Costa Rican police raid Church offices after priests accused of sex abuse
San José, Costa Rica, Mar 7, 2019 / 04:49 pm (
CNA).- The offices of the Archdiocese of San José and the Costa Rican bishops’ conference were raided by police Thursday as part of an investigation of two priests accused of sex abuse. . . . .
. . . regarding Fathers Manuel Antonio Guevara Fonseca and Mauricio Viquez Lizano, and proof of potential cover-up by Archbishop José Rafael Quiros Quiros of San Jose, according to the AP. . .
. . . Viquez, 54, has been dismissed from the clerical state, the San José archdiocese announced March 4. Nine canonical complaints of sexual abuse of altar boys had been filed against him. He had been teaching at a local university, but he fled Costa Rica Jan. 7, and prosecutors in the country have issued an international arrest warrant… . . .
. . . The Costa Rican bishops’ conference issued a statement a day after his arrest, seeking forgiveness for a lack of an appropriate response in other sex abuse cases, according to Q Costa Rica.
“We humbly acknowledge our mistakes and ask forgiveness for the faults that have been painfully committed by some members of our church,” the bishops said.
