(ZENIT News / Madrid, 11.11.2025).- The Vatican has quietly initiated a canonical investigation into Bishop Rafael Zornoza of Cádiz and Ceuta, following allegations of sexual abuse said to date back to the 1990s—claims the prelate has categorically denied. The case, unprecedented in Spain for a sitting bishop, has sent ripples through the ecclesiastical landscape, testing the Church’s resolve to pursue truth and transparency while safeguarding the presumption of innocence.
The accusations surfaced this summer, when a man came forward to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome, alleging that he had been abused by Zornoza between the ages of 14 and 21. At the time, Zornoza was rector of the diocesan seminary of Getafe, a newly created diocese south of Madrid where he played a pivotal formative role.
According to Church sources, the case has now been formally admitted to the tribunal of the Apostolic Nunciature in Spain. The Diocese of Cádiz and Ceuta, in a statement issued on October 10, described the accusations as “very serious and entirely false,” adding that there was “full confidence in justice and complete willingness to cooperate with it.” The statement also underscored “the respect due to the presumption of innocence that applies to all persons.”
The 76-year-old bishop, who has been battling an aggressive form of cancer, has suspended his pastoral agenda “to allow the clarification of the facts” and to focus on his treatment. His resignation, submitted...
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