ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV accepted the resignation of Cádiz Bishop Rafael Zornoza, 76, on Saturday. This marks a significant development as it is the first instance known whereby the new pontiff has removed a bishop who is under investigation for alleged sexual abuse. The Vatican released a brief statement confirming the acceptance of Zornoza's resignation, which he had submitted last year upon reaching the standard retirement age for bishops.
The timing of the acceptance comes after reporting from El País, which revealed that Zornoza had recently been placed under investigation by a church tribunal. The report highlighted allegations that he had sexually abused a young former seminarian during the 1990s while serving as a young priest overseeing the diocesan seminary in Getafe. According to a letter written by the former seminarian over the summer, Zornoza reportedly fondled him and engaged in sexual relations from the ages of 14 to 21, while also using his position to counsel the seminarian regarding his sexuality.
In response to these allegations, the diocese of Cádiz has denied wrongdoing, yet they confirmed that Zornoza is being investigated by the Rota, a church court located in Madrid. The diocese issued a statement on November 10, emphasizing that Zornoza was cooperating with the investigation and had temporarily suspended his public engagements to focus on treatment for an aggressive form of cancer. They characterized the allegations as "very serious and also false" and indicated that the actions in question took place nearly 30 years ago.
This case is particularly noteworthy as it represents one of the first publicly known instances where a bishop has been both retired and placed under investigation for alleged abuse since the Spanish Catholic Church began to confront its long-standing legacy of sexual abuse. The revelations of abuse and cover-ups within the Church have profoundly affected the once strongly Catholic Spain. In 2023, an official probe conducted by Spain’s ombudsman indicated that there could be hundreds of thousands of sexual abuse victims, drawing from an investigation that examined 487 cases where alleged victims engaged with the ombudsman’s team.
Although Spain's Catholic bishops offered apologies concerning the situation, they rejected the interpretation of the ombudsman's report, labeling it a "lie" and contending that a significant number of abuse cases occurred outside of the church's purview. In 2024, a separate report from the Spanish Catholic hierarchy found evidence of 728 individuals who had abused children within the church's ranks since 1945. In response, the church initiated a plan to compensate victims in light of the Spanish government's approval to obligate the Church to provide economic reparations for past abuses.
Pope Leo XIV has not named a temporary leader for the diocese post-resignation of Zornoza, which adds to the uncertainty surrounding the future leadership within the Cádiz diocese. The ongoing investigations and revelations suggest a continuing reckoning for the Catholic Church in Spain as it seeks to address its troubling history of abuse.
