Based on the constitutional principle of child protection, the Colombian Constitutional Court upheld the rights of journalists to request and receive information about Catholic priests in the context of investigations into alleged sexual abuse.
The Court announced the decision on May 26 after reviewing a case consisting of 120 tutelas (legal remedies to guarantee the protection of fundamental rights) filed by two Colombian journalists who were asking the Catholic Church for information about its priests.
“The ruling, in my opinion, is the key that unlocks the secret archives” of the Church, Miguel Ángel Estupiñán, one of the journalists who filed the tutelas, told LatAm Journalism Review (LJR).
"From now on, any journalist can file a right of petition to request information from the Church in the context of investigations into allegations against priests for alleged sexual abuse of minors, and the ruling becomes their first argument, which the Church cannot dispute," added Estupiñán, who works as a freelancer.
The Colombian Constitution provides for the right of petition, defined as “the right to present respectful petitions to the authorities on account of general or private interest and to secure prompt resolution.”
An important aspect of the Court's decision is that it broadens the scope of access to information, since it is not talking about information held by the State, as Emmanuel Vargas, co-director of El Veinte, an organization that works in the judicial defense of freedom of expression and which submitted legal arguments in favor of the journalists before the court, explained to LJR.
"The Court has analyzed that this information [about priests], although in the hands of a private entity and related to private information, has certain factors that make it of public interest and that make it available in the particular case," Vargas said.
Vargas’ interpretation of the Court’s statement is that, first and foremost, access to information is provided due to its importance to society. This, he said, allows for greater knowledge about a “phenomenon” such as child abuse by members of the Catholic Church.
And second, access to information is related to the role priests play in society. "He's a figure with a certain sense of authority, and in that sense, he's not just any private individual," Vargas said.
"By guaranteeing this type of access, what we're doing is promoting tools for investigative journalism," the lawyer added.
The road to the Constitutional Court began when Estupiñán and Juan Pablo Barrientos, a Colombian journalist who has investigated cases of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in the country for more than seven years, sent 137 rights of petition to all bishops, archbishops, and superiors of religious communities in Colombia requesting information about their priests.
Barrientos and Estupiñán's objective was to analyze how the Church, as a national institution, handled cases of priests accused of pedophilia.
As Barrientos explained to LJR, the information requested included the number of priests they had, their names, where they served, and whether they had ever been reported for alleged sexual abuse.
"If the answer is yes, then answer these other questions: ‘Did you forward the complaint to the prosecutor's office? Did you suspend the priest? Did you expel him? What happened to the victims? Did you compensate them?’ If the answer was no, then that's it, we're done," said Barrientos, who is editor of the investigative unit at digital media outlet Casa Macondo.
Both journalists had prior experience investigating cases of abuse. Barrientos, in addition to his experience, had already begun his legal fight to obtain information from the Church. In fact, by 2022, he had already obtained two rulings from the Constitutional Court upholding his right to request information. On that occasion, it was limited to the department of Antioquia.
During the 2023 investigations, the then president of the Colombian Episcopal Conference sent journalists 50 kilos of documents for review. (Photo: Courtesy)
“The questions we asked in these 137 rights of petition were identical to the 2020 right of petition, to the other two rights of petition that reached the Court,” Barrientos said. “I told Miguel Ángel, ‘Let's ask the same questions because the Court already said those questions could be asked.’ And that's what we did.”
Given this judicial precedent, Barrientos found it strange that only 17 of his 137 petitions were initially answered.
Then, he also found it odd that of the 120 tutela actions filed with judges, 45 were denied.
The journalist said he’s unclear about why, despite Constitutional Court decisions upholding the rights of petition, judges ignored them. Because of this, the journalists took their case to the Constitutional Court, which recently ruled in their favor.
The Court's decision has not been published, only a statement announcing its outcome. Therefore, it is unclear how much time the Church has to provide the remaining information. The decision was a majority (six votes in favor), with two justices dissenting.
The Colombian Episcopal Conference (CEC) – – which brings together the country's Catholic bishops – has already expressed its dissatisfaction with the decision. In a May 27 statement, the CEC said that it will wait for the publication of the decision to "study it carefully." However, citing part of the judges' dissenting votes, it expressed concern about the "excessive demand." According to one of the judges, the request for the information sought about the priests “is based on a widespread presumption of bad faith contrary to that of innocence, constituting a stereotype that in itself implies an act of discrimination.”
However, in its statement, the Court notes that “in particularly sensitive contexts, such as those involving the potential violation of the rights of children and adolescents, journalists' access to information is of particular constitutional importance, as it allows for the identification of factors that may compromise their comprehensive protection and, through responsible dissemination, fosters timely action by the competent authorities.”
For the Court, while it is true that information about the priests' careers "is not of public knowledge or interest, as it is not, prima facie (on first impression), related to cases of sexual violence against minors," access to them "acquires special relevance for society" when "the protection of higher constitutional interests, including the rights of children and adolescents, prevails.”
LJR requested official statements from the CEC, but had not received a response by time of publication.
The "secret archive," the journalists explained, is not a term they invented. The Code of Canon Law, the norm that governs the Catholic Church, establishes the creation of this secret archive.
“In the diocesan curia there is also to be a secret archive, or at least in the common archive there is to be a safe or cabinet, completely closed and locked, which cannot be removed; in it documents to be kept secret are to be protected most securely,” the Code says in Chapter II paragraph 489. “Each year documents of criminal cases in matters of morals, in which the accused parties have died or ten years have elapsed from the condemnatory sentence, are to be destroyed. A brief summary of what occurred along with the text of the definitive sentence is to be retained.”
The Code also establishes that the key to this secret archive is held only by the Bishop.
“So here they're telling us that the criminal cases are there, and sexual abuse is a criminal case. They themselves are saying, 'We have a secret archive,'” Barrientos said. “That secret archive is where those sexual abuse complaints are. That's why we're saying, ‘this is a fight over the secret archive.’”
With only 13% of the information requested, journalists have found that more than 600 priests have been reported for alleged sexual abuse throughout Colombia.
“The ruling is a key, a tool for all journalists who want to expand these investigations from now on,” Estupiñán said. “This type of investigation doesn't depend on just two journalists; it's destined to expand.”
