The Pope orders the reopening of the 'Gaztelueta case' after meeting with the victim of abuse

“It is necessary to open the process. A meeting will be held to decide. Then I will appoint the court that will carry out the trial. I will keep you informed". A letter, dated August 12 and handwritten by Pope Francis, gave official status to a long-awaited request by the Cuatrecasas family. After years of struggleand a lot of misunderstanding by Opus Dei as of the Vatican itself, the Pontiff decided to reopen the case in order, as the family has constantly requested, to "restore the good name" of John, the victim of abuse at the Gaztelueta school.

Opus Dei does not apologize to the victim of abuse in the 'Gaztelueta case' despite admitting "the judicial truth"

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The Pope, after studying all the material that was in the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, has decided that the person in charge of the court that will judge in Spain the performance of the Work and the college in the 'Gaztelueta case' will be the Bishop of Teruel, José Antonio Satué, who is currently in Rome participating in the training course for new bishops. Together with Satué, the rector of the UPSA, Miran de las Mercedes Cortés Diéguez, and Federico Mantaras, vicar general of Jerez, will be part of the court. The notary will be José Luis Perucha, rector of the Sigüenza-Guadalajara seminary. It is foreseeable that Satué or the Bishop of Bilbao, Joseba Segura, who has been deeply involved in collaborating with the family, will issue a statement announcing the opening of a canonical process in Spain.

The decision has been made with the consent of the family and with the support of the president of the Episcopal Conference, Juan José Omella, who in previous days has communicated the decision to Opus Dei and those responsible for the school, who wanted to avoid any Vatican intervention.

The decision also represents a slap in the face to the still prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Luis Ladaria, who in 2015 issued the last official opinion of the Vatican until now, and who was seized by the prelate of Opus Dei, Fernando Ocáriz, to not apologize to the victim, despite the fact that the Supreme Court has confirmed the sentence of two years in prison for her abuser, Jose Maria Martinez Sanz. Since then, neither a word of forgiveness nor an acknowledgment of responsibility. The Pope had to be in charge of intervening and informing the victim, before the official channels did.

For his part, the father of the victim, John Cuatrecasas, sent a message this morning through his social networks, in which he underlined how “rarely in my life have they given me such good news as the one they gave me yesterday morning. Persistence and hard work pay off.” Now you can tell why.

Ocariz's letter

“Once the civil justice system has ruled, all that remains is to accept the judicial truth, without further consideration.” This is the closest thing to an apology that can be read on the letter that the prelate of Opus Dei, Fernando Ocáriz, has sent Juan Cuatrecasas, the father of the victim of the 'Gaztelueta case'. He did so to respond to the letter to both Ocáriz and the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Luis Ladaria, in which he demanded that his son's "good name" be restored after the Supreme Court had confirmed the sentence. for sexual abuse to the teacher of the Gaztelueta school, belonging to Opus.

A letter, dated May 2, and which has only now been received by Cuatrecasas via email, since there was a problem at the Post Office and it never reached its destination. In the text, the prelate of Opus Dei acknowledges receipt of the March 29 letter and while he laments "the judicialization and media coverage of a case as complex as this one," he offers his "closeness" to Cuatrecasas and his family.

Ocáriz points out, however, that "both the Gaztelueta school, and a representative of the Holy See (the prefect Ladaria), drew conclusions that do not correspond to those of civil justice." In fact, Ladaria demanded "restore the good name" of the professor "falsely accused" who, today, exhausted the legal process, is sentenced to two years in prison for pedophile, without the still prefect of the Doctrine of the Faith having apologized.

“In any case, once civil justice – which is what should prevail in society – has ruled, all that remains is to accept the judicial truth, without further consideration,” he stresses, in an expression measured to the extreme. Why hasn't Opus made an official statement afterwards? The response of the prelate of Opus Dei comes to question the judicial process that led to the conviction of tenured professor José María Martínez Sanz: "If the Prelature has not made public statements about the sentence on a lay professor, it has been precisely because of a desire to respect for the judicial truth, without revealing the aforementioned contradictory conclusions with civil justice, or the same considerations of the Supreme Court of Spain, which reveal procedural defects in the judgment on the case, although they do not annul it.

“The decision to avoid other public pronouncements has been precisely the way to show respect towards your son Juan, and I apologize if it could have been interpreted in another way. I reiterate once again what was stated above: we must all abide by the sentence.”

But do not apologize to the victim. It remains to be seen what will happen from this decision of Francisco.

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