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Juan Pablo Barrientos receives RSF Press Freedom Prize on paedophilia in the Colombian Church
Five years ago, Colombian journalist Juan Pablo Barrientos shook the Catholic Church in his country. It revealed for the first time the names of dozens of priests who had sexually abused children and teenagers. The investigative journalist's investigations have had a great impact in the country. They showed that the crimes were covered up by the ecclesiastical superiors. This work has earned him threats and intimidation. He has just received the Reporters Without Borders press freedom award.
Colombian journalist Juan Pablo Barrientos poses with his book "Let the Children Come to Me" in Medellín in October 2019. AFP - JOAQUIN SARMIENTO
By: Achim Lippold Follow
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RFI: You have just received the Reporters Without Borders prize for press freedom. What does this award mean to you?
Juan Pablo Barrientos: It means a lot because I'm getting this award in the "impact" category. What is the impact? Well, Reporters Without Borders thinks that my fight to gain access to the secret archives of the Catholic Church in Colombia was very valuable. I'm not a lawyer, I'm a journalist, but in the last five years I've had to go to every judge in the country to get the Catholic Church to give me access to its archives on sexual abuse cases. In the last three years, there have been two judgments of the Constitutional Court. They ordered the Catholic Church to open its archives to me. The court considered that these cases were semi-private in nature. In fact, I asked each bishop whether or not his priests had been denounced for sexual abuse of children and adolescents.
Why did you focus on these cases of pedophilia in the Colombian church?
I am convinced that behind a small piece of information can be a big investigation. And I got this little bit of information thanks to the Oscar-winning film Spotlight in 2016. This film tells the story of how Boston Globe journalists investigated sexual abuse by priests in 2001 and 2002. At the end of the film, before the credits roll, the names of 206 cities appear, cities where similar cases have occurred. And the only Colombian city on this list is Medellín, my hometown. So this information caught my attention because in Colombia I had never heard of any investigations on this subject or heard that priests had been convicted of sexual abuse of children and adolescents. That's when I started researching, I started investigating and asking questions.
To ask questions and find answers. You have produced reports that have had a great impact on Colombian society.
Yes, in 2018 I did a first survey for one of the most important radio stations in Colombia. It was called "Let the Children Come to Me." In this report, I revealed that the Archbishop of Medellín had covered up for 17 priests accused of sexual abuse of children and adolescents. That was in March 2018. Then, in September 2018, I carried out the second part of this survey in which I identified 45 priests protected by the archbishop. Later, the Planeta publishing house asked me to write a book called Let the Children Come to Me. And that's when I started hearing from victims all over the country. There was a domino effect: the victims contacted me and I intensified my investigation. I sent requests for information to the bishops, who refused them. That was until the Constitutional Court took up my case and ruled that the Catholic Church had to respond to my demands.
And how have Colombians reacted to your surveys?
At first there was a lot of resistance, there were demonstrations in the streets against my research. People sent the radio station a package with 45,000 signatures, demanding that I drop the investigation. There were a lot of insults, threats from the Church and from ordinary citizens as well. But in the last five years, people have started to open their eyes, they have understood that I am not attacking the church or priests in general. But that it was an absolutely necessary investigation, because pedophilia within the Church is a worldwide phenomenon.
In your latest book, Secret Archives, you write that out of 573 priests accused of committing sexual abuse, only 60 have been convicted...
So what's interesting is that at least 300 of those 573 cases didn't make it to the prosecutor's office. The files of these priests remained in the secret archives of the Catholic Church. This is the other scandal: a case of sexual abuse against a child or adolescent must be brought before the civil justice system and not be managed by an ecclesiastical court. Canon law cannot be above common law, and I always insist on this point.
Another obstacle was the slowness of indictments on the part of the justice system. At first, the prosecutors didn't want to act...
Yes, because it is such a Catholic country that the bishops and the Church have a lot of power. Politicians don't want to get involved because these cases don't win votes, quite the opposite. The President of the Republic is also a very good friend of all the bishops, because the Church has helped him in all his efforts to make peace with the armed groups. The Catholic Church has played an important role in this, and the president is not interested in getting involved in these matters.
And the victims, you've interviewed a lot of them. What do they say? I guess they're happy to finally be recognized?
Je suis très heureux parce que récemment, un groupe de victimes a décidé de créer une association. La première association de victimes. D’autres personnes l’ont rejointe et ils commencent à revendiquer leurs droits. Donc pour la première fois, ils voient une lointaine lumière. Je pense qu’il est vraiment indispensable que toute la vérité soit rétablie, que justice soit faite et qu’il y ait des indemnisations. Vous savez, le fait que l'Église ne veuille pas admettre ce qui s’est passé et qu’elle refuse de révéler ses archives secrètes, c’est en vérité une question d’argent. Si elle reconnaissait les victimes, il lui faudrait les indemniser. Mais l’Église est une entreprise, et en tant qu’entreprise, elle doit veiller à ses finances. Aux États-Unis, les institutions religieuses ont dû vendre des temples et des églises pour indemniser les victimes. Beaucoup de diocèses ont dû se déclarer en faillite, précisément à cause des indemnisations. Mais l’église doit le faire. C'est pour cela que les victimes doivent continuer à se battre.
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