Victims of Clerical Sex Abuse Join Forces in Latin America

By Marianela Jarroud, Saturday, March 21, 2015, IPS -- Inter Press Service

SANTIAGO, Mar 20 2015 (IPS) - Victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests in Latin America are taking the first steps towards grouping together in order to bolster their search for justice – a struggle where they have found a new ally: filmmaking.

“Besides entertaining us, movies urge people not to forget, to memorise what is happening to us as a society,” Chilean filmmaker Matías Lira told IPS.

He added that, with respect to the sexual abuse committed within the Catholic Church, “the media has a pending task, and society has a duty.”

“When they named Pope Francis, we felt that in the Vatican we had someone from home, someone who spoke our own language, who understood our culture; it was an enormous source of pride. But the first victims he met with were from the United State, Germany and Great Britain; he never met with us.” -- Juan Carlos Cruz

Based on this premise, Lira directed “Karadima’s Forest”, based on real events. The film, which comes out in Chile in April, tells the story of a priest who sexually and psychologically abused dozens of boys and young men, and who  . . .

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