SÃO PAULO, Brazil – Pope Francis removed Argentine Father Justo José Ilarraz of the Diocese of Santísima Concepción in Tucumán from the priesthood on Dec. 11, in a surprising gesture that brought solace to the victims, who had been denouncing the priest since the 1990s.
Ilarraz is accused of abusing over 50 teenagers with ages varying from 12 to 14 when he worked at a seminary in the city of Paraná, between 1984 and 1992. The case was so scandalous that it was cited in the movie Spotlight (2015), about the team of reporters that revealed numerous cases of child abuse in the Archdiocese of Boston.
