The victims of the priest Eleuterio Vásquez González, known as Lute, have formally asked Pope León XIV not to grant the grace of dispensation from the clerical state requested by the accused. In a letter sent directly to the Holy Father, the complainants warn that accepting that request would amount to falsely closing the pending canonical process in the Diocese of Chiclayo, depriving them of truth, justice, and reparation.
“We wish to express with respect —reads the letter— that said priest is involved in an investigation process for sexual abuses that, to date, has not been investigated or concluded in a fair manner for the victims. Therefore, we beg that this grace not be granted until the process can be brought to a conclusion in justice and truth”.
The letter, signed by Ana María Quispe Díaz and two other victims, was also sent to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, competent in matters of reserved offenses.
A request that the victims consider a maneuver to avoid the trial
The complainants maintain that the dispensation request presented by the priest is not an act of repentance, but a strategy to avoid the ecclesiastical trial and the pronouncement of a sentence. According to the reports sent to Rome, granting the dispensation in this context would mean “extinguishing the cause without resolving it”, preventing any investigation or substantive resolution.
The legal team accompanying the victims reminds that the grace of dispensation from the clerical state is a recognition of the coherence of a priest who, for legitimate reasons, does not want to continue with the obligations demanded by his priestly ministry, so it is not appropriate to process that grace while there is an ongoing criminal process, precisely to prevent the accused from escaping their responsibility before ecclesiastical justice.
The role of Ius Canon and the international report
The legal and canonical accompaniment of the complainants is carried out through the association Ius Canon, dedicated to promoting transparency and the correct application of Canon Law in the Church’s internal procedures.
The association has provided the victims with an international legal study based in Madrid with presence in Spain and Latin America, which has analyzed in an extensive report the chronology of the case and the actions of ecclesiastical authorities from 2004 to the present.
The study, among other issues, concludes that admitting the dispensation requested by the priest “would contravene the principles of the grace of dispensation and would amount to closing the case irregularly, generating an appearance of impunity and frustrating the victims’ right to an effective investigation”.
Javier Tebas Llanas, the responsible lawyer, states:
«We have analyzed in detail all the available information. As a result, an exhaustive report has been prepared that shows that both documents and evidence to be practiced are missing. The victims have requested very basic issues, the minimum expected in any legal system that they have not had until now»