Vatican Jesuit officials ordered concealment of child abuse evidence in Bolivia

Bolivian prosecutors have seized emails and secret letters that show the Jesuit generalate in Rome knew of systematic sexual abuse of minors in Bolivia and directed the hiding of documentation. The documents indicate that former prefect Peter Hans Kolvenbach, in 1992, allowed priest Luis Tó—already convicted of rape in Spain—to remain in Bolivia, and that a 1999 report of abuse by Francis Flores was not forwarded to police. Current prefect Arturo Sosa Abascal, who leads the order since 2016, was fully informed about the internal investigation of Jesuit Luis María Roma Padrosa (known as Lucho Roma), who abused more than 70 indigenous Guaraní girls in Charagua and kept diaries, photographs and videos of his crimes. A February 2020 email classified Roma’s diary as “information classified” and instructed its preservation while no criminal complaint was filed. The Jesuits in Bolivia concealed the manuscripts but did not activate a police investigation. The original documents are held by Bolivia’s Ministry of Public Prosecutor.