CASE 32-2017: NATIONAL ECCLESIASTICAL TRIBUNAL, INTERDOCESAN TRIBUNAL OF BUENOS AIRES & PRIEST JULIO CESAR GRASSI

 

By Master Yan Maitri-Shi, Prosecutor

 

HONORABLE JURY OF INTERNATIONAL BUDDHIST ETHICS COMMITTEE (IBEC) & BUDDHIST TRIBUNAL ON HUMAN RIGHTS (BTHR)

After Legitimating and Validating Evidences and Charges by Master Maitreya, President and Spiritual Judge of IBEC-BTHR, it is addressed the case against the accused party, “NATIONAL ECCLESIASTICAL TRIBUNAL, INTERDOCESAN TRIBUNAL OF BUENOS AIRES & PRIEST JULIO CESAR GRASSI”. This investigation was initiated from the “Case Argentine”.

The Charges by which the Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights is accusing “NATIONAL ECCLESIASTICAL TRIBUNAL, INTERDOCESAN TRIBUNAL OF BUENOS AIRES & PRIEST JULIO CESAR GRASSI” are enumerated below:

• Violation on the Human Right to Justice
• Spiritual Fraud and False Christianity

 

Therefore, it is detailed a series of EVIDENCES that support the Charges referred so that the Jury members decide about the possible “Responsibility”, “Innocence” or “Insanity” of the accused. Such evidence come from graphic and audiovisual media that have been gathered, sorted and confirmed in their order and context as Means of Proof in order to know, establish, dictate and determine the Responsibility of the Accused for committing the aforementioned Charges.

The procedure established in the Statute of INTERNATIONAL BUDDHIST ETHICS  COMMITTEE & BUDDHIST TRIBUNAL ON HUMAN RIGHTS provides both bodies the ostentation to enjoy independence and liberty from state and national regulation and control, besides having the legality and acting as a Buddhist People in order to assert its customs, traditions, practices, procedures, judgments and rights as well as acting in pursuit of the development of Spirituality, of Buddhist Ethics, and of the defense of International Human Rights. This procedure has the particularity, singularity and distinction of having “Special Jurisdiction of the Tribal Law” and “Universal Jurisdiction of the International Law”, thus having the Character, Juridical validity, Legal Powers, infrastructure, Training and Capability necessary to be Actor, Administrator and Executor of Justice in this realm and exercise, by judging of the Accused by means of an Ethical Judgment whose Purpose is Truth, Reconciliation and Learning.-

 

 

DETAILS OF EVIDENCES

 

SUMMARY OF THE CASE

Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights: After many years of impunity achieved thanks to the powerful support of the Catholic Church, finally on June 10, 2009 an Argentine State Court judged the Catholic priest named Julio César Grassi to 15 years in prison for being guilty of aggravated sexual abuse of minors, on whom he was the legal guardian and was in charge of their education. Since 2013 Grassi is imprisoned in the city of Campana, Argentina, where he enjoys certain privileges in spite of the crimes for which he was sentenced. Grassi has also been accused of corruption, using money from charitable foundations for his own personal purposes. Despite this serious Criminal Sentence for Aggravated Sexual Abuse of Underage, the Catholic Church has never removed the spiritual rank of “Priest” from Grassi, to whom it supported for many years by providing him with millions of economic resources while he himself accused the victims by calling them liars, their requests for justice were not heard and witnesses of the case were threatened with violence. Even, Juan Pablo Gallego, lawyer of the victims, and the Argentine Committee for the Rights of the Child have called on the Catholic Church to expel Grassi from the priesthood Grassi should have been expelled immediately from Christianity, by accusing him of having committed Spiritual Fraud and False Christianity, for having greatly damaged the psychic life of many underage, hiding in a spiritual tradition that he did not honor. However, for almost two decades since the allegations, the Ecclesiastical Justice has never made this spiritual and ethical legal opinion, ignoring the suffering of victims, even though the expulsion of a pedophile priest is a very simple process to do, since only requires compliance with legal standards and employ Compassionate Wisdom. This would constitute not only a Violation of the Human Right to Justice, but also an act of Spiritual Fraud and False Christianity, because it is a betrayal of both International Law and the teachings of the Master Jesus of Nazareth.

 

TESTIMONIES (Translations from the Spanish original version)

Juan Pablo Gallego, plaintiff attorney: “I ask the judges not to accept pressures, to comply with the law. It is absolutely proven the abuse of the priest over three minors, is a very simple case, the difficulty derives only from the power of Grassi.”[1]  “We seek to raise the penalty of Grassi to 37 years in prison after including the request of the other victims, known as Luis and Ezequiel, who are going to be received by me these days. In this way, we can give peace and tranquility to those who went through the horror of this monster“.[2]  “The sentence must be increased to give tranquility to the victims. We have proved the horrible crimes of this pederast: it would be a scandal to release him. We do not want impunity. Grassi is a person with financial resources, linked to presidents: he is a very powerful individual that exerts pressure and is also a very dangerous pederast. I hope that the Court does not accept the pressures of these sectors and that it issues an exemplary ruling.”[3]  ” Grassi is not an ordinary person, he has enormous power, more than 25 private defenders, the most important legal firms of the country united to defend this individual. No president or former-president has had such a defense. I think that what is central and who suffered the most are the victims and this brings a definitive relief because there were still pressures.”[4]  “The first person I spoke to is someone I met 15 years ago. A victim who suffered the unspeakable. Not just awful abuses and corruption but acts of vandalism, threats and attacks with firearms. A person who suffered everything and deserves my enormous respect (…). Grassi destroyed the lives of young people under his care. But this is definitive judgment. The five ministers of the Court definitively determined their culpability. From this ruling there are no more doubts; here there is no more plot or attacks on the victims. There is here a pedophile priest who is definitively condemned and that should be expelled from the Church.”[5]  “I think Grassi is a great mobster, an absolutely dangerous person, a great extortioner (…). Everyone here knew that Grassi was what it was. In this I include Monsignor Justo Oscar Laguna, political authorities and the then Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio (Pope Francis) and all those with whom I spoke.“[6]  “(Grassi) has to be reduced to lay man in accordance with the Vatican protocols. He cannot continue as a priest, it would be a huge sign that the Pope should give and this should give relief to the victims. He is a great criminal who did not honor the institution.”[7]  “Four years ago, with Grassi being already condemned, I accompanied Gabriel’s decision to ask to be received by the new His Holiness, Pope Francis. It was a great surprise to have never received an answer until today. Principally, having now mediated a firm condemnation of the Supreme Court of Justice of the (Argentine) Nation in relation to this ferocious pederast, also condemned by mismanagement of public funds for his benefit. The stupor of the victims increases, as they daily know that His Holiness Francis writes and receives people who indicate sufferings of all kinds. And, in the case, it is added that Grassi has not been separated nor sanctioned. And even the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, following a publication entrusted to the jurist Marcelo Sancinetti, has recommended in this case to deviate from what was decided by the Earthly Justice and to keep this dangerous multiple offender in the ranks of the institution he has dishonored. (…)Parishioners worried about this silence and this serious omission of sanction made me realize long ago that it is probable that Francis is seen in this subject morally coerced to apply zero tolerance to the pedophile hosted in the prison of Campana, and that the decision to reduce him to layman, cancel his incardination and apologize to Gabriel can perfectly adopt it by the Pope Benedict XVI” [8]

Nora Schulman, head of the Argentine Committee for the Rights of the Child: “(The Pope) Francis says that the pedophiles must not to be hidden, but the Church hides them.” “We are going to take this issue to the international level, such as the Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva, to put on the table that the issue of sexual abuse in the Church is happening throughout the world and is extremely serious ( …) it must fall with all the weight of law and not hide or protect the pedophiles, but what happens is that the Church as an institution hides them and protects them, despite the fact that they had said that it is necessary to accompany the victims’ complaint (…) when he was in Argentina and he was primate of the Church, we never could access (the Pope Francis) nor to have an interview to be able to ask him for these young boys. (…) Grassi continues to be a priest (…) now that the national line has been closed we are going to make a presentation to the Vatican not only for Grassi, but also for all pedophile priests and we hope that the Vatican will take a position and say what to do, because the position of the Pope is contradictory. (…) What these young boys went through was terrible and Grassi destroyed their lives. (…) The sentence of Grassi was for the abuses committed against the young boy known as Gabriel. We are satisfied with that but we cannot forget that there were two other young men who testified against him at the trial and their sayings were dismissed.”[9]

Miriam Lewin, journalist: “(Grassi) privileged some boys, took them out of class, lent them his cell phone, his van, gave them presents and took them to sleep with him. When they reached age of majority and ceased to be attractive to him, he bought their silence by giving them houses and securing them work for them and their families“.[10]

El Bishopric of Morón: “Opportunely, the Holy See arranged a preliminary inquiry into the allegations of the conduct of this priest from which a report was sent to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The Bishopric will act according to the canonical processes in force that the Holy See has, and they will be duly and opportunely informed to the public opinion.”[11]

Izquierda Diario: “The current Francis was always among the defenders of the abusive priest. Via the Episcopal Conference, was after the publication of books that sought to show an innocent Grassi. (…) Only in 2009 Grassi was sentenced to fifteen years by the Tribunal No. 1 of Morón. But he would not go to prison until 2013, when the Buenos Aires Supreme Court confirmed that conviction. One of the reasons for the delay of the sentence is related to the strong power that was behind his defense. The accusation against one of the main media figures of the Catholic Church, was not going to go unnoticed. (…)Within that fierce defense to the abusive priest, one can find Jorge Bergoglio, current Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church. Although Pope Francis did not make public pronouncements on his position on the Grassi case, he did participate in his defense through the Episcopal Conference which was in charge of producing and presenting four books that sought to demonstrate the innocence of the priest Grassi. The books are called Studies on the Grassi case and are a long exposition that seeks to refute the statements of each of the victims and in turn enhance the figure of the Priest Grassi. The making of these books was under the responsibility of the lawyer Marcelo Sancinnetti who declared they are written based on the highest commandments of all the religions and cultures: the purity, the honor and the truth.”[12]

TN: “The chronicler Elise Lucet from Cash Investigation traveled to the Vatican and while the Supreme Pontiff greeted the parishioners in San Peter’s Square, he was questioned and asked if he had tried to influence the Argentine justice in the Grassi case.”Not at all,” answered Pope Francis, who wrinkled his nose, visibly surprised and annoyed by the question. The journalist referred to the investigation of 2,600 pages commissioned by the Episcopal Conference, then led by Cardinal Bergoglio, the jurist Marcelo Sancinetti in order to defend Grassi (The four books Studies on the Grassi case). The team of France 2 indicated that before the trip, its requests for an interview with the High Pontiff remained unanswered for 8 months. On its website, the channel France 2 stresses that this is a “sensitive” case in our country and argues that when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires, the Pope would have tried to make a priest innocent. It is about Father Julio Grassi, the biggest scandal of pedophilia in the Argentine Church. In the program also highlighted a passage from the book of interviews with Francis on Heaven and Earth that deals with the subject of abuses and in which the Pontiff says that “it never occurred in his diocese”. They also accused the Pope of turning a deaf ear to the pain of the victims. A journalist held a meeting with victims and relatives of victims in Buenos Aires in which everyone claimed that they tried to talk to the then-archbishop Bergoglio but he never received them. He opens the door to every celebrity in the world but he did not even send us a letter to say ‘I’m sorry’, declared a woman. I do not expect anything more from him, I no longer believe in him, another affirmed. I suffered a lot, the disappointment, it hurt me a lot that Bergoglio did not do anything. I was told to write him because he was going to answer to me, but nothing, it was a disappointment, said a third woman, in tears.” [13]

TN: “Grassi’s victims suffered threats, violence, and restricted freedom under the witness protection program. Now, with the decision of the Court, a decision of the Vatican is expected concerning the condition of priest of the pedophile abuser. (…) Gabriel, abused by the priest, was beaten in an open space. Strangers followed him to another province when he tried to protect himself from the threats. They entered his house a block and a half from a police station and wanted to cut him a finger. Alleged thieves entered three times the downtown apartment of Enrique Stola, Gabriel’s therapist, in broad daylight and assault him together with his daughter and his domestic worker. At the front of the cultural center for children living in the street in William Morris, a place directed by Anibal Vega, Ezequiel’s tutor, another of the complainants, somebody painted MORÍS (YOU DIE). (…) Somebody attempted to bribe the boyfriend of Marta Díaz, former employee, so she could change her statement. Luis Gutiérrez, also a victim, found the door of his house violated and his belongings in a mess. A great number of people found their existences altered by the revelation that the best among the good ones of Argentina in the 90’s, the priest of young and charismatic image who attended the lunches with celebrities and organized dinners for the benefit of his big foundation, sexually abused the boys he said to protect. The most affected were the three teenagers who take courage to tell the truth. They spent long years in the witness protection program, while the priest, assisted by expensive lawyers, lived in a situation pretty much like complete freedom. Two of them did not even obtain the reparation that the justice considered their sayings as truthful. Luis Gutiérrez, who denounced (…) eleven episodes of abuse with a description of the priest’s naked body, still fights today, trying that a complaint of abuse in El Calafate reach an oral trial. There, still, the priest has protection and support. There was a fear that the Court’s ruling would not see the light. It was delayed, and there were reports that there was pressure from the Church. There was no lack of foundation. The Argentine Episcopal Commission had financed an expensive study on the Grassi case written by the lawyer Marcelo Sancinetti, who had already done the same job to exculpate Gregorio Rios, the murderer of (the argentine journalist) José Luis Cabezas. Grassi had said in a report to Jorge Fontevecchia that Bergoglio had never “abandon him” [the original Spanish phrase was Bergoglio nunca “le soltó la mano”] and the Pope never answered Gabriel’s two desperate requests for audience. A lukewarm statement from the bishopric of Morón issued after the sentence reports that there is a cause in the Vatican, and that its result will be announced to the population in due course. Grassi remains being a priest, despite his conviction in several instances. International organizations of victims of abusive priests, such as SNAP or Rete L’abuso, agree that the harsh rhetoric of Pope Francis against pedophilia does not correspond to his actions. And in the case of the priest Grassi, this is even more evident. (…) In November 2014, Pope Francis removed José Mercau from the Church, convicted for the sexual abuse of five underage in a home in Tigre. Was there previous canonical judgment? A theologian of the Catholic University argues that it was not necessary. (…) It would be a positive signal that the same thing happened with Grassi, the demonstration of the Pope’s true commitment to the eradication of an evil that destroyed hundreds of thousands of lives. The sign that the Holy Father is on the side of the injured sheep and not on the side of the bad shepherds.”[14]

Perfil (Newspaper): “The books that (Pope Francis) sent to write on the cause pose Grassi as a victim of a plot of a great media. Silence and non-posture. Finally the Justice gave its final verdict. Father Julio César Grassi must serve 15 years in prison, although he has been in prison for almost four years. The Supreme Court rejected the appeal of the (still) priest and there is nothing more to investigate. For the State and for Justice, he is a child abuser. Nevertheless, the defenders of Grassi’s victims charge against the hesitations of the Pope Francis to pronounce on the subject. The head of the Committee for the Monitoring of the Rights of the Child, Nora Schulman, affirmed that … there was an infernal lobby that made people of the Catholic Church to defend the priest and recalled that Francis himself, when he was Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio and was in charge of the Argentine Episcopal Conference, requested a supposedly neutral investigation, by Marcelo Sancinetti, a lawyer very close to the Church, which ended in four books, which for Schulman vilify the victims and said terrible things. The last book was completed in 2013, with Bergoglio already become the head of the Catholic Church. In the first one, Sancinetti acknowledges that the Conference put him in charge of the analysis of the case a time before Buenosairean Cassation ruled against the priest Grassi in 2010. In the third one, the academic indicates the name of who specially tasked him the work: the ex president of the Episcopal Conference, Jorge Mario Bergoglio. According to Infobae, Sancinetti ruled that Grassi is not only innocent of sexual abuse against those pupils, whom the lawyer calls false accusers: the priest was also the victim of a plot wielded by a powerful multimedia, the same personal thought of the current Pope. The lawyer of the victims abused by Grassi, Juan Pablo Gallego, said that “Dr. Lorenzetti told me that in this case he was receiving ‘a lot of pressure’.” Although he did not say where it comes from, he received those statements after a meeting held by the head of the Supreme Court and the Pope in the Vatican, where they confirmed that they spoke of the Grassi case.”[15]

Infobae Newspaper: “(Regarding the four books of defense of Grassi) The Episcopal Conference headed by Jorge Bergoglio commissioned them to a jurist after the condemnation in 2010: they are the greater defense to the abusive priest never exercised before. According to a plaintiff of the case they were used to pressure the Court, which ratified on Tuesday the ruling I have all the priestly obstacles, Father Julio Cesar Grassi told the author of this note in mid-2011. He did not lie. Despite being sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for abusing a minor at his charge in his Foundation called Felices Los Niños (Happy Children), with a judgment against him issued by the Tribunal No. 1 of Morón and ratified by the Buenos Aires Court of Cassation, despite extensive and dishonorable accusations against him, Grassi still had the ecclesiastical right to mass the faithful, to confess the sinners and to give the extreme unction to the dying. He was still a priest and still is it, prisoner in his cell of Unit No. 41 in Campana. Now, it is up to Rome and Pope Francis the fact that Grassi not remain a priest. There are already enough reasons for the Supreme Pontiff to remove Grassi his stole and collar and expel him from within the Catholic Church. This morning, the five justices of the Supreme Court presided over by Dr. Ricardo Lorenzetti gave the last word on the cause of the priest: the last appeals presented by the priest’s defense were rejected and the condemnation of the Justice of Morón was ratified unanimously. It is the end of the line. There is nothing left to discuss. For Justice and the State, the priest is definitely a child abuser. (…)Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, was the head of the Church in Argentina and head of the country’s Episcopal Conference while Grassi was denounced and convicted in the first instance by the Justice. But Bergoglio never issued on Grassi, at least not in public. The truth is that the Grassi case worried the current Pope for years: in his private calculations, Bergoglio conceived the fall of Argentina’s most famous priest as a revanchist plot devised by one of the country’s largest media groups. The fate of the priest in the Supreme Court became a particular interest. The versions that indicated a pressure exerted from the Vatican on the Court were persistent. In June of last year, Ricardo Lorenzetti visited the Pope at the Vatican, as part of a judges’ summit on organized crime. When “Gabriel,” the victim for whom Grassi was sentenced – 32-year-old – heard about the summit he wrote to the President of the Court, urging him not to release the man from the Church, which would mean “reviving his calvary”. The historic plaintiff attorney of the case, Juan Pablo Gallego, was in charge of delivering the letter. Gallego assured in dialogue with [the newspaper] Infobae that Lorenzetti received it. The talk they held, according to the lawyer, was most striking. The lawyer said: At that meeting, Dr. Lorenzetti told me that because of the case he was receiving ‘a lot of pressure’. I clearly understood that he said this to me when recently arrived from Rome. For this pressure, according to Gallego, the Pope had a tool of weight. There were four private edition books, a critical analysis of the Grassi file covering more than 2600 pages. Studies on the Grassi case are the titles of these books, devoted to refute the accounts of Gabriel, the young man whose testimony led to the conviction of Grassi and Ezequiel and Luis, of whose accusations the priest was dismissed. The Argentine Episcopal Conference, which Bergoglio headed, commissioned the books in September 2010 – after the conviction of the priest – to the lawyer Marcelo Sancinetti, a jurist and professor of criminal law with more than 35 years of career, closely linked to the Church. (…) The books were finished in 2013, with Bergoglio already become the head of the Catholic Church.  In the first of them, Sancinetti acknowledges that the Conference tasked him the analysis of the case a time before Buenosairean Cassation ruled against the priest Grassi in 2010. In the third one, the academician indicates the name of who specially entrusted him the work: the ex president of the Episcopal Conference, Jorge Mario Bergoglio. According to the complainant Gallego, these books, a sort of editorial ghost without data of circulation or imprint, were delivered to the members of the maximum court of the country by lobbyists who invoked the power of Bergoglio  (…) Sancinetti, however, never denied it in the face of the repeated calls and messages sent by Infobae. Each volume refutes a victim. In the fourth volume, the jurist states that his work has its roots in the highest commandments of all religions and cultures: purity, honor and truth. Having read the four volumes, the conclusion of the author leaves no doubt: the books are the most vehement defense of Grassi ever made. And of course, the most controversial, because Sancinetti acted as a sort of judge. Without being a party to the cause, Sancinetti assessed every available evidence -including the audios of the closed-door trial –, each testimony and each ruling. He pointed out, as a judge would do, dozens of alleged inconsistencies, failed acts and falsehoods in the testimonies of young people who accused the priest. The third volume ends with two credibility analyses. One is dedicated to Grassi. The other, Gabriel, the young man who condemned him.  For Sancinetti, the balance tilts on one side: The careful study of the statement of one and another already shows clearly which of them fits the truth: the accused. And in the end, Sancinetti ruled. According to him, Grassi is not only innocent of sexual abuse against those pupils, whom the lawyer calls false accusers: the priest also was victim of a plot devised by a powerful multimedia, the same private thought of the current Pope. There are surprising passages. For example, in the epilogue – page 729, last paragraph, fourth volume – Sancinetti summarizes that what Grassi experienced was, basically, an outrage. And he lamented, always speaking of himself in the third person, that having carried out this work has plunged him even more than he already was, in his hopelessness, before the scanty degree of justice. In the introduction, Sancinetti included a special chapter entitled The Interest of This Study for the Catholic Church. In the text, he asks: should Grassi continue to be a priest if the judicial instances are exhausted, if the Court fails against it? And he goes on: Would it be appropriate to deprive Julio César Grassi of the exercise of his ministry in whole or in part, such as administering certain sacraments? Should the Church take a position before the public opinion or its parishioners? Bergoglio, for his part, never did. However, the Episcopal Conference was not unanimous about the books. Reviewing the Grassi Case and editing possible lobbying tools created an internal division. A high-ranking source of Buenos Aires Justice who knows the Argentine Church from inside told Infobae: The bishops who knew Grassi were not in favor of making the books. But others thought that the case put at risk the image of the Church. Apparently, the second group triumphed.”[16]

Juan Manuel Casolati, replacement of Grassi in Felices los Niños Foundation: “Now that Justice seems to have exhausted all possible instances, following the confirmation of the sentence to 15 years in prison for aggravated sexual abuse against minors by the Supreme Court of the Nation, we face as a society with the true Julio Cesar Grassi: the manipulator, the creator of a true sect in the events that for a long time directed the fate of Felices los Niños Foundation, the largest civil entity in Argentina after Caritas. In other words, a pedophile that was hidden in the religious words and the aesthetic of saying. Many people believed in Father Grassi and his work. Even today, many people still believe that he is innocent. But the evidence is irrefutable. (…) I also believed in him and, in my sincere belief, I accepted Grassi’s invitation to run the Foundation’s Convivial Homes. But, shortly after, I discovered that he was responsible for the ills that afflicted the entity. And the thousands of kids that this space gave them shelter. Not only did he abuse those he had to care for, but he did the same, and in different ways, with all those who believed in him. He stole and used funds from the children he had to take care of for his own benefit and from the group of tasks that supported him in the immoral administration of the organization. Perhaps it is time for the Church to comply with what it preaches and initiates a canonical judgment to remove from its temples a nefarious flatterer of God. As a society we have the obligation to work to sustain a beautiful work that today looks after, feeds and cares for, in all its forms, to more than 2,000 children and adolescents. Grassi has been removed from the work and no longer has any interference, neither he nor his accomplices. The fate of the boys is in the hands of a new Board of Directors that only wants to work for the present and future. It is time to leave the past behind and forge together a new project aimed at true protection of childhood.”[17]

Letter of the victim “Gabriel” to Vatican State (Pope Benedict XVI): “I have long been aware by the media of your historical call against sexual abuse of minors in the clergy and the determination of zero tolerance for pedophile priests. I have seen, heard and read that H.H. apologized personally to victims of various latitudes for cases of sexual abuse committed by members of the Catholic Church and you stated to be ashamed (…) I am a victim, in the Argentine Republic, of aberrant crimes of repeated sexual abuse and corruption of minors by the condemned pedophile Julio César Grassi, committed in 1996, to satisfy his low and deviant instincts. (…) Meanwhile the condemned pedophile with a firm sentence, Julio César Grassi, for reasons incomprehensible to me, continues in the exercise of his priestly ministry that he has systematically used to take advantage of my defenseless situation, destroying my faith, (…)Grassi has been shown himself with impunity on television, hurting me and pointing repeatedly in a defiant tone that Jorge Bergoglio did not abandon him. (…) I beg you to apply the so-called zero tolerance to the privileged condemned Grassi, for whose terrible crimes I have suffered and continue to suffer, setting him aside from the institution, reducing him to layman, canceling its incardination and issuing a clear public signal of respect for the independence and final decision of the Argentine judicial institution.” [18]

TN: “The priest Julio Cesar Grassi added a new sentence to his asset. In this case, it is two years and for diverting money from donations to pay the rent of a farm where he lived. Grassi was already condemned to 15 years in prison for the abuse of a minor housed at the Felices los Niños Foundation which he directed. (…) The priest began to be tried on October 17 for diverting funds from that Foundation for the rental of a farm house that dwelled since 2002 while the process was done. The decision of the condemnation was disposed by the Oral Criminal Court 3 of Morón, composed of the judges Diego Bonnano, Raquel Lafourcade and Mariela Susana Moralejo Rivera, for the crime of embezzlement provided for in article 263 of the Criminal Code and provided him the minimum sentence that is of two years. The trial had about ten hearings and was in charge of prosecutors Marcelo Papavero and Javier Ghessi.  The fact for which Grassi is imputed dates from 2002, when the priest moved to the farm house La Blanquita, of 7,200 square meters, in front of the facilities of his foundation to which he was prohibited entry. The priest rented the property in the Buenosairean town of Hurlingham, which was paid with the resources of the foundation, after the Justice forbade him to live with the boys at his charge when the abuse case was opened, for which he was finally convicted. The priest lived in that farm for four years until the owner reported a debt due to failure to pay for some months, which led to the suspicion of using funds from the Felices los Niños Foundation to pay the rent of that other property. Last May, Grassi’s defense lawyers had asked for probation for this cause, that is, the suspension of the trial in exchange for community tasks, including the performance of episcopal tasks in the prison of Campana, where he purges the conviction for sexual abuse. It is not the first cause for diversion of funds that Grassi faces. In 2014, Jorge Lanata’s TV show Journalism For All revealed how donations directed at the Foundation, such as mattresses and food, were diverted to Campana prison, where the priest is lodged for the conviction of sexual abuse.”[19]

TN: “They take the case to oral trial (…) against Grassi. It is for the diversion of food that denounced by Journalism For All in 2014. The donations to the foundation were used by the priest in prison. The court of Morón today took to oral trial the case for which it is investigated the diversion of funds and food originally intended for the Felices los Niños Foundation that were illegally transferred to the prison unit 41 of the city of Campana in Buenos Aires when the president of the NGO was detained there, the priest Julio César Grassi, as was informed by sources of the cause. Judge Lucía Casabayó maintained that there are strong signs and elements of conviction sufficient to suppose them to be prima facie co-perpetrators criminally responsible for the offense of repeated embezzlement (in two cases) concerning to Grassi and ten other persons, according to the resolution issued by Telam. In this way the priest was on the verge of his third sentence since the priest already has on his shoulders 15 years in prison for abuse against a child who was housed in the Foundation, and the sentence of the past November 16 to two years in prison for diverting funds from that NGO for the payment of the rent of a house in which he lived in Hurlingham, Buenos Aires. In addition to Grassi, Judge Casabayó charged Iván Estebán Guex and Mario Fabián Amarilla, Carlos Rodolfo Martínez, Alejandro Pablo Lome, Delicia Díaz, María Luz Sánchez, Olivía Jiménez, Pascual Cirigliano, María Garoni and Julián Ponce from the same offense. The first two accused were close associates of the priest. Amarilla has been known to Grassi since he started the seminary at Don Bosco. This scum of the society must be expelled from the Church immediately, said the plaintiff attorney, Juan Pablo Gallego, after knowing the cause taken to oral trial. The case was made known after a complaint by the director of Felices los Niños Foundation in 2014 before the lack of donations. Later, through PPT (Journalism For All) Jorge Lanata’s TV show, the entrance of trucks with donations that received that NGO was filmed and how they entered the prison of Campana, where at that time the priest was in prison for the cause of abuse. The then director of the Felices los Niños Foundation, Juan Manuel Casolati, detected the missing materials and made the complaint in the Prosecutor’s Office number 8 of Morón. Then, the newspaper report highlighted the facilities to which Grassi accesses in the penitentiary: an office with its own bathroom, three cell phones and an LCD TV, among other things. And he showed the video records of the routes and the entrance of the food to the prison service of Campana, directed by the Prefect-Major Raúl Garnica. The province of Buenos Aires returned to direct the Foundation’s headquarters, destined to lodge children without relatives and in judicial conflict, after the judicial process against the priest and put Casolati at the helm. The investigation showed that donations could arrived in poor conditions or even not to arrive to the the 65-hectare site that the foundation occupies. The meat comes in a common van, and food that comes to the foundation often disappears, Roxana Ávila, who is in charge of the storage room, declared. “Many of the donations go directly to La Blanquita, the farmhouse in which Grassi lived. From there, which was its operations center, donations are diverted to the prison of Campana”, said Casolati.”[20]

Alejandro Agostinellii: “It is not that Grassi has power, the power is given by the Catholic Church, which still allows him to continue wearing cassock. Despite serving a 15-year sentence for child abuse, he is still on the payroll of the Moron Bishopric. And he is still protected by Pope Francis, the same who – more than a year ago – pledged zero tolerance for child abuse within the institution he chairs.”[21]

Adrián Vitali: “For the Argentine Church the priest Julio César Grassi is innocent. After the ratification of the sentence by the Supreme Court of Justice of the Province of Buenos Aires, the bishop of Morón and the bishop of Rio Negro publicly went to question the ruling and the rest of the bishops remained silent. Silence is a way of taking positions and being corporate. After Grassi was imprisoned, the jurist Marcelo Sancinetti sent to Rome, at Francisco’s request, the report he had made. This report was requested by the Argentine Episcopal Conference when it was presided over by Jorge Bergoglio. The AEC entrusted the jurist with the investigation into the alleged falsity of the accusations against Grassi. Sancinetti argued that the Catholic Church is not obliged to abide by the rulings delivered by the Justice of the secular State, (…) The very existence of child sexual abuse is denied and even it is said that those who encourage judicial convictions for sexual abuse seek to themselves the image that they are not sexual abusers. He maintained not only that Grassi is innocent for the abuses for which he was condemned, but he categorically denied that child sexual abuse as such exists, to the point that he equates it with the witchcraft trials of the Middle Ages. The Bishopric of Moron never initiated a canonical judgment: the position of the church is the conclusion of the report. What Grassi was doing was known by the head of the Penitentiary Service, the bishop of Morón and the chaplain of the prison. But the only one punished will be the director of the Penitentiary Service. Grassi is still a priest and dresses like a priest because the church allows it. Trying to save the institution from the pedophilia scandal is the biggest of the scandals. It seems that the zero tolerance proclaimed by the Vatican with cases of pederasty has not yet arrived here.”[22]

[1] Por unanimidad, la Corte confirmó la condena a 15 años del cura Grassi. http://tn.com.ar/politica/grassi_772545

[2] Denuncian que Grassi presiona a la Corte para evitar la ampliación de su pena.  http://tn.com.ar/politica/denuncian-que-grassi-presiona-la-corte-para-evitar-la-ampliacion-de-su-pena_689733

[3] Una de las víctimas de Grassi le mandó una carta a Lorenzetti para pedir que le aumenten la condena al cura. http://tn.com.ar/politica/una-de-las-victimas-de-grassi-le-mando-una-carta-lorenzetti-para-pedir-que-le-aumenten-la-pena-al_683191

[4] http://www.laizquierdadiario.com/15-anos-de-prision-para-el-padre-Grassi

[5] Alivio entre las víctimas de Julio César Grassi por el fallo de la Corte Suprema  http://www.clarin.com/sociedad/alivio-victimas-julio-cesar-grassi-fallo-corte-suprema_0_ByVhJ7y2g.html

[6] “Grassi es un gran mafioso”, dijo el abogado querellante de la causa  http://tn.com.ar/policiales/grassi-es-un-gran-mafioso-dijo-el-abogado-querellante-de-la-causa_780881

[7] Los cuatro libros sobre el caso Grassi que salpican la neutralidad del Papa  http://www.perfil.com/politica/denuncian-un-oscuro-rol-del-papa-francisco-detras-del-caso-del-padre-grassi.phtml

[8] Como el Papa no lo recibe, una víctima de Grassi le escribió a Benedicto XVI  http://www.perfil.com/policia/como-el-papa-no-lo-recibe-una-victima-de-grassi-le-escribio-a-benedicto-xvi.phtml

[9] Cuestionan el rol del papa Francisco ante el caso Grassi  http://www.clarin.com/policiales/cuestionan-rol-papa-francisco-caso-grassi_0_HJQIng12l.html

[10] “Grassi es un gran mafioso”, dijo el abogado querellante de la causa  http://tn.com.ar/policiales/grassi-es-un-gran-mafioso-dijo-el-abogado-querellante-de-la-causa_780881

[11] El Obispado de Morón advierte que el padre Julio César Grassi enfrenta una investigación en el Vaticano. http://www.clarin.com/policiales/obispado-moron-advierte-padre-julio-cesar-grassi-enfrenta-investigacion-vaticano_0_rJ4U4L1ng.html

[12] Bergoglio habría encargado libros sobre el caso Grassi para favorecerlo. http://www.laizquierdadiario.com/Bergoglio-habria-encargado-libros-sobre-el-caso-Grassi-para-favorecerlo

[13] La reacción del Papa Francisco cuando una periodista le preguntó por el caso Grassi   http://tn.com.ar/internacional/la-reaccion-del-papa-francisco-cuando-una-periodista-le-pregunto-por-el-caso-grassi_780979

[14] Caso Grassi: ¿Con sentencia firme, la Iglesia aún lo protege?  http://tn.com.ar/sociedad/caso-grassi-con-sentencia-firme-la-iglesia-aun-lo-protege_781035

[15] Los cuatro libros sobre el caso Grassi que salpican la neutralidad del Papa  http://www.perfil.com/politica/denuncian-un-oscuro-rol-del-papa-francisco-detras-del-caso-del-padre-grassi.phtml

[16] El Papa nunca se pronunció sobre Grassi, pero encargó cuatro libros que lo declaran inocente  http://www.infobae.com/sociedad/2017/03/21/el-papa-nunca-se-pronuncio-sobre-grassi-pero-encargo-cuatro-libros-que-lo-declaran-inocente/

[17] http://noticias.perfil.com/2017/03/26/el-grassi-que-yo-conoci/

[18] Como el Papa no lo recibe, una víctima de Grassi le escribió a Benedicto XVI  http://www.perfil.com/policia/como-el-papa-no-lo-recibe-una-victima-de-grassi-le-escribio-a-benedicto-xvi.phtml

[19] Dos años de prisión para Grassi por malversación de donaciones. http://tn.com.ar/policiales/dos-anos-de-prision-para-grassi-por-malversacion-de-fondos_754345

[20] http://tn.com.ar/politica/elevan-juicio-oral-la-causa-felices-los-presos-contra-grassi_794113

[21] Alejandro Agostinellii, GRASSI, EL ÚLTIMO PROTEGIDO DEL PAPA

[22] Adrián Vitali, El cura Grassi, en pos de la impunidad papal