ACI Prensa Staff, Aug 17, 2023 / 16:40 pm
In the wake of the sexual abuse of minors scandal that broke out in April involving various members of the Society of Jesus in Bolivia, the country’s provincial superior, Father Bernardo Mercado, said that not even if he “were crazy” would he have entered the Jesuit order if he had known the real situation involving those members accused of pederasty.
The priest was interviewed recently by the special commission for the investigation of crimes of sexual abuse taking place in ecclesial environments recently created by the Bolivian Chamber of Senators, ATB Digital media reported.
Referring to the numerous Jesuits accused of sexual abuse, Mercado said: “Personally, for me they were great missionaries.”
The Jesuit provincial made the comparison to the members of the commission: “It’s as if [growing up] I were looking at you [senators] and one day I wanted to be like you.”