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A man convicted of sexually assaulting minors and expelled from the clerical state by Pope Francis in 2019 for continually refusing to execute the canonical sentence imposed on him has been sentenced to 30 years in jail by Spain’s Supreme Court.
The former priest was accused of sexually assaulting seven minors while serving as a formator at the minor seminary of the Diocese of Ciudad Real in Spain.
The supreme court rejected Pedro Jiménez Arias’s appeal against the verdict of the Superior Court of Justice of Castilla La Mancha, which raised the sentence from 22 years and eight months to 30 years.
The Supreme Court affirmed a fine of almost $52,000 and compensation of over $2,000 for each of the seven victims.
The judgement rejected Arias’ assertion that the activities deemed sexual assault were part of a game, finding instead that they were “clever acts to attack the sexual well-being of minors.”
According to the sentencing, the ex-priest sexually handled pupils in the pool of the minor seminary with the pretext of drowning “being repeated and prolonged behaviours over time, throughout the swimming season in the pool and harming several students under his supervision.”
The Supreme Court also determined that the so-called “cures” in the students’ dormitories, which consisted of forcing children to drop their underwear and touching their genitals and penis under the guise of these cures, had a sexual aspect.
Similarly, the court pointed out that “making minors undress cannot be considered as a mere test of trust and acts of masturbation or contemplation of the penis of minors clearly violate their sexual freedom and well-being.”
The Spanish court took into account the aggravating element of the perpetrator’s influence over four of the seven victims, when it was established that he used his position as formator of the 13-year-old boarding school students.
The court ruling determined “the existence of the emotional vulnerability of the minors that the formator, using the inherent authority of the position he held, took advantage of in order to perpetrate the crimes.”
This circumstance “is inseparable from consideration of the victims’ vulnerability: taking advantage exists because the perpetrator is the formator of the minors, is in charge of them; and minors, who are under the age of 16, which fixes the age of sexual consent and are close to 13, are boarding at the seminary, in a certain environment and subject to a specific discipline,” the court ruled.
The Spanish Supreme Court rejected the accusations against the victims and their families that they coordinated the testimonies and considered that the statements of the minors, as stated in the judgment under appeal, “are clear, precise, coherent in the incrimination and without contradictions in relevant matters.”
The incidents in the case of Arias, which go back to 2016, were brought to the prosecutor’s office by the Diocese of Ciudad Real itself on behalf of the parents of the abused minors.
Before the civil justice system had reached its decision, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith decreed that Arias must be secluded in a monastery for five years with spiritual and psychological assistance, which Jiménez repeatedly refused.
The Vatican published a decree signed by Pope Francis establishing in May 2019 the “dismissal ex officio et pro bono Ecclesiae from the clerical state of the Rev. D. Pedro Jiménez Arias.”
As it was signed by the Holy Father, the decree cannot be appealed.
In February 2020, following the guidelines set by the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, the Diocese of Ciudad Real issued a decree establishing a diocesan office in charge of receiving reports regarding conduct that could constitute crimes of sexual abuse.
Father Adriano Delgado Perea, who is in charge of receiving complaints for the diocese, confirmed to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language sister news agency, that since the service was inaugurated, no accusation has been received.