A CATHOLIC bishop alleged that Paraguay’s president resigned from his church leadership position in 2004 after at least two women in his parish wrote to a Vatican official that he had fathered their children.
Fernando Lugo, elected president last year, was hit with another two paternity claims this month. He conceded last week that he is the father of one of the children.
Bishop Rogelio Livieres alleged that when confronted with the women’s complaints in 2004, Mr Lugo said it was “possible” that their children were also his.
The bishop said the church was aware of possible abuse of authority by Mr Lugo, but allowed him to resign without making the complaints public, thus facilitating his bid for the presidency.
“The church hierarchy knew for years of this misconduct by Lugo, but kept silent. Now there’s nothing that it can do,” the bishop said in an interview with Asunción-based Radio Mil.
The Paraguayan bishops’ conference wrote in a statement that it had never received “formal written complaints” from women about Mr Lugo, and that it “laments and rejects” the claim that the church in Paraguay covered up immoral conduct.
Bishop Livieres told the radio station Mr Lugo was called to explain himself to the church hierarchy after Msgr Antonio Lucibello, the Vatican’s top official in Paraguay at the time, received the women’s written complaints. The bishop did not say how many women allegedly complained.
“Lugo responded: ‘Well, it could be, it’s possible. I don’t deny the complaints’,” the bishop alleged. “When they insisted he clarify his comments, he decided to resign instead. The church has the names of these women, but obviously won’t publish them,” he added, saying none of the 2004 complaints were from Viviana Carrillo, whose two-year-old child Mr Lugo acknowledged as his last week after she threatened to sue.
Another woman came forward with similar allegations this week, and if the bishop’s statement proves true, still more could emerge with paternity claims against the president.
The bishop said the case was presented at an assembly of the Paraguayan bishops’ conference, but that “there was a great silence”. “Many knew about Lugo’s misbehaviour. The whole world knew it. Many sectors are aware of the facts,” he said. “The church failed when it did not speak more clearly. It’s a cover-up of sorts.” Mr Lugo’s resignation in 2004 as bishop of San Pedro, one of the nation’s poorest provinces, was never fully explained.
It was not until December 2006 that he renounced his status as bishop to run for president, and Pope Benedict XVI did not accept his resignation, relieving him of chastity vows, until weeks before he took office in August 2008.
Mr Lugo (57), appealed for privacy and referred questions about paternity complaints to his lawyer after reading a brief statement promising to “act always in line with the truth and subject myself to all the requirements presented by the justice system”. – (AP)