleged victims were summoned to give statements to the diocese.

This time, according to Bishop Guillermo Cornejo, Vásquez admitted the abuse. It would appear, from the bishop’s statement and the general timeline of events, that the admission had not been made before this, which could explain why the civil and canonical cases were closed for lack of evidence.

Bishop Guillermo Cornejo was later informed that Vásquez had been seen publicly celebrating Mass, despite having been removed from active ministry. The bishop said in response that the diocese was “in dialogue” with the priest, while confirming that the priest should refrain from publicly celebrating the sacraments. 

In February 2024, Pope Francis nominated Bishop Edinson Edgardo Farfán Códova to lead the Diocese of Chiclayo. The new bishop is a member of the Augustinians, the same religious order as Prevost.

The case against Fr. Vásquez remains open, despite his admission of guilt. In one of her videos, published on Dec. 12, 2023, Quispe Díaz said she was told by the diocese that the case had been sent back to Rome, where it is pending review.

Meanwhile, in March 2023, when news had recently emerged that Prevost was being raised to the College of Cardinals and given an important appointment in Rome, a group of Catholic laity from Peru wrote to Pope Francis questioning the decision. 

In their letter, the authors stated, apparently incorrectly, that the abuse of the three known victims took place in 2019, which would place it during Prevosts’ tenure in the diocese. 

They also claimed that “the information we have obtained shows that Cardinal Robert Prevost and the still unpunished Fr. Eleuterio Vásquez Gonzales were very close,” though they offered no supporting evidence. 

The Pillar asked the Holy See press office July 30 whether Prevost wished to comment on the case, but did not receive an immediate response.

When the Spanish website InfoVaticana contacted Prevost concerning the case in May, he referred them back to Diocese of Chiclayo’s statement.

Questions have been raised in the diocese about how much Prevost knew of the case when the first accusations were made, in April 2022. But if Fr. Vásquez denied the allegations at the time and the diocese lacked any other corroborating evidence, it may have seen no immediate way of taking the case forward canonically. 

However, the diocese could be criticized for not informing the civil authorities, as suggested by the then Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in the “Vademecum on Certain Points of Procedure in Treating Cases of Sexual Abuse of Minors Committed By Clerics,” of 2020.

The vademecum said: “Even in cases where there is no explicit legal obligation to do so, the ecclesiastical authorities should make a report to the competent civil authorities if this is considered necessary to protect the person involved or other minors from the danger of further criminal acts.”

Robert Prevost was born in Chicago in 1955. He joined the Augustinian order in 1977, and was ordained in 1982. He was first sent to the Augustinian mission in Peru in 1985 and spent much of the next decade in that country, where he headed the Augustinian seminary in Trujillo, and served as a judge in the canonical court. 

He was called back to the U.S. in 1999 as provincial of the Augustinians in Chicago, a position in which he served for two years before becoming prior general of the order, in 2001. 

In 2014, Pope Francis appointed him to lead the Diocese of Chiclayo, some 400 miles north of the capital, Lima. He served as apostolic administrator from November 2014, before being made bishop of the diocese in 2015.