Victim of Bishop Zanchetta to Church: ‘Don’t Turn Your Back on Us; We Didn’t Deserve Such Treatment’

On Aug. 12, ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language sister news agency, interviewed G.C., a 28-year-old former seminarian.

Former Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta of the Diocese of Oran, Argentina, was sentenced to four and a half years in prison after being found guilty of abuse.
Former Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta of the Diocese of Oran, Argentina, was sentenced to four and a half years in prison after being found guilty of abuse. (photo: ACI Prensa / via CNA)

A former seminarian and victim of the Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta — who was sentenced to prison for sexual abuse in Argentina — asked the Catholic Church not to turn its back on him.

On Aug. 12, ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language sister news agency,  interviewed G.C., a 28-year-old former seminarian and victim, after the bishop was allowed to serve his sentence under house arrest in July.

The place of house arrest, according to the newspaper El Tribuno, is a house for retired priests in the Monastery of Our Lady of the Valley of Nueva Orán of the Order of the Immaculate Conception-Franciscan Conceptionist Mothers.

In March, Bishop Zanchetta was sentenced to four and a half years in prison after being found guilty of abuse.

“Simply that: Don’t turn your back on us; we didn’t deserve such treatment,” G.C. told ACI Prensa when asked about what he is asking of the Catholic Church.

“Faced with such a situation, God willing, there will be no other cases, but if it does happen, let [the Church] not turn its back, as it did to us, because we didn’t deserve that treatment, first from a person who is a persona non grata to the Church, a person who harmed the faithful, the People of God,” the victim said.

“And, second, if psychological therapy is offered so much in the seminaries, well, I think that the Church didn’t see many things, in that respect. Many things were known about Zanchetta when he was ordained a bishop, and I think it was a mistake, to not use another [worse] word,” G.C. said.

Regarding the house arrest, the victim said he was not surprised by the decision by the judges after the request “to be able to have a comfortable prison available to him, according to his status. He always stressed the power that he has, and that’s why he is where he is and not in a prison.”

“I always say that if I had lost the trial, I’m sure that I would — we would — have been in prison and not under house arrest,” he added.

G.C. also said that, in the case of Bishop Zanchetta, “justice was done, but not in the way we expected. We expected him to serve his sentence in jail.”

When asked if he has felt welcomed by the Church, the victim was clear: “No, not at all. Since he left the seminary the Church hasn’t taken care of us or our situation. Nothing, absolutely nothing.”

“I even spoke with the current bishop, Luis Antonio Scozzina. I talked to him so he could give me the possibility of helping me with the psychological therapy that I still need,” G.C. said.

The victim later said that the bishop agreed to it “because financially I wasn’t well, and neither was my family. So I asked him for help for this reason, but he didn’t help me.”

“There wasn’t even a talk with me [or other victims] after this, to ask how we were, if we were okay, if we needed anything,” he said.

ACI Prensa contacted the Diocese of Oran to ask whether or not it is helping the victims with psychological therapy.

“The bishop indicates that the seminarian M.C., who requested help, although he denies receiving it, has received it for five months. Psychological help is provided for that, but the other one (G.C.) didn’t request help,” the diocese responded.

After saying that at this time he feels alone, although there was a priest who accompanied him, G.C. said that he “expected more from the Church. As I told you, we have felt alone in that regard. The Church didn’t help us.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.