Former South Carolina priest sentenced to 21 years in prison over child sex abuse
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null / Credit: Chodyra Mike 1/Shutterstock.CNA Staff, Feb 12, 2024 / 13:00 pm (CNA).A former South Carolina priest will serve more than two decades behind bars after pleading guilty to child sex crimes, the federal government has announced. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of South Carolina said in a press release that 69-year-old Jamie Adolfo Gonzalez-Farias "was sentenced to more than 21 years in federal prison" following his conviction for "transportation of a minor with intent to engage in illegal sexual acts."The clergyman was arrested in January of last year on the charges and entered a guilty plea in response to them. He had been visiting the Diocese of Charleston in South Carolina from the Diocese of San José de Melipilla in Chile. The U.S. attorney's office said in the Friday announcement that Gonzalez-Farias "met the minor victim, an 11-year-old boy, and his family through his position as a priest." He "began giving high levels of attention to the...
null / Credit: Chodyra Mike 1/Shutterstock.
CNA Staff, Feb 12, 2024 / 13:00 pm (CNA).
A former South Carolina priest will serve more than two decades behind bars after pleading guilty to child sex crimes, the federal government has announced.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of South Carolina said in a press release that 69-year-old Jamie Adolfo Gonzalez-Farias "was sentenced to more than 21 years in federal prison" following his conviction for "transportation of a minor with intent to engage in illegal sexual acts."
The clergyman was arrested in January of last year on the charges and entered a guilty plea in response to them. He had been visiting the Diocese of Charleston in South Carolina from the Diocese of San José de Melipilla in Chile.
The U.S. attorney's office said in the Friday announcement that Gonzalez-Farias "met the minor victim, an 11-year-old boy, and his family through his position as a priest." He "began giving high levels of attention to the child," including the gift of a cellphone, which the priest used to communicate with the victim.
In 2020 the clergyman took the victim to Florida under the pretenses of a beach vacation, where he subsequently sexually abused the young boy and attempted to sexually assault him. The priest also sent the victim messages that were "inappropriate, crossed appropriate boundaries, and were consistent with the minor victim's disclosure of abuse," the attorney's office said.
The priest was arrested in November 2022 at Miami International Airport.
U.S. District Judge Mary Geiger Lewis "sentenced Gonzalez-Farias to 262 months imprisonment, followed by a lifetime of supervised release," the attorney's office said in its announcement. Gonzalez-Farias is also required to register as a sex offender and pay the victim restitution.
The Diocese of Charleston said in a statement earlier last year that it "was made aware of [the allegation] in December 2020," after the priest "had left the country for his home in Chile."
Church officials reported the matter to the Laurens County Sheriff's Office, which eventually informed the FBI of the crimes.
The priest had been subject to multiple background checks prior to the allegations, the diocese said last year, with no indication of any criminal activity in his record.
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St. Stanislaus of Szczepanów is depicted as the patron saint of Poland in a miniature painted by Stanislaw Samostrzelnik of Mogila. / Credit: Polona Digital Library|Wikimedia|PD-ArtWashington, D.C. Newsroom, May 8, 2024 / 16:53 pm (CNA).Pope Francis during his Wednesday general audience invoked the intercession of St. Stanislaus, patron saint of Poland, for peace in Ukraine and Israel.Addressing Polish pilgrims in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, the pope said: "Today you celebrate the solemnity of St. Stanislaus, bishop and martyr, patron of your homeland.""St. John Paul II wrote of him," Francis went on, "that from high in heaven, he shared in the sufferings and hopes of your nation, sustaining its survival, especially during the Second World War."Francis prayed that the intercession of St. Stanislaus "obtain, even today, the gift of peace in Europe and throughout the world, especially in Ukraine and the Middle East."What does Poland have to do with these wars? This co...
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null / Credit: ShutterstockCNA Staff, May 8, 2024 / 17:23 pm (CNA).A trio of Catholic radio networks has filed a petition against the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over new requirements that will soon mandate that all U.S. radio and television stations publish information about the race and gender of their employees.In a 3-2 ruling in February, the commissioners of the FCC reinstated a requirement that radio stations must annually file a document, known as Form 395-B, that lists the race and gender of their employees.The FCC governs radio stations transmitting on AM or FM frequencies, satellite radio and TV stations, cable networks, and broadcast TV stations. These entities are required to maintain a summary of publicly accessible information known as a public file, with varying requirements among the types of stations regarding what must be contained in the file.The FCC had not required Form 395-B since 2004, following a 2001 ruling by t...
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Servant of God Nino Baglieri. / Credit: ANS/SalesiansACI Prensa Staff, May 8, 2024 / 17:53 pm (CNA).The diocesan phase of the cause of beatification of the Servant of God Nino Baglieri has been closed in Modica, a town in southern Sicily. Overcoming his bitterness due to his quadriplegic condition, Baglieri gave himself to the mission of evangelizing through the means available to him. The closing of the diocesan phase, according to the Salesian News Agency, took place on Sunday, May 5, in Mother of St. Peter church, where a solemn Eucharist was celebrated by Salvatore Rumeo, the bishop of Noto. In his homily, the prelate related that on May 5, 1951, Baglieri received baptism, "becoming a Christian."Regarding the servant of God, he emphasized that "prayer for Nino was everything: Despite his suffering, like a light that shines and burns, he managed to infect others with the meaning of true prayer."Addressing the servant of God in prayer, Rumeo said: "We are grateful t...