LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) 鈥 Pope Francis expressed concern 鈥 and dismay 鈥 over the allegations of sexual abuse committed by priests in Bolivia in a letter sent Friday to President Luis Arce, as a pedophilia scandal involving priests continues to rock the the Andean country.
The pontiff pledged 鈥渢he full cooperation of the Church to work alongside the government鈥 in the ongoing investigations over the .
鈥淚 express my sorrow ... for the deplorable acts that have affected and continue to affect individuals who have been sexually abused by members of the church,鈥 Francis wrote in the letter dated May 31 that was read Friday by Mar铆a Nela Prada, the minister of the Bolivian presidency, at a news conference in La Paz.
In the letter, Francis says he shares the president鈥檚 鈥渃oncern, outrage and condemnation鈥 regarding the recently reported incidents, as well as for 鈥渢he negligence of those who should have exercised vigilance.鈥
Francis was responding to a letter Arce sent him last month after came to light. Alfonso Pedrajas, who died of cancer in 2009, revealed in a personal diary published by Spanish newspaper El Pa铆s that he had abused dozens of minors in Catholic boarding schools dating back to the 1970s.
President Arce commented on the letter on social media, praising Francis' 鈥渨illingness to take concrete, joint actions against the impunity of sexual crimes.鈥
Arce added that Bolivia should 鈥渟trengthen controls to prevent foreign priests with a history of sexual crimes from entering the country.鈥
Bolivia's Public Prosecutor鈥檚 Office has and has asked victims to come forward. New cases of sexual abuse have been uncovered as a result of this probe and one priest was sent to last month.
So far, 12 judicial investigations against clergy members in Bolivia, including one which already resulted in a 10-year prison sentence for a priest charged with rape, the Bolivian Episcopal Conference (CEB) said earlier this week. In several of the cases, those who have been accused of abuse have already died.
Jordi Bertomeu, a Spanish priest who is one of the Vatican鈥檚 top sex crimes investigators, in part to deal with the fallout from the growing sex abuse scandals. He had previously led investigations into similar accusations by priests in Chile and Paraguay.
