The priest Sergio Ríos Cordero, belonging to the Congregation of San José de Josefinos de Murialdo, was found guilty by the Rengo Prosecutor’s Office of abusing a minor.
This, after a complaint for the aforementioned crime to a minor admitted to the Rancagua Prosecutor’s Office. The incident occurred in 2010 when Ríos was serving as pastor of the Nuestra Señora del Pilar Parish in Valparaíso.
As a result of the foregoing, a criminal investigation was carried out, which found him guilty of one of the imputed crimes, thus discarding the others for which he was accused by the Rancagua TOP.
“Establishing a provisional legal truth on the subject, still pending the reading of the sentence that was set for November 14, 2022, which will provide the details and considerations that the court had to arrive at this decision, and also remaining appeals pending before the superior courts of justice”, indicated from the Argentine Congregation based in Chile.
Parallel to the criminal investigation, the Ecclesiastical Court of Valparaíso ordered a canonical investigation, which concluded -on September 4, 2020- that the complaint was credible.
During the time that the investigation lasted, the priest was prohibited from publishing content on social networks and the public celebration of the Eucharist, thus suspending all his work as a parish priest.
From the Congregation they concluded that the information had already been sent to Rome “in order to initiate the corresponding canonical process according to the procedures of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, an issue independent of civil justice.”
