The Vigo Investigating Court No. 8 has issued a processing order in a case involving alleged sexual abuse of a minor by a man who, until these facts came to light, directed an association in the city linked to Opus Dei, the Catholic Church body in which he also held lay membership. The suspect reportedly abused the adolescent both within the association’s facilities and during a residency in Madrid. Beyond the criminal case, the leadership of Opus Dei initiated a disciplinary file against the defendant, who remains on provisional release and has been ordered to pay a bail of 30,000 euros to secure any indemnification that could be imposed in a future trial.
The magistrate concluded that, based on the diligences conducted during the inquiry, the events could constitute a continuing crime of sexual abuse with penetration of a minor under Article 183.1 and 3 of the Penal Code in force at the time, with the aggravating factor of abuse of superior position.
The suspect had for years led a Vigo association sharing the Opus Dei ethos, to which the minor attended. A family friend of the boy, he acted as coach and spiritual advisor, thereby cultivating a personal friendship that from October 2022 to January 2023 evolved into a romantic relationship, with episodes of a sexual nature occurring four or five days a week when investigators and the victim were alone at the association’s premises.
The document identifies two specific incidents cited as especially grave, occurring in December 2022 and January 2023 during a stay in Madrid as well as in Vigo respectively.
Gaining a Personal Friendship
The minor’s testimony, which describes a clinical picture compatible with severe post-traumatic stress, is one of the evidentiary elements, along with the forensic report prepared by two experts that noted psychological damage with a causal link to the acts under investigation.
The case also includes a handwritten letter from the suspect filed through the attorney with the Vigo court in September 2023. Months later, during his December court appearance, he partially admitted the acts of touching while denying the more serious conduct attributed to him.
The judge also takes into account the judicial statement by a member of the Opus Dei governing council in the northwest of Spain and another witness, an instructor and a notary respectively, who in the file opened by the Work show that he acknowledged the same conduct during the processing, following the prelature’s protocol.
A Handwritten Letter from the Suspect
The suspect confessed and left the Prelature of his own accord and no longer belongs to the institution, according to Katu Martínez Iturbe, deputy director of the Prelature’s Communications Office for Galicia, who states that the organization took measures from the start. Following the protocol, the Prelature opened a disciplinary file and made itself available to the victim and the family, with whom it continues to maintain close contact.
In December the Opus Dei reported that seven cases of abuse of minors by members of the Work investigated in Spain were identified, four involving priests and three lay members. One of these is the Vigo case.