Sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santa Fe de la Vera Cruz in Argentina is a major chapter in the series of

Catholic sex abuse cases There have been many cases of sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests, nuns, Popes and other members of religious life. In the 20th and 21st centuries, the cases have involved many allegations, investigations, trials, convictions, a ...

in various Western jurisdictions.

Earlier Vatican investigation

In 1994, archbishop Edgardo Gabriel Storni (6 April 1936 – 20 February 2012) was subject to an investigation ordered by the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...

, led by Monsignor José María Arancibia, after allegations of sexual abuse on 47 young

seminarians A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

, who were questioned, together with some of their family members, by Arancibia and a psychologist, at the home of Monsignor Estanislao Karlic in Paraná. Soon after the scandal broke out, in February 1995 Storni employed his contacts with then-Apostolic Nuncio Ubaldo Calabressi to arrange a trip to the

. There he was received and ratified in his post by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

. The investigation was set aside.

Book on the affairs

In 2002 the book ''Our Holy Mother'', by journalist Olga Wornat, was presented at the Santa Fe Book Fair. The book recounted the history of the accusations against Storni, and mentions an episode of threats against a priest, José Guntern, who had written a letter to the archbishop asking for him to resign on account of his misconduct (sexual activity with a seminarist). According to Guntern, he was taken practically by force to Storni's house and forced to recant and stay silent.

Political climate

The political climate had changed. While Storni has close relations with members of the local elite, the Catholic Church had been shaken by the wave of abuse allegations in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Storni travelled to Rome on 28 August 2002 where he met the Pope and several other Argentine bishops.

Episcopal resignation

Storni resigned his post on 1 October 2002 stating that this did not signify guilt. He returned to Argentina and went to live at ''Los Leones'', a large farm and horse ranch owned by Eduardo González Kess near Llambí Campbell, 60 km away from Santa Fe's capital. He then moved to a secluded ecclesiastic residence in

La Falda La Falda is a town in the province of Córdoba, Argentina, located from Córdoba and 800 km from Buenos Aires. It had about 15,000 inhabitants at the . La Falda lies at the foot of two small mountains (Cerro El Cuadrado and Cerro La Bande ...

, Córdoba; since he was formally still a bishop, he received a pension paid by the state, as per the financial support of the Church mandated by the

Argentine Constitution The Constitution of the Argentine Nation ( es, Constitución de la Nación Argentina) is the Constitution, basic governing document of Argentina, and the primary source of existing Law of Argentina, law in Argentina. Its Argentine Constitution of ...

Conviction and annulment

In 2009, Storni was sentenced to eight years in prison, the minimum term, for sexually abusing seminarian Rubén Descalzo in 1992. Because Storni was over the age of 70, the sentence was served under house arrest at a church property in Cordoba. In 2011, the Criminal Chamber of the Province of Santa Fe ordered the annulment of the judgement.

Another Bishop charged

On July 15, 2020, it was revealed that Santa Fe Archbishop Sergio Fenoy was criminally charged for attempting to supplant another sex abuse investigation.

References

Boston Globe
- Prelates felled by sex scandals (in English).

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