Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani issued a statement rejecting the accusations of sexual abuse against him, after the newspaper El País published a complaint in its edition of January 25, 2025. In the document, the former archbishop of Lima described the events as “completely false” and claimed not to have committed any crime or abused anyone in 1983, or on any other date.
The complaint, according to El País, was filed in 2018 before the Holy See by a 58-year-old man, who claimed that Cipriani abused him when he was between 16 and 17 years old. According to the complainant, the events occurred in 1983 and consisted of touching, caressing and kissing. The accusation was initially brought to Opus Dei, but, according to testimony, it was ignored for more than three decades.
It is worth mentioning that, in 2019, Pope Francis removed Cipriani, first cardinal of Opus Dei and archbishop of Lima, from the Catholic Church after learning of the accusations of pedophilia against him.
Testimony of the victim, according to El País
“I confessed to him every week or two weeks for over a year. They were very hard confessions. He harshly reproached me for my failures in my studies or in my behavior. (…) I was kneeling in front of him, between his legs. When he had me completely emotionally demolished he would hug me. They were long, uncomfortable hugs. Then he went from hugging to putting his hand under my shirt, behind my back, and rubbing it for a long time. Then he put his hand in, lifting the sweatshirt, caressing my buttocks. He crushed my buttocks and told me ‘those hams’. All this was already very uncomfortable. “I put my hands between him and me so he wouldn’t go any further,” the victim told El País.
Juan Luis Cipriani speaks out
Cipriani indicated, through a statement, that in 2018 he was informed of the existence of this complaint, although he claimed not to have had access to the file nor to have been heard. He added that, in 2019, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith imposed restrictions on his priestly ministry and asked him to establish residence outside of Peru, a measure that, he assures, he complied with to the letter.
The cardinal stressed that, in 2020, he received permission from Pope Francis to resume his pastoral activities, including preaching spiritual retreats and administering sacraments. In his defense, Cipriani described as “serious” the publication of information that, in his opinion, comes from confidential Vatican documentation.
“Despite the pain that all this causes me, I do not hold any grudge against the accuser, I pray for him and for all the people who have suffered abuse by the Catholic clergy, but I reiterate my complete innocence,” Cipriani expressed.
The statement ends by reaffirming his innocence and expressing his rejection of abuses against minors, reiterating his commitment to the Church’s fight to eradicate this type of crime.
