Pope Leo XIV has accepted the resignation of Bishop Rafael Zornoza, the 76-year-old Bishop of Cadiz and Ceuta in southern Spain, amid allegations of sexually abusing a young seminarian in the 1990s. The Vatican announced Zornoza’s resignation without mentioning the allegations, but reports indicate he was under investigation by the church court in Madrid, known as the Rota, for allegedly abusing a 14-year-old boy who was a student at the seminary in Getafe, where Zornoza was rector.
The alleged victim, now an adult, wrote to the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of Faith, accusing Zornoza of repeated abuse from when he was 14 to 21 years old. Zornoza has denied the allegations, calling them “very serious and furthermore false,” and is reportedly undergoing treatment for an aggressive form of cancer.
This is the first publicly known case of a Spanish bishop being investigated for abuse allegations. The Spanish Catholic Church has been grappling with a legacy of abuse and cover-up, with a 2023 report indicating hundreds of thousands of potential victims. The church has launched a plan to compensate victims, following government approval for reparations.
