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Univision Series: Accusations of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church - Part 1

Posted by April E. Olson | Apr 10, 2019

Univision
Accusations of sexual abuse of minors by priests date back to 1940, marking decades that no one knew was behind a sacred institution and hundreds of crimes not to mention. Victims of these crimes, they relate how they lived in fearless silence without being able to say anything to their parents , since both they and their parents had grown up idolizing the priests and did not want to be punished by tarnishing the image of these church leaders. Many of the abuses occurred during the tenure of Robert Sanchez, the first Hispanic archbishop of the United States.

After 20 years in this position, Sánchez was resigned from his post in 1993, after a sex abuse scandal was made public in the media. According to court documents, Sanchez not only had relations with three teenagers, but he also knew of the abuse of minors by other priests in his archdiocese. After an investigation and a trip to the city of Albuquerque, Bethlehem Smole, investigated and discovered that the accusations of sexual abuse against the church surpassed the 350 victims and that the majority were Hispanic.

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April E. Olson

Partner - Tempe Office

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