Both Cardinal Robert Prevost and the Diocese of Chiclayo and journalist Elise Ann Allen publicly stated that Lute had been “suspended from public ministry.” However, the audio of the case instructor Lute, Giampero Gambaro, demonstrates that this claim is false: the decree of precautionary measures only removed him from the parish and limited his faculty to hear confessions, but did not restrict his public ministry as a priest.
The reiteration of this falsehood in various spheres reveals a coordinated narrative that sought to close the case by presenting it as an alleged “conspiracy of the Sodalicio.” The problem is that the facts no longer fit that narrative: the ecclesiastical instruction itself confirms what some spokespersons labeled as fake news or an ultrarightist conspiracy.
1. Elise Ann Allen Lies (León XIV, Citizen of the World, Missionary of the 21st Century, p. 113)
“Bishop Prevost prohibited the priest from public ministry and, therefore, from serving as a pastor and hearing confessions.”
Gambaro’s audio proves that Lute was not suspended from public ministry. He was only removed from the parish and limited from hearing confessions. Consequently, Allen incurs in an erroneous interpretation, presenting as a suspension what were actually partial measures.
2. The Diocese of Chiclayo Lies (public statement)
“The accused priest, who has never admitted to committing the acts attributed to him, was removed from the parish entrusted to him and prohibited from exercising public priestly ministry.”
The diocese’s official note, dated September 10, 2024, repeats the same falsehood. The decree read by Gambaro contains no general prohibition clause. The diocesan statement deliberately exaggerates the scope of the measures, seeking to convey an image of control and firmness that in reality did not exist.
3. Then-Cardinal Robert Prevost Lies (responses to Infovaticana)
“2. Why did Eleuterio Vásquez have to leave the parish of Eten and go to Santa Cruz?
This was one of the precautionary measures. Santa Cruz is the (civil) province where his family lives. He went to his home, without exercising public ministry.
3. Did you impose any precautionary measure against him?
Yes, several. One, what it says above…”
Prevost stated in writing that Lute “did not exercise public ministry.” However, the decree he himself signed does not include such a prohibition, and there are multiple testimonies and documents that accredit that he did not cease his ministry because it was not prohibited. Gambaro confirms that the priest remained authorized to celebrate Mass and exercise ministerial functions outside the parish. Therefore, Prevost’s statement is contradicted by the case instructor and by the official text of April 3, 2022.
A Coordinated Narrative
This episode exposes a communication strategy that sought, hastily, to protect Prevost’s image in the face of a poorly managed file of abuses against minors, sacrificing procedural truth and the victims’ right to know the reality of the case. Gambaro’s recordings now force a review of the official narrative disseminated for more than a year.