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Spain’s Supreme Court confirms jail for pedophile priest

Spain's Supreme Court has confirmed a jail sentence of more than 17 years for a priest who sexually abused two boys, one of whose parents consented.

Published: 11 April 2019 09:40 CEST
Spain's Supreme Court confirms jail for pedophile priest
Photo: belchonock/Depositphotos

The news comes as a trickle of accusations of sexual abuse against priests in schools and seminaries over the past few years has started to erode the wall of silence surrounding abuse in Catholic Spain.   

In its verdict made public Wedneday, the Supreme Court confirmed a November 2017 sentence against Jose Donoso Fernandez, a former priest in the southwestern village of Mengabril, whom a provincial court sent to prison for 17 years and seven months.

It also confirmed a jail term of four years for the parents of one of the underage boys for committing sexual abuse “via omission, as they knew about and consented to the priest's sexual relations with their son.”   

The court said Donoso housed the Romanian couple and their children in 2013 and 2014 in the priest's parish house.   

“The family depended almost completely on the defendant Jose Donoso Fernandez, who took care of nearly all their expenses, food, clothes, the stay and schooling, and the bureaucratic paperwork they had to do,” the court said.   

The other victim was a 12-year-old altar boy.

READ ALSO: Spanish victims of Catholic priests speak out over sex abuse

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CHURCH

Denmark planning to reopen churches for Easter Sunday

Denmark's government is planning to open the way for limited church services over Easter, so that Christians can celebrate the resurrection, even during the coronavirus lockdown.

Published: 1 April 2020 19:00 CEST
Denmark planning to reopen churches for Easter Sunday
In the Church of Denmark, those taking community traditionally drink from the same silver cup. Photo: Church of Denmark
If services go ahead, it will mark the first relaxation of the country's lockdown since it was imposed on March 11. 
 
“Easter is the most important celebration of the church year,” Denmark's church minister Joy Mogensen said in a press release. “This is especially the case during a sombre time when the Danes are looking for community and meaning, which is why the government is now working on a solution so that we can celebrate Easter in church in a responsible way.” 
 
Churches and church halls have been closed in Denmark since March 11, along with mosques, synagogues and other places of worship. 
 
 
But with the country set to begin gradually lifting its coronavirus restrictions after Easter, the leadership of the Church of Denmark is now holding discussions with the Danish Health Authority and the Church Ministry on how to safely allow services to proceed on Easter Sunday. 
 
The government gave no details on what a responsible church service might entail, or whether it would be possible for churchgoers to pray and sing together in church or to receive communion. 
 
In the National Church of Denmark, communion typically involves a long queue to go the alter where all who are receiving the sacrament drink sips of wine from the same cup. 
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