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Winnipeg Free Press
8 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Survivor of clergy sex abuse in Peru visits pope's hometown to call for more reforms
CHICAGO (AP) — A Peruvian survivor of clergy sex abuse brought her public campaign for reforms to the American hometown of Pope Leo XIV on Thursday, saying he failed in investigating her case when he was a bishop in her home country and needs to step up now as leader of the world's Catholics. 'I've been quiet since the pope has been elected,' Ana María Quispe Díaz said in Spanish at a news conference in downtown Chicago. 'But I'm not planning to be quiet forever.' She appeared with members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. The advocacy group sent a letter to the pope on Thursday renewing demands for more accountability on clergy sex abuse complaints and released documents related to Díaz's case. The Associated Press doesn't name people who say they were sexually assaulted unless they consent to being identified or decide to tell their stories publicly, as Díaz has. She began speaking out on social media in 2023, and has faced threats and harassment in Peru because of it, SNAP officials said. Ahead of Leo's May election, SNAP filed a formal complaint against then-Cardinal Robert Prevost with the Vatican secretary of state, alleging he abused ecclesiastical power in his handling of two cases. Díaz said she is a victim in one of those cases which overlapped with Prevost's tenure as bishop of Chiclayo, Peru. According to the complaint filed in March by SNAP, Prevost's diocese didn't fully investigate in April 2022 when three women accused priests Eleuterio Vásquez Gonzáles and Ricardo Yesquén of sexually abusing them as minors. Díaz said Thursday that she had spoken briefly with Prevost on the phone in 2020, telling him how she was abused by Vásquez Gonzáles, but wasn't given assurances that much could be done. All three women spoke with Prevost in person in 2022 about both priests, according to Díaz. 'How much more damage can he do now that he is the pope?' she asked, speaking through a translator. Following a protocol set by Pope Francis But Prevost did everything he was supposed to do, according to the Chiclayo diocese and Vatican, including restricting the priest's ministry, sending a preliminary investigation to the Vatican's sex crimes office, offering the victims psychological help and suggesting they go to authorities, who archived the case because it happened too long ago. Pope Francis had a mixed record on responding to the clergy sexual abuse crisis, bungling a major case in Chile in 2018 before reversing course, ordering an investigation and apologizing to the victims. Ultimately, it became a turning point for how he directed the church to handle cases of priests sexually abusing children for the rest of his papacy. In these cases, the Vatican investigation found Prevost acted correctly in imposing preliminary restrictions on Vásquez Gonzáles while Peruvian authorities conducted their own civil investigation. The Vatican office archived the case for lack of evidence, then reopened it in 2023 after it gained traction in the media. Victims' groups are demanding an accounting from Leo. Meanwhile, his supporters say the Chiclayo case is being exploited by his opponents to undermine him after he made enemies by helping shut down Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, a scandal-plagued lay Catholic community in Peru. No one has accused Leo of abuse himself, nor of knowingly keeping confirmed abusers in public ministry, which has been the biggest issue affecting the Catholic Church recently. SNAP wants this accused priest removed ASAP SNAP has asked for accused priests to be removed, which Díaz has sought as well. The organization provided copies of letters sent in July between Peruvian church officials and Díaz. In them, Peruvian church officials say Vásquez Gonzáles requested earlier this year 'to be dispensed from the obligations arising from his ordination as a priest and to leave the clerical state.' The process would take at least six months to complete, according to the letters. Díaz said that's too long. Fidel Purisaca, director of communications for the Diocese of Chiclayo, neither confirmed nor denied Vásquez Gonzáles' request. 'That is a confidential matter between the priest, the bishop, and the Vatican Dicastery,' he told The Associated Press in a WhatsApp message. The diocese said Yesquén was too sick to continue his ministry, and neither priest has commented publicly on the accusations. Sundays Kevin Rollason's Sunday newsletter honouring and remembering lives well-lived in Manitoba. While in Chicago, Díaz did interviews with Spanish language media and for podcasts. She also appeared at SNAP's annual conference in Pennsylvania last week. Now 29 and a mother of two young children, Díaz said she still isn't always ready to talk about it. But she said something changed when her daughter turned 1. 'Everything came back to me about the abuse,' she said, wiping tears at times. 'I couldn't leave her alone. Since then it's been a real fight for me to be able to leave them alone.' ___ Associated Press writer Nicole Winfield in Rome and Franklin Briceño in Lima, Peru, contributed to this report.
Winnipeg Free Press
8 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
A US judge says arrested Haitian businessman and former presidential hopeful will remain in custody
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A federal immigration judge in Miami ordered on Thursday that wealthy Haitian businessman and one-time presidential hopeful Pierre Réginald Boulos remain in custody in the United States, where he is held over accusations of supporting violent gangs in Haiti. Boulos was arrested at his home in South Florida earlier in July, accused of being 'engaged in a campaign of violence and gang support that contributed to Haiti's destabilization,' the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has said. A well-known member of Haiti's elite, he is the most high-profile Haitian arrested to date under the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. Thursday's hearing at the Krome North Service Processing Center was held behind closed doors, with authorities barring journalists and others from the courtroom and the detention center itself. It wasn't immediately known what occurred at the hearing other than the judge denying Boulos be released, a person familiar with the case told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the hearing. More than a dozen people gathered outside the detention center on Thursday, demanding that Boulos remain in the U.S. — or anywhere else but Haiti. The demonstrators waved at cars that passed by and honked in support. 'If Boulos goes to Haiti, he will not stay in prison. The justice in Haiti are gangs,' read one sign. Some said Boulos should be sent to El Salvador, or even Guantánamo. Another sign read: Send Boulos under the sea. U.S. authorities have not provided any details on Boulos's case, and no documents have been made public. Days after his arrest, ICE also said Boulos failed to disclose in his residency application his involvement in the creation of a political party or that Haiti's government had referred him for prosecution for misusing loans. It added that the State Department 'has determined that certain individuals with U.S. lawful permanent resident status have supported and collaborated with Haitian gang leaders connected to Viv Ansanm, a Haitian foreign terrorist organization.' 'The United States will not allow individuals to enjoy the benefits of legal status in our country while they are facilitating the actions of violent organizations or supporting criminal terrorist organizations abroad,' the statement said. Boulos ran grocery stores, car dealerships and other businesses while in Haiti, where he served as president of the National Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Boulos, who was born in the U.S., has previously denied a flurry of corruption allegations in Haiti. In 2019, he created the Third Way Movement, a political party that he said at the time served as a contrast to the 'shameless elite and the unscrupulous politicians who are working to bog down the country and increase the suffering of the people' of Haiti. Boulos renounced his U.S. citizenship amid expectations of a presidential run, which never materialized. He obtained U.S residency last year, under the Biden administration.
Toronto Star
38 minutes ago
- Toronto Star
Federal court denies Boston bomber's request for new judge to oversee death sentence appeal
BOSTON (AP) — A federal court on Thursday denied a request by attorneys for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to remove the judge overseeing the protracted legal battle over his death sentence. The U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the argument made by Tsarnaev's lawyers that U.S. District Court Judge George O'Toole should be recused from the case because, the lawyers contend, he is not impartial. During an August 2024 hearing, Tsarnaev's attorneys pointed to what they said were comments O'Toole made about the case on podcasts and at public events during the appeals process.
