Skeletons in the Cupboard: Diary of a Jesuit Missionary

Abstract

This text seeks to analyze the pedocriminal actions of a member of the Society of Jesus during his missionary work in Bolivia, who recorded them in a diary. And although he ordered a companion not to allow it to fall into the wrong hands when he was nearing death, this did not prevent him from first showing it to several of his superiors, who failed to take action to deal with the matter. And he was not the only member of this religious order involved in pedocriminality. The difference between the complicity of the Jesuit superiors in Bolivia and some of those in Spain, where he was originally from, and the actions of his companion and a nephew, is that the latter two decided to go public with the diary. But the journey to its publication beggars the imagination, as it could easily have been lost along the way. In addition to revealing his actions to the author’s eyes and those of others, the diary provides a meticulous analysis of the systemic cover-up of these issues, not only within the Jesuit order but beyond. By way of a contrast, I describe the actions of a German Jesuit who, upon discovering three cases of child abuse committed by his companions, immediately launched an operation to expose them while putting the victims first.