A month after two former provincials were temporarily placed under house arrest, the Society of Jesus in Bolivia has denied that it is a “criminal organization” that has systematically covered up sexual abuse.
Father Bernardo Mercado, SJ, the Bolivian Jesuit provincial, suspended several of his predecessors last year amid revelations of a cover-up of the sexual abuse of an estimated 85 minors by Father Alfonso Pedrajas, SJ (1943-2009), an openly gay Jesuit priest.
The Society of Jesus in Bolivia also revealed last year that a Jesuit prelate, Archbishop Alejandro Mestre Descals, SJ (1912-1988), was accused of raping a young adolescent boy.