Vatican sends delegates to Paraguay to investigate sexual harassment allegations

The Vatican sent two delegates to Paraguay to investigate the case of the alleged sexual harassment of the student Belén Whittingslow by the professor of the Catholic University of Asunción (UCA), Cristian Kriskovich, informed the House of Studies.

“The Dicastery for Education and Culture has sent two delegates, the Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro, Cardinal Orani João Tempesta, and the officer of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu Farnós, with the mission to listen and seek to expand knowledge of matters related to the University, in particular, following the case of alleged sexual harassment of a student in 2014,” the UCA published in a statement.

The mission’s objective “is strictly ecclesial and per the provisions of canonical regulations,” the text adds.

“The delegates, having accomplished their mission, which they need to carry out with the utmost discretion, objectivity, and serenity, will in due course submit the report of their visit to the Holy See,” the note concludes.

Whittingslow denounced his law professor at UCA, Cristian Kriskovich, for sexual harassment in 2014.

The Prosecutor’s Office dismissed the harassment case, considering that the WhatsApp messages Kriskovich sent to his student were just a “courtship.”

After her denunciation, Whittingslow was involved in the case of buying and selling notes in the Faculty of Legal Sciences of the UCA and was forced to take refuge in Uruguay, the local press publishes.

Whittingslow said that she was “judicially persecuted” after she did not show up to testify in a case of alleged note buying and linked the case to the persecution that triggered the complaint against her professor.

For not going to testify, the Paraguayan Prosecutor’s Office ordered the arrest of the young woman, who assured that she was never sent a notice to attend the hearing.

With information from Sputnik

News Paraguay, English news Paraguay, Catholic University of Asunción (UCA)