The bishopric of Urgell ceases from worship the priest accused of having raped a seminarian

BarcelonaThe Bishopric of Urgell informed this Monday evening through a statement that it is ceasing the priest accused of raping a seminarian from "pastoral duties," and prohibits him from the "public exercise of the priestly ministry." This means that, for example, he will not be able to officiate mass, nor perform baptisms, communions, or funerals. The measure, however, is temporary, while the "investigation of the reported event lasts," the statement specifies. In other words, this is not equivalent to a conviction, nor an expulsion from the clerical state and, consequently, the priest will be able to continue receiving his salary and living in a rectory of the diocese.

The Bishopric made this decision after taking a statement this Monday at noon from the young seminarian who, on October 26, filed a complaint for sexual assault against the priest before the Mossos d'Esquadra. The measure also comes just one day after this newspaper reported that the young man had been reporting the assault for more than a month to the office for receiving complaints of sexual abuse of the Diocese of Urgell, and the bishop and co-prince of Andorra, Monsignor Josep-Lluís Serrano Pentinat, had done nothing about it. In fact, the inaction and silence of the bishop led the boy to abandon the seminary at the end of October, and to live in hiding for fear of reprisals. In contrast, his alleged aggressor continued to be the rector of a parish in the diocese, and even last Tuesday he concelebrated the solemn mass of Saint Ermengol that the bishop himself officiated at the cathedral of La Seu d'Urgell

A seminarian reports a priest from the Urgell diocese for rape