Allegations of abuse against two priests and accusations against the bishop for covering them up. In itself, unfortunately, this is nothing new. But if the bishop in question, in the midst of the scandal, is called to Rome as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, the matter becomes objectively very serious. And if then, as prefect of bishops, a friend of his is appointed bishop to head his old diocese, who starts to erase all traces of the scandal, the matter becomes more than suspicious.
This is exactly the case of Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, an Augustinian, Bishop of Chiclayo (Peru) until Pope Francis appointed him, on 30 January 2023, to lead the Dicastery that presides over the appointment of all the world’s bishops, an office he actually assumed on the following 12 April along with that of president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. The cardinal’s biretta then arrived at the Consistory on 30 September 2023.
But let us proceed with order: according to the sworn testimonies of three victims, which the Daily Compass is in possession of, the events reported happened between 2006 and 2010 and two priests from the diocese of Chiclayo, about 600 kilometres north of the capital Lima, were responsible: Father Eleuterio Vàsquez-Gonzales, known as Father ‘Lute’, and Father Ricardo Yesquen. The victims who filed the complaint were three young women, children between 10 and 14 years old at the time of the abuse: three sisters, who decided to denounce the priests after discovering that they had all suffered similar abuse.
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