Vatican action sought vs priest

A Catholic Church official on Sunday urged the superiors of a priest accused of raping a 17-year-old girl in Agusan del Norte to quickly send the case to the Vatican as required, as it was causing a scandal and an embarrassment to the Church.

Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz said that under canon law, cases of such gravity involving a minor must be sent for trial and judgment to the Vatican, the seat of the Roman Catholic Church.

“The bishop [supervising the accused priest] should gather criminal evidence, especially testimonial and documentary, and if the bishop finds the case as having preliminary merit, then it goes to Rome,” said Cruz, who chairs the Catholic Bishops National Tribunal of Appeals.

Earlier, Butuan Bishop Juan de Dios Pueblos said the suspect, Fr. Raul Cabonce, was under his supervision and had been reassigned to another parish following the rape allegation.

The girl claimed that Cabonce, then parish priest of St. Anne Parish in Tubay, sexually molested and raped her several times while she was working for him.

Cruz said that if the bishop concerned did not himself want to gather the preliminary evidence, he could assign one of his priests or his tribunal personnel to do it.

“This is a very big scandal and a very big shame to the Church. The diocese cannot afford not to act on it,” said the retired bishop in a phone interview on Sunday.

“He (priest) should be tried before the criminal court. If guilty, he should serve a life sentence. But he should also be tried before the Church tribunal and once found guilty, he should be dismissed from the clerical Church state,” said Cruz.

In the diocese fails to act, he added, the National Tribunal of Appeals could not interfere unless directed to do so by the papal nuncio.

Normally, Cruz explained, a case is first brought for resolution to the Tribunal of First Instance established in all dioceses and archdioceses in the country.

If a complainant wants to appeal a decision of the tribunal, the case could be forwarded to the National Tribunal of Appeals, he said. “The case goes to Rome if the complainant still doesn’t agree with the decision of the national tribunal.”

But since the complainant involved a minor and the case was sensitive, the Holy See has automatic jurisdiction over the case, he said.

“If the bishop concerned will not take this matter seriously, his other priests would learn the wrong way of being a priest,” he said.