As Regional Vicar for Opus Dei in Peru, I would like to comment on the serious accusations that have appeared in the press against Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani, Archbishop Emeritus of Lima. In addition to inviting you to read a clarification that the Cardinal published on 25 January and another on 29 January, I would like to share with you some considerations.

In the years when he was incardinated in Opus Dei as a priest, 1977-1988, the then Father Juan Luis Cipriani undertook wide-reaching, generous pastoral work with thousands of faithful, young and old, in our country, until he was made a Bishop by Pope John Paul II in 1988.

On a separate topic, and as Regional Vicar, I apologise wholeheartedly if I did not respond with full availability to someone who wished to be heard. In 2018, his accuser requested a meeting with me. I knew that I could not interfere in a formal accusation that had already been lodged with the Holy See, as is the correct procedure in the case of a cardinal. Since I did not have any juridical competence for the case, when someone in the accuser’s confidence asked me to hold a meeting with him, my reaction was to think that such a meeting could not be positive. Today I realise that I could have offered him personal, human and spiritual contact, which in fact I know that he did receive from other people in Opus Dei.

I would also like to state clearly that there is no record of any formal process during the years when Father Juan Luis Cipriani was incardinated in Opus Dei as a priest.

With the Prelature’s Global Safeguarding Guidelines [https://opusdei.org/en-uk/article/prelature-global-safeguarding-guidelines/] updated in 2020, today it would be impossible for any complaint to go unrecorded. Back then there was not the same awareness as there is today, on the best ways of accompanying those involved. Currently, after a learning process on the part of the whole Church, there is a clear pathway for every accusation, and any such complaint could not remain at the level of private conversations with some people who have since died and others who cannot be identified.

In this context we renew our commitment to work for prevention and to keep learning the best possible way of handling accusations and accompanying those involved.

I do not want to end without re-stating my solidarity, which will never be sufficient, with all those who have suffered any kind of abuse inside or outside the Church.