Denver Newsroom, Aug 25, 2022 / 14:10 pm
A lower court in Costa Rica ruled that the Catholic Church in the Central American country must pay about $100,000 to a victim of sexual abuse committed by a former priest. The judgment will be appealed.
According to a local media report, on Aug. 23 a lower court issued the judgment against the Costa Rican Bishops’ Conference; the archbishop of San José, José Rafael Quirós Quirós; and temporalities (income, properties, stipends, etc.) of the Archdiocese of San José, accused of covering up sexual abuse by former priest Mauricio Víquez Lizano.
The compensation to be paid to Carlos Alberto Muñoz Quirós, a victim of Víquez Lizano, amounts to 65 million colones, or about $100,000. The court also ordered that the archdiocese pay the costs of the trial: 10.6 million colones, about $16,000.
According to crhoy.com (Costa Rica Today), the decision states that “with regard to Muñoz Quirós (the victim), Quirós Quirós (the archbishop), temporalities of the Archdiocese of San José, and the Bishops’ Conference of Costa Rica are jointly and severally liable, by virtue of the employment relationship of the former priest Víquez Lizano, who was incardinated in the Archdiocese of San José when he committed the sexual offenses against the plaintiff and the respective cover-up of said actions.”