The Costa Rican Bishops’ Conference and the Archdiocese of San José announced that an agreement has been reached to compensate four victims of sexual abuse by ex-priest Mauricio Víquez Lizano, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence.
The bishops said in a Feb. 1 statement that in order to close the legal proceedings for damages against the victims, “an agreement has been reached” that is “satisfactory to all parties.”
“According to what is established in this instrument, the content of this agreement is subject to a confidentiality clause, so no statements will be made in this regard,” the local Church said.
The bishops’ conference and the Archdiocese of San José stated that “the problem of the sexual abuse of minors is a dramatic situation in society” and added that “the Church regrets that cases have occurred in ecclesial contexts and works actively for prevention in order to provide safe environments.”
In August 2022, a court ruled against the Costa Rican Bishops’ Conference, San José Archbishop José Rafael Quirós, and the Temporal Assets of the Archdiocese of San José for covering up Lizano’s sexual abuse.
The compensation amounted to 65 million colones, about $114,000.
The Church indicated at the time that it would appeal the sentence, but after several months, an agreement was finally reached with the victims.
The former priest Víquez was sentenced on March 30, 2022, to 20 years in prison for sexual abuse and the rape of an 11-year-old boy in 2003.
The abuse of the victim, who at the time was a minor, took place at St. John the Baptist Parish in Patarrá de Desamparados on the outskirts of San José when Víquez was the pastor there.
According to the local newspaper Delfino, the former priest “was also accused of 29 counts of non-penetrating sexual abuse; 22 for sexual abuse of a minor; one for attempted rape; three for rape; five for the dissemination of pornography; and one for aggravated corruption of a minor involving sexual practices.”
Víquez was captured in Mexico on Aug. 18, 2019, six months after leaving Costa Rica. Interpol had issued an international arrest warrant for him, and following his arrest he was extradited to his home country.
Víquez, who for a time was a spokesman for the Church in Costa Rica, was expelled from the clerical state by a decree dated Feb. 25, 2019.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
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Santiago, Chile, Apr 19, 2017 / 12:08 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In the process of declaring the nullity of marriage there is a position of utmost importance which allows the judges to reach the moral certainty required to make their judgement: the office of the defender of the bond.
A marriage is presumed valid unless it is proved otherwise. The nullity of a marriage is established only when there exists proof that a marriage never in fact took place.
The defender of the bond participates in the process of declaring nullity “always to defend the validity of the marriage,” Sigal Rodríguez Conca, a canon lawyer who has worked for the tribunal of the Archdiocese of Santiago de Chile, told CNA.
The defender of the bond, Rodriguez said, aims to ensure that the process is conducted fairly, and upholds the marriage’s presumed validity. This role sets out arguments and aims to rebuts any evidence and conclusions of the petitioner – the spouse who is seeking to challenge the marriage’s validity.
“Obviously if there is no argument to make in favor of a marriage’s validity, the case is left to the knowledge and conscience of the judges,” said Rodriguez.
The role of the defender of the bond is outlined in canon law, and the person who fills the role is appointed by the bishop.
This role makes it possible to have “a true examination in the process of marriage nullity,” Rodriguez said. The respondent to an annulment case sought by the petitioner rarely participates in the proceedings, and “when they do respond, in the majority of casese they are in favor of a declaration of nullity.”
Once a diocese’s judicial vicar has accepted a request to hear a process of declaring the nullity of marriage, the defender of the bond is notified in writing, and must respond to the arguments presented by the lawyer representing the petitioner’s case.
Pope Francis made changes to the nullity process in December 2015, introducing a shorter process.
In the shortest available annulment process, in which the bishop hears the case, the defender of the bond has 15 days to present observations in favor of the existence of the marriage bond.
The defender of the bond has the right to be present at the statements by the parties to marriage, and the statements by witnesses and experts. He has the right to examine the judicial documents and any documents presented by the parties.
In addition, the defender must be notified of the entire content of the ruling and has the right to appeal any declaration of nullity if it is considered unjust. He has “the last word” in all arguments presented before the verdict in the case, Rodriguez said.
Without the defender of the bond, there would not exist a real cross-examination in the marriage nullity process, which allows a greater possibility for the moral certainty required to rule in favor of or against nullity.
Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, Archbishop of Bologna, Italy, in St. Peter’s Basilica on Oct. 5, 2019. / Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Rome, Italy, Nov 25, 2021 / 11:00 am (CNA).
No, it does not seem as if Pope Francis is going to resign. Indeed, his dynamism and desire to do things, working to bring the Church closer to the people, should be appreciated.
That is how Cardinal Matteo Zuppi responded when asked if the Pope Francis era was about to come to an end.
The questions, however, were legitimate because they were asked at the launch of a book explicitly addressing the papacy’s future.
Zuppi was on a panel for the Nov. 18 presentation of the book “Cosa Resta del Papato? Il futuro della Chiesa dopo Bergoglio” (“What Remains of the Papacy? The future of the Church after Bergoglio”), by the Italian Vaticanist Francesco Antonio Grana.
The book examines what the institution of the papacy is and what it can become after the resignation of Benedict XVI and the pontificate of Pope Francis.
It reconstructs the last part of Benedict XVI’s pontificate, revealing that among the few people aware of the forthcoming resignation was Italy’s then president, Giorgio Napolitano. The book also offers a glimpse of what the next conclave might look like.
Returning from Slovakia in September, Pope Francis had complained about the prelates who were allegedly already seeking to identify his successor. For this reason, the presence of a cardinal at the launch of a book that also looks at the papal succession risked being viewed as part of a “hidden electoral campaign.”
This is especially the case as Zuppi, the archbishop of Bologna, northern Italy, is seen by many as one of the possible papabili in a future conclave.
A leading figure in the Community of Sant’Egidio, and known internationally also for his role as a peace mediator in Mozambique, Zuppi has nevertheless always maintained a low-key and ascetic profile. This approach made him a beloved parish priest, first at the Rome church of Santa Maria in Trastevere and then in a parish on the city’s outskirts.
His hierarchical ascent began with his appointment as an auxiliary bishop of Rome in 2012. He was then called by Pope Francis to be archbishop of Bologna, a major Italian see, in 2015, receiving the cardinal’s red hat in 2019.
Cardinal Matteo Zuppi receives the red hat on Oct. 5, 2019. Daniel Ibanez/CNA.
Zuppi’s presence at the book launch was all the more striking because he is a cardinal loved by Pope Francis, who gives little indication of wanting to detach himself from the legacy of the reigning pope and always defends his pastoral activities. (The one exception might be his decision not to clamp down severely on the Traditional Latin Mass in his archdiocese following the motu proprioTraditionis custodes.)
The 66-year-old cardinal’s words at the book launch were cautious. He began by reflecting on the book’s title. He then focused on the Statio Orbis of March 27, 2020: the solitary prayer in St. Peter’s Square in which Pope Francis asked for an end to the pandemic. Zuppi said that on that occasion, “for the first time, Ecclesialese — the language spoken among us priests — became the common language.”
Speaking of the crisis in the Church, Zuppi said that “we can spend a lifetime arguing among ourselves, fueling an internal conflict. But the point is that it is a crisis, generative of something new.”
He stressed that John XXIII was considered “a simpleton, who seemed to impoverish the greatness of the Church,” and that Benedict XVI “defined himself as a humble worker in the Lord’s vineyard.”
In short, Francis is not, according to Zuppi, a pope who is diminishing the institution’s importance. Rather, he is giving it a new impetus. So much so, that there is “anything but an air of resignation,” Zuppi said. “In the many decisions he has made, and in the processes he has initiated, there is a great awareness and sense of the future.”
He added: “Pope Francis tells us that there is so much to do now, and he helps us not to have a renunciatory attitude, as a retreating minority. His significant reform is pastoral and missionary conversion.”
“He allows us to place ourselves in an evangelical, straightforward way, close to the people, and shows us some priorities for a Church that speaks to the heart. He helps us to be more Church, in a world that makes identity fade.”
There was also talk of the Zan bill, a proposed anti-homophobia law discussed in the Italian Senate. The Holy See presented a formal diplomatic note to the Italian state, highlighting that the bill violated the Concordat between the Holy See and Italy as part of the freedom of education.
It was not an opinion of the Holy See, but rather a diplomatic initiative to avoid the violation of a treaty. One of the panelists, Peter Gomez, director of IlFattoquotidiano.it, suggested erroneously that the Holy See expresses an opinion and the secular state is free to make its own decisions. But this was not the focus of the discussion.
Zuppi has repeatedly refused to address the controversy publicly. Many have interpreted this as a tactical move. The general assembly of the Italian bishops’ conference is currently discussing who should be its next president. Zuppi is one of the leading candidates to succeed Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti of Perugia-Città della Pieve.
Then there is the question of the next conclave that continues to hang over Zuppi. It was the author of the book himself, Francesco Grana, who sought to damp down any speculation. He explained that, despite its arresting title, the book was not presenting a manifesto.
He referred to a book recently published by Andrea Riccardi, founder of the community with which Zuppi is closely associated.
“Andrea Riccardi, the founder of the Community of Sant’Egidio, wrote the book ‘The Church burns.’ And if the Church burns, how can we not ask ourselves about the papacy of the future?” he asked.
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