Church dismisses claims Pope Leo failed to act on abuse cases in Peru, says he ‘respected procedures'
CHICLAYO (Peru), May 10 — Pope Leo XIV's successor as bishop of Chiclayo in northern Peru yesterday rejected allegations that the new pontiff ever covered up cases of sexual abuse within the diocese.
Chiclayo bishop Edison Farfan told reporters that Leo had 'listened (to the victims) and respected the procedures' of the Church.
The new pope had been 'the most sensitive of all within the Peruvian church' to the issue of sexual abuse, Farfan added.
The US-born pontiff was bishop of the coastal city from 2015 to 2023, when he was made a cardinal and moved to Rome.
Two victim advocacy groups questioned Leo XIV's commitment to addressing sexual violence in the church after he was announced Thursday.
Victims' rights group, Bishop Accountability, has also questioned the US-born pontiff's commitment to lifting the lid on the scourge of clerical abuse.
The group's co-director Anne Barrett Doyle noted that Leo had 'released no names' of abusers, whether as head of the Augustinian order, bishop of Chiclayo or most recently, as head of the powerful Dicastery for Bishops, advising his predecessor Francis on the appointment of bishops.
She labelled his alleged inaction in Chiclayo, where she said two priests had been accused of sexual abuse, as 'most disturbing.'
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), also issued a statement after his election as pope calling on Leo XIV to take action to support victims of sexual violence.
In 2022, a priest in the diocese was accused of having sexually assaulted at least three girls.
The diocese's head of communications, Fiel Purizaca, told AFP that the priest targeted by the abuse allegations was 'immediately sent home.'
Farfan said the allegations were an attempt to 'discredit' the new pontiff and were 'false.' Farfan said the church was still investigating the abuse claims. — AFP
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Malay Mail
3 days ago
- Malay Mail
Maduro says Trump ‘poisoned by lies' about Venezuela after US travel ban
CARACAS, June 6 — President Nicolas Maduro claimed yesterday that his US counterpart Donald Trump was being 'poisoned' by 'lies' about Venezuela. 'Do not let yourself be poisoned any longer against Venezuela. They poison you every day with lies,' Maduro said on state television after Trump blocked most Venezuelans from traveling to the United States, part of a total or partial ban on arrivals from 19 countries. Trump's proclamation invoked the need to protect the United States from 'foreign terrorists and other national security' threats. Venezuela hit back by saying the United States itself was a dangerous destination. Maduro said he was appealing directly to Trump because he believed the US leader was 'deceived' by his advisors about the South American country. 'We are good people, enough with the smear campaigns, enough with the lies,' Venezuela's left-wing authoritarian leader added. Venezuela has been in Trump's sights since his return to office in January. His administration has tightened oil sanctions on the country, sent hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to a brutal prison for gangsters in El Salvador and revoked deportation protection from 300,000 Venezuelans in the United States. — AFP
Malay Mail
6 days ago
- Malay Mail
Will paying farmers to uproot coca help end Colombia's cocaine crisis?
ARGELIA (Colombia), June 3 — With cocaine production at an all-time high, Colombia's government is testing a pacific approach to its narcotics problem: paying farmers to uproot crops of coca, the drug's main ingredient. Among the beneficiaries are Alirio Caicedo and his son Nicolas, who a decade ago planted an expanse of coca as they staked their future on the continued patronage of criminal gangs. Today, they are uprooting the crops and hoping for the best. The Caicedos and some 4,000 other Colombian families have entered into a pact with the government to replace their coca with alternative crops such as cocoa and coffee. It is part of a US$14.4 million project to reduce supply of a product blamed for untold misery in a country where armed groups force rural communities to grow coca and raze forests for its cultivation. The project seeks to eradicate coca production on 45,000 hectares in three of Colombia's most conflict-riddled regions, including the southwestern Micay Canyon where the Caicedos ply their trade in the Argelia municipality. For farmers it is a risk. They cannot be sure that their new plantations – coffee in the Caicedos' case – will succeed, or that guerrillas and other groups whose income depend on cocaine sales will leave them in peace. 'When one is planting a coca plant, there is hope that in time... there will be a harvest and there will be some income,' Nicolas Caicedo, 44, told AFP while he and his dad, 77, shoveled and tugged at the remaining coca shrubs on their property. 'Uprooting the plants means that... there will be no more harvests -- in other words, no more money,' from coca at least. With coca, the Caicedos said they were guaranteed an income of about US$800 per month. They have received an initial payment of about US$300 under the project to grow coffee, with more to come. But another farmer, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity, said he doubted the project could work in areas such as Argelia where illegal groups outnumber the state in terms of fighters and guns. 'No armed group that lives off (coca) is going to want a farmer to stop growing coca and switch to coffee,' he said. 'Naive' Gustavo Petro, Colombia's first-ever leftist president, took office in 2022 with the goal of extricating his country from the US-led 'war on drugs' blamed for double-victimization of rural Colombians already living under the yoke of violent criminal groups. On his watch, cocaine production in Colombia – the world's biggest exporter of the drug – reached record levels as demand continues to grow in Europe and the United States – the principal consumer. Several previous attempts to get Colombian coca producers to change crops have failed as armed groups caused havoc and government payments and other assistance eventually dried up. For Gloria Miranda, head of Colombia's illegal crop substitution program, told AFP would be naive to think this new program will end drug trafficking 'as long as there is a market of 20 million consumers and it (cocaine) remains illegal.' In his stated quest for 'total peace,' Petro has sought to negotiate with a variety of armed groups, meaning fewer military operations and the abandonment of forced coca eradication. But talks have mostly broken down, and the arrival of Donald Trump in the White House in January has ramped up pressure on Bogota. The Trump administration is reviewing Colombia's certification as an ally in the fight against drugs – a move that could restrict millions of dollars in military aid. With high stakes for its crop replacement gamble, observers fear the government may be taken advantage of. Some farmers may 'try to deceive' by taking the money while continuing to grow coca, Argelia government secretary Pablo Daza told AFP. Without adequate monitoring, 'the chances are quite high that we are wasting money,' added Emilio Archila, who oversaw a similar, failed, project under former President Ivan Duque. Miranda assures there will be 'meticulous' satellite monitoring, and anyone found not to be complying will be expelled from the program. Used not only for cocaine, the coca leaf is also chewed as a stimulant in Andean countries or brewed into a tea thought to combat altitude sickness. Colombia's appeals for the leaf to be removed from a UN list of harmful narcotics so it can be commercialized in alternative products such as fertilizers or beverages, have so far fallen on deaf ears. — AFP
Malay Mail
31-05-2025
- Malay Mail
Peru's president Dina Boluarte hits record low approval of 2pc amid scandals and protests
LIMA, June 1 — With an approval rating of just two per cent, Peru's President Dina Boluarte may be the world's most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term—joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed 'Rolexgate.' She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery—which she insists was medical, not cosmetic—and is being investigated for her role in a police crackdown that caused the deaths of 50 protesters. Against that bleak backdrop, Boluarte's never-high popularity hit rock bottom this month. The Ipsos polling agency found she had a two-per cent approval rating, down from 21 per cent when she took office. 'We might be talking about a world record of sustained presidential disapproval,' Ipsos Peru president Alfredo Torres told AFP. It is the lowest score Ipsos has measured in any of the other 90 countries it surveys, Torres said. Yet as far as recent Peruvian presidents go, she is not just a survivor, but positively an elder stateswoman. The South American nation has had six presidents in eight years and if Boluarte lasts to the end of her term next year, she would be the longest-serving of them all. Weakness is strength Despite not having a party in Congress, she has managed to stay in power with the backing of Peru's majority right-wing parties. Analysts say voter lethargy and political expediency have so far helped Boluarte buck the trend of prematurely ousted Peruvian leaders. 'In Peru, there is a political paradox: Boluarte is the weakest president of the last decade,' political analyst Augusto Alvarez of the University of the Pacific told AFP. But her weakness is 'also her strength,' he said, explaining that a lame-duck president is politically useful for Congress. 'It is a great business to have a fragile president whom they (lawmakers) use' to entrench their own power and pass laws beneficial to allies and backers, said Alvarez. Transparency International's Peruvian chapter Proetica has cited Congress for 'counter-reforms, setbacks in anti-corruption instruments... and shielding of members of Congress who are ethically questioned.' Boluarte has other factors counting in her favor. Congress is seemingly keeping her around for lack of a better, consensus, candidate. Another plus for Boluarte: Peru's economy has been performing well, with GDP growing 3.3 percent last year and 3.9 percent in the first quarter of 2025 -- a steep improvement from the 2020 recession blamed on Covid pandemic lockdowns. Peru's inflation rate is one of the lowest in the region. 'The economy continues to function, there is enormous resilience, and the population's income is growing,' said Alvarez. But this may have little to do with policy, observers say, and more with external factors such as rising copper prices. Peru is one of the top producers of the metal. 'Terrible image' On the street, there is little love for Boluarte, as Peru battles a surge in gang violence characterized by a wave of killings linked to extortion rackets. Boluarte 'has no empathy, she is an incapable president, she does not solve the security problem,' Saturnino Conde, a 63-year-old teacher, told AFP. At frequent marches against the president, the catchphrase: 'Dina, Asesina!' (Dina, Murderer!) has become a popular refrain. But a full-out rebellion appears unlikely, say analysts. Peruvians 'feel it's not worth it: if she resigns or is dismissed, she would be replaced by a member of Congress, but Congress also has a terrible image,' said Ipsos manager Torres. In addition, 'there is no other candidate that captivates, which is why people are not in a hurry to remove her from power.' — AFP
