The Vatican suspended a Colombian priest over allegations of sexual abuse

The Colombian priest Carlos Arturo Yepes has been provisionally suspended from the exercise of all priestly ministry by order of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of the Vatican for allegations of alleged sexual abuse.

This was confirmed by the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Medellín, Father Óscar Augusto Álvarez, who assured Snail Radio that “the Congregation has just ordered the realization of a canonical criminal judicial process and Carlos Arturo Yepes has been suspended”.

The Archdiocese of Medellín opened in 2018 a formal investigation into Yepes for the complaint from a 36-year-old man who claimed to have been abused, when he was still a child, by the religious in 1995.

To that accusation of alleged sexual abuse similar complaints from two other people were added, which were even reviewed in the book “Let the children come to me”, by the Colombian journalist Juan Pablo Barrientos.

The decision on Yepes, popular for his work on the Catholic channel Televid in Medellín and its videos on social networks, it was signed by Pope Francis and is of immediate fulfillment.

Through a statement, the Archdiocese of Medellín reported on the case of the priest, accused of alleged sexual abuse of minors, that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith “has recently ordered the realization of a criminal judicial process” according to the Code of Canon Law.

It also pointed out that the complaint “has proceeded, as established by Canon Law and as it always does in similar cases, initiating due process.”

He also assured that “will follow up”To this provision when the Colombian Government authorizes the opening of the offices of the Archdiocesan Curia, once the quarantine decreed to stop the spread of COVID-19 ends.

Finally, the Archdiocese urged to respect the rights of “the accusers and the accused to due process, good reputation, reply and the presumption of innocence.”