We reproduce here an article published by the Diario San Rafael yesterday, Friday, January 17, 2025.
This morning on Fm Vos 94.5, which together with Diario San Rafael are part of the leading media in southern Mendoza, interviewed on the program Buen Día, Día, in charge of the announcer Sergio González Ramos, a former seminarian who was a victim of sexual abuse when he was 12 years old (in the early 90s) committed by a priest and also denounced the complicity of the rest of the priests to cover up these aberrant crimes at the Minor Seminary of the Institute of the Incarnate Word, located at 5500 Rawson Avenue, past the train tracks.
On Tuesday the 14th, Diario San Rafael and different media around the world published the news that through two decrees the Vatican announced the intervention of the Institute of the Incarnate Word, both in its male and female branches. The Catholic agency reported that “this decision aims to promote the formation, discipline and leadership of institutes and to support them in their missionary orientation.”
As a result of this, two “papal delegates” were appointed to accompany the religious communities “Institute of the Incarnate Word” and “Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matará”, both of which arose in San Rafael, Mendoza and with an important representation in different parts of the world.
Despite the presence throughout the globe where the IVE institutes are present, the provision pays “special” attention to the headquarters of Velletri-Segni (Italy) and San Rafael (Argentina).
This congregation was founded by Father Carlos Buela, accused of repeated sexual abuse against seminarians. The IVE is of a missionary nature, that is, most of the nuns and priests who were formed in San Rafael, Mendoza, as one of the main points and in other seminaries of the world, have a missionary character, that means that once ordained they are sent to different parts of the world.
Related to the terrible sexual abuse and based on the note published by Diario San Rafael about the intervention of the IVE, a listener of Fm Vos 94.5 and reader of Diario San Rafael, communicated by whatsapp to tell the abuse suffered when he was a seminarian. To preserve his identity, which he voluntarily communicated with our media, we will use the pseudonym “Juan”.
Below is the crude story that for the first time “Juan” tells about what he experienced at the IVE Minor Seminary, San Rafael, Mendoza.
Fm Vos
– Specifically, when we received your message, which is very strong, he says, “I wanted to communicate with you about the note on the Incarnate Word because I am a victim that you silenced.” Well, obviously it caught our attention and we immediately established contact through his request. Please tell us and the audience your story and why you considered yourself a victim who was silenced.
“Juan”
– I don’t know if I’m allowed to give names because, as I also said in the message, there are many complicities in the middle as well. There are priests who are working in other parts of the world and others who asked to leave and others who died. I consider myself a victim because I remember, not the exact date, but the historical moment that was the Gulf War, it was in January, I remember.
Fm Vos
– Yes, early 90s.
“Juan”
–Exactly. We had vacations in January.
Fm Vos
“Excuse me, were you a seminarian?”
“Juan”
“Exactly, minor seminarian. We San Rafaelians or the people who are from Mendoza Capital stay to take care of the Seminary for a week to maintain it. At that time I was on duty and I was a victim, I was 12 years old at the time. I was twice a victim of the director of the Minor Seminary at that time, who is still a priest, Father Luis Ceferino Flores, who committed not only the crime of sexual abuse of me in particular, but of five other minors, and he did it by repeating it for five more years. And I speak of complicity because I spoke with a former priest, whose family has a well-known pharmacy in San Rafael, and then also with a priest also deceased with the surname Guillermo Costantini. Father Guillermo Costantini and the priest who has his parents with a well-known pharmacy in San Rafael, knew about the situation, they managed to make me emphasize in my mind, in my conscience, that I was the one to blame, that I was the one who promoted sexual abuse. I remember one day that after an abuse by Father Lucio Flores, I wanted to escape from the seminary. Both Costantini and Father Lucio begin to look for me. I particularly hid in a pantry that we had inside the Seminary, I hid there and they both talked about how they had to grab me. They literally never said they had to talk to me, or anything like that. Until one Thursday they decided to take me out, while my classmates were playing sports, they decided to take me out of the seminary and took me home. A couple of more months, obviously it was shocking, because for me the vocation was closed and I have these facts currently on the surface, although a lot of time has passed. Later, I went to talk to Father Buela, in the Major Seminary, to ask for help, from which I received the same situation with proposals that did not correspond to a 13-year-old boy at that time.
Fm Vos
– That is, let me say that when you go to talk to Father Carlos Buela, a priest who died in 2023 and founder of the congregation, did he also make a dishonest proposal?
“Juan”
– Yes, absolutely. At that time I was 13, 14 years old. A child and had nowhere to turn. Later, Father Guillermo Costantini began to make a personal persecution of me. I went to a parish that is on 3 de Febrero Street, which belongs to the congregation.
Fm Vos
– The parish of San Maximiliano Kolbe.
“Juan”
– I met the director of the seminary on Tirasso Street, I told him about the situation and they accepted me into the seminary.
Fm Vos
– The Santa María Madre de Dios seminary, founded by Monsignor León Kruk, until it was closed by Bishop Taussig, for other reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with this. It was the seminary that at the beginning also sheltered Father Buela, right?
“Juan”
–Exactly. So, every time someone went from high school to the seminary, they practically hid me, because they already knew of the persecutions to which I was subjected. And I was not yet 15 years old. Until one day I was with a classmate playing ping-pong and Father Guillermo Costantini fell into the seminary, he called me aside, threatened me, and after a day they took me out of the seminary. That is why also in the message I sent them I said complicities. The act itself that he committed in the Minor Seminary was Father Lucio Ceferino Flores, from whom I never heard absolutely anything about any case of punishment. Father Buela was stripped of his priestly powers, detained in a retirement home in Italy. Later, since he was forbidden to approach the institute, he directed the congregation from Chile. He went to Chile and there he continued to give directives to the directors of the Institute of the Incarnate Word. Later, the Vatican takes cognizance. And he stops it again.
And it really is the first time from the year 90 to the present day that I can manifest what I am manifesting. I know I’m a big man, but it’s the first time someone has taken the trouble to listen to me and pay attention to me. It was my childhood. They killed my vocation. And it is not an exaggeration. They destroyed a part of my innocence.
Father Lucio, after he committed the abuse, went to a nearby parish, to Our Lady of the Valley to go to confession. He did it with many boys, repeatedly, evidently abusing his power as a superior in turn. And of children who were not fully aware of what was happening. I tried to seek help from all forces and everything else. It was like touching something untouchable, which was at that time Father Buela. And talk about Lucio Ceferino Flores, who was later transferred to Taiwan, to the island specifically to Taipei, as if to try to hide it. But Lucio Ceferino Flores never had anything. He never had a punishment, he never had a reprimand. And all this with the full knowledge of Father Buela, that is, it is not only that Father Buela is the center of the allegations of abuse, but that there were also other priests who also committed them and never came to light, because they were accomplices of this situation. Thanks to you, at least one direct victim has a voice, has a voice to tell details and details and details and details. For example, in the month of February we spent the entire month in a house that the seminary had in El Nihuil, and within that month we spent a week in the Atuel Canyon. You go through the Atuel Canyon halfway from El Nihuil to Valle Grande on the left hand side, currently there is an abandoned house that is destroyed. At that time that house was whole. We did it on foot, so it was six, seven hours walking. Father Buela continued to commit abuses there.
Fm Vos
“And that in what year?”
“Juan”
– 90, 91, 92, 93… he continued to commit abuses and went to the small town of El Nihuil on foot, which is more than 20 kilometers away, evidently he hitchhiked, confessed and returned. But he confessed, but that same night he committed the acts again. I want to explain this so that the citizens of San Rafael do not believe that what the Vatican is committing is a house of witches, which is not a lie, but at the same time I am aware, because I was hospitalized there, that there are many holy, noble priests, who faithfully comply with what God entrusted to them, such as the Sisters of the Lord and the Virgin of Mataras. which worldwide are examples of many things, of holiness specifically. And on the issue of abuse, I want the citizens of San Rafael to be aware that the priests, with the complicity of two others, committed disastrous acts, both in the city of San Rafael, and in the case of the priest who has his parents, who has a pharmacy, he is also an accomplice, because he kept quiet, hid and took me out. There was a time when the congregation wanted to promote Father Guillermo Costantini to be a servant of God, which is the first step towards sanctification. I’m talking about four years ago, obviously those of us who were in the seminary for minors made a WhatsApp group and that’s where I said such a thing about Father Guillermo Costantini, which is what I just said, that he was an accomplice to the abuse of minors and received insults from priests who are in Africa, for example, whose brother is the current rector general of the institute. They are two brothers, the brother who is in Africa, for example, insulted me a lot when he was a priest, and not having the ability as a human to put himself in the shoes of the person who is suffering and took the side of the people who committed crimes, and not common crimes. To this day, every time I remember, it saddens me greatly, and they instill in you so much that you were to blame, that you were the one to blame, that you were the one who sexually provoked them. Today, more or less years have passed, one continues with that anguish. You say, why didn’t I do such a thing? Why didn’t I walk away? Why didn’t I leave? Why didn’t I speak? Why not? Because they had a fairly important power of persuasion. Both Father Costantini and Father Lucio had a power of persuasion to make you feel guilty. They insulted you, even within the confession they insulted you, they treated you as a provocateur. And for a 12, 13-year-old boy that is engraved in his soul. No matter how much time has passed, it remains engraved in the soul. But I want to highlight the following. Within the Institute, most of the priests are holy priests. I am aware that there are priests who are worthy of being religious, as if also the sisters, but unfortunately it is the fault of this group of people, the congregation is as it is. I still believe that I do it unconsciously, I feel, as I just said, he had a mental lapse and I said, we have, I still feel identified even though a little more than 35 years have passed since the situation. Through this medium, if the pontifical commissioners who are in the institute because of the intervention of this medium want to communicate, not to seek revenge or revenge, but to give information, I volunteer because I specifically want Father Lucio to stop doing what he is doing at this moment.
Fm Vos
“I ask you a question. When you refer to Father Costantini, who died many years ago, do you also involve him in issues of abuse or complicity so that the abuse would not be known?
“Juan”
– Complicity because Father Lucio confesses to him. I also remember the night, I hid where we had the pigs behind.
They went to look for me there, then they went to look for me in the farms we had, until I went into the pantry and then they went into Father Costantini’s bedroom and talked about how they had to lock me, literally. And then they invented a health problem that I had and waited on a Thursday at 9.20 in the morning hidden from my colleagues who were doing sports. But my idea is, as I said at the beginning, it’s not to seek revenge or revenge. I am a big man, with clear things and with a defined north. I just want Father Lucio to stop doing the things he’s doing. He continues with his own things, he is also in charge of minors, that he has an important group of minors of whom he is in charge, not in the country. Father Guillermo died. The other priest asked to be discharged. I don’t know the reason, the reason, I’m not interested either.
Fm Vos
– Are you referring in that case to the priest whose parents have a pharmacy here in San Rafael?
“Juan”
-Yes, it is north of San Rafael along an important avenue. He was also an accomplice because he also knew about the situation and he was one of the ones who treated me the worst. On the part of Father Guillermo nor on the part of this priest there was never physical violence, but verbal and psychological violence.
Fm Vos
– What did you do with your life after what you have just told us? Studied? Did he get married? Without telling us particular questions but how you were able to process all this and reassemble your personality and your life to get to this moment when you decide to talk to Fm Vos 94.5 and Diario San Rafael.
“Juan”
– Yes, I decided to speak because you opened the door, that is, you were the only ones I saw who opened the door by publishing, it is not the first time you have published it, situations of the Institute of the Incarnate Word. I particularly followed a normal, common life, I got married, I didn’t decide to have children. My wife accepted the situation. I am a university professor, I am a psychologist, and I especially give help here in the Capital, I help minors. I’m going to put it in the school aspect, for elementary school children and children up to 15 years old, give them tools. Psychological tools, obviously to know how to distinguish if an unknown person is within a meter and a half of distance, it is a distance that I do not have to allow. No one I don’t know can touch my body. Only teachers and family members can cross that limit of one and a half meters.
I do it for free even if I have my private practice. The rest of the talks, specifically in Capital, Godoy Cruz, Las Heras, Guaymallén.
Fm Vos
– Do you live in Mendoza, currently Mendoza capital?
“Juan”
–Yes. Several times I wanted to go and speak here in San Martín and Zapata, there is the church of the Jesuits. But I had the unfounded fear that they would try to blame me again knowing today, as a big man, that it was not like that. Today, professionally, I know that this is not the case. And I repeat that my main idea is that there should be no more children, no more adolescents abused as Father Buela did with the older seminarians who were sexually abused with boys of 18, 20 years old, 21 years old, because they are still adolescents at that age. Even if one legally becomes of legal age. Regarding Father Buela he is no longer there but Father Lucio continues. I don’t want those children, I don’t have the power to go to where he is right now to say, that’s it, to… And coincidentally, the current rector of the Seminary knows the situation, because the brother told him. The brother, when, as I just mentioned, I commented on it in the Whatsapp group, was the one who insulted me the most.
Fm Vos
– Do you want to make known the name or surname of these two priests or do you prefer to keep it confidential?
“Juan”
– No, no, I prefer to keep it confidential and let the papal commissioners who are now aware of the situation. One of them is in Africa, one of the brothers is in Africa, and the other is the current rector of the seminary. I don’t know if you know him or if you know his last name. He knows fully about the situation, like his brother who is in Africa, who was also, when I commented on it in the WhatsApp group, the one who insulted me the most and the first to leave. But from now on I want to thank you, the production, the radio, the management of the radio I want to say thank you. Thank you because, as I said in the message, thank you for giving me a voice, thank you for listening to me, thank you so that the people of San Rafael knew from someone directly affected what was happening there. I am particularly convinced that if these characters had not been there at that time, I would be a priest today, with my soul totally proud of the things I could have done. My colleagues, many colleagues left because of this situation. I am in full contact with the victims of sexual abuse by Father Lucio. And we are already grown up and what we don’t want is for them to continue doing them just again. I repeat my huge thanks to you, for letting me have a voice in this situation.
Fm Vos
– We are grateful first for the courage of your testimony. You, evidently, in telling this, are bringing something out of you very, very, very deep. We thank you for choosing us as a means to be vehicles of this witness. Of course, we remain at your and whoever else’s disposal because of this situation. Only the truth makes us free, only the truth. And the truth begins to manifest itself when someone decides to tell the truth of things. And we think it is very brave of him because we imagine that he will have faced himself with a very difficult situation. Bringing this to light, after many years, we are talking about the beginning of the 90’s, must have been very difficult for you. We understand this perfectly.
