International
The Vatican urges to end the opacity in abuse and to accelerate the resignation of pedophile religious
The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, established by Pope Francis to tackle the scourge of abuse, has published its first annual report on Tuesday, in which it claims to end opacity and accelerate the resignation of religious pedophiles, among many other indications.
The report is the result of the study of twenty local churches in the ‘ad limita’ visits made in 2023 to the Vatican, including those of Mexico and Colombia (the bishoprics must travel to Rome every five years to inform the pope and the Curia of their situations).
Its objective, according to it is read, is “to provide the possibility of reporting on its results and recommendations” to the pope, who created this commission in 2014, but also to the “surviving victims” of abuse and to all the churches on the planet.
Among its main conclusions, the report calls for greater transparency and faster assumption of responsibility.
These are some of the indications that appear in the document:
End of opacity
The Church needs to promote victims’ access to information to face the “problem” of opacity in canonical processes. “Measures should be studied to guarantee the right of every individual to access any information that affects him, especially in cases and responsibility for abuses” (always in compliance with the data protection law).
The concept of vulnerability
Cases of abuse are not only with minors but the Church also recognizes them in “vulnerable” adults. Therefore, the commission advocates developing “a mostly uniform definition of vulnerability.”
Faster
The report admits that the victims still suffer civil and canonical processes “difficult, slow and a source of continuous victimization.” That is why he urges to “guarantee an effective, fast and rigorous management” of each case of abuse, also clarifying the role of each dicastery – “mystery” – of the Roman Curia.
Fulminant resignation
Another claim is to “speed up and accelerate the resignation process” of an ecclesial leader accused of abuse “as long as it is justified.”
Compensation
The report calls for “studying compensation policies” to exercise “rigorous” measures of reparation in the process of “healing” of the victims.
A teaching force against abuse
Likewise, the report calls for “even more development of the Magisterium of the Church” on its duty of protection, promoting among its clergy “the dignity of children” through a “unitary and theological-pastoral” vision.
Specialization
The church, in addition, must promote a process of “professionalization” among its members and provide those who are in contact with minors with “academic opportunities” of training endowed with “adequate resources.”
“Worrying facks”
The Commission’s first analysis has found that, while some ecclesiastical authorities demonstrate a clear commitment to protection, others are only “at the beginning of the exercise of responsibilities.”
In some cases, in fact, a “worrying lack” of structures for reporting and accompanying victims has been detected, which contradicts what the pope demands in his document ‘Vos estis lux mundi’ (2023) on the rules against sexual abuse.
“Continuous conversion”
This year the Pontifical Commission has celebrated ten years in which “there has been a growth of awareness of both the reality of sexual abuse within the Church and its mismanagement.” The publication of these reports aims to “facilitate a process of continuous conversion” within Catholic institutions.
Five years to cover everything
There are a total of 114 episcopal conferences on the planet, so the commission, led by American Cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley, aims to study them all within 5/6 years.
International
Venezuela Refuses to Repatriate Citizens Amid Tensions Over Chevron’s Departure
The government of Venezuela privately warned the government of Donald Trump that it will not accept its own citizens being deported, following the United States’ decision to end Chevron’s license to operate in the Caribbean country, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal on Friday.
The newspaper, citing sources familiar with the matter, notes that the Venezuelan repatriation agreement is becoming strained after a January meeting between Trump’s envoy Richard Grenell and the Chavista leader Nicolás Maduro, who is not recognized as president by the U.S. The Chevron issue has exacerbated tensions.
On Tuesday, the Trump administration ended Chevron’s license in Venezuela and gave the company a month, until April 3, to leave the country after President Trump criticized Maduro for not accelerating the deportation of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. as quickly as expected.
The WSJ indicates that Venezuela’s private warning could further hinder Trump’s promised mass deportation campaignof undocumented immigrants, which his administration has already had to pause due to the high costs of using military planes for repatriation flights.
International
Hearing suspended in Guatemala on revocation of José Rubén Zamora’s house arrest
Guatemalan journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín will know until next week if he should return to preventive detention, after this Friday the hearing was suspended for a possible revocation of his house arrest.
The resumption of the hearing was rescheduled for next Monday, at 10:00 local time (16:00 GMT), by order of criminal judge Erick García, since, as he indicated, he lacks the case file for the moment.
The possible return of Zamora Marroquín to prison is due to a case of alleged money laundering in 2022, the year in which the Public Ministry (Prosecution), whose leadership is sanctioned internationally under allegations of corruption, began a judicial prosecution against him.
The journalist’s potential return to prison takes place after this week an Appeals Chamber revoked the house arrest measures that had been granted since October 2024 to the former owner and founder of the media El Periódico, a morning in which he uncovered more than a thousand cases of state corruption.
According to the opinion of the magistrates of the Third Appeals Chamber, there was “an error” in the resolution of the judge who decided to release the journalist last year. The review of the measures was requested by the Prosecutor’s Office.
Zamora Marroquín was detained for the case for more than 800 days, between July 29, 2022 and October 2024, without his guilt being proven to date.
Before this Friday’s hearing, the journalist recalled in statements to the media that he has complied with all the court orders regarding his house arrest, and reiterated that he has not seen his family for more than two years, since they are abroad in the face of the risks they could encounter in the Central American country.
Likewise, he added that the persecution against him has been “physical and psychological but I am not going to give up” and described the Third Appeals Chamber as a court linked to the “corrupt” and Deputy Felipe Alejos, sanctioned by the United States for corruption.
Zamora Marroquín, with 30 years of journalistic career, was arrested on July 29, 2022, just five days after issuing strong criticism for corruption against then-President Alejandro Giammattei, between 2020 and 2024, and his close circle.
The journalist remained in prison for a judicial process for alleged money laundering, which according to international organizations such as the Inter-American Press Society (IAPA) has been plagued with irregularities.
International
Trump withdraws 400 million federal funds from Columbia University for anti-Semitism
Donald Trump’s government canceled this Friday subsidies and contracts with Columbia University in New York worth 400 million dollars “due to its passivity in the face of the persistent harassment of Jewish students,” after receiving on Monday a report commissioned by the administration on anti-Semitism on the campuses of several universities in the country.
This cancellation “is the first set of actions, and new cancellations are expected,” warns a statement signed by the general administrative services, which specify that Columbia currently has 5 billion federally committed.
The decision to cut subsidies and contracts has been made together with the federal departments of Justice, Health, Education and Administrative Services, after the operational group commissioned by the government with the specific task of detecting and denouncing anti-Semitic behavior has not received a satisfactory response from Columbia, according to the statement.
Complaints of anti-Semitism began to appear in Columbia and other campuses shortly after October 7, 2023, the date on which Hamas launched a terrorist attack against Israel, which was then followed by a war declared by Israel against Gaza that has been one of the deadliest in several decades.
That war gave rise to demonstrations against Israel as they had not been seen on university campuses for fifty years, with Columbia at the spearhead, with some anti-Jewish incidents that made the Joe Biden Government intervene and summon the rectors of several universities to Congress, several of which (including Columbia’s) had to resign.
Despite the fact that the protests have dropped a lot in terms of intensity, Trump went further than Joe Biden: first, he named that operative group on anti-Semitism on campuses, and second, he threatened to withdraw visas or residence permits from students accused of supporting “terrorist organizations like Hamas.”
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon says that Columbia “for too long has left its homework with Jewish students on its campus, but today we show Columbia and the other universities that we will no longer tolerate that terrible passivity.”
And the director of the group that sent his report last Monday, Leo Torrell, abounded in the threats: “Freezing funds is one of the tools at our disposal to respond to this upsurge in anti-Semitism. This is just the beginning,” he said.
Curiously, in the protests against Israel, one of the most active groups has been the left-wing Jews, who have denounced that under the premise of anti-Semitism, legitimate political criticisms against the State of Israel are being included.
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