Pope Leo XIV has for the first time dismissed Spanish bishop Rafael Sornoza, who is suspected of sexually abusing a seminarian in the 1990s.
This is reported by The Independent.
Sornoza submitted his resignation last year, at the age of 75, the age at which bishops usually retire. But it was not accepted until a church tribunal began investigating the bishopʼs case.
He is accused of abusing a seminarian while Sornoza was head of a seminary in the Spanish city of Getafe. The former seminarian sent a letter to the Vatican saying that he was abused by Sornoza from the ages of 14 to 21.
The priestʼs diocese denies the allegations but confirmed that the case is being investigated by a ecclesiastical court in Madrid, which said Sornoza is cooperating with the investigation and is not serving in the church due to cancer treatment.
In 2023, Spainʼs ombudsman conducted an 18-month survey that found that the number of victims of sexual abuse in the church could be in the hundreds of thousands. During that time, the ombudsmanʼs team investigated 487 cases involving alleged victims.
In 2024, the Spanish Catholic hierarchy produced its own report. They found evidence of 728 cases of sexual abuse in the church since 1945. After the Spanish government approved a plan to pay reparations to victims, the church also implemented a compensation plan.
- In 2023, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of the Polish bishop of the Sosnowiec diocese Grzegorz Kaszak after reports of a gay orgy involving the priest and members of his diocese with the participation of a sex worker.
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