SÃO PAULO, Brazil – Jesuit Father Francesc Peris, accused by numerous former students of committing sexual abuse against them at a school in Barcelona, Spain, and another in Cochabamba, Bolivia, will not face criminal prosecution due to the statute of limitations of his crimes, according to a judicial decision issued last week.

Spanish judge Santiago García had opened an inquiry into Peris’s actions and concluded that two allegations of abuse, committed by him in 1999 and 2004, could lead to criminal proceedings.

However, according to a story published on Jan. 25 by the Catalan newspaper El Periódico, the District Attorney’s Office determined that the 2004 incidents have already reached the statute of limitations, meaning the 1999 allegation will likely meet the same outcome.

These were the most recent of several accusations made against Peris by students of Casp–Sagrat Cor de Jesús School, run by the Catalan Jesuits in Barcelona since 1881.

Although he denied all allegations before judicial authorities on more than one occasion, victims such as Enric Soler told El Periódico that it was widely known that Peris had abused students since the 1960s.

During an internal investigation carried out by the Jesuits, Peris acknowledged that he had abused boys and girls, both in Barcelona and in Cochabamba. The administrative process recorded more than 20 cases of abuse committed by him. He also admitted guilt in proceedings conducted by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

According to Spanish victims, El Periódico reported, Peris would take students to a holiday house in Viladrau, about 50 miles from Barcelona, where he bathed naked with them.

His school office was also a known location for the abuse. He would often summon students there under the pretext of mentoring or spiritual guidance. Known as Cesc, students nicknamed him “Sex Penis.”

After numerous complaints, the Society of Jesus sent Peris to Bolivia in 1983. The Bolivian Community of Survivors of Ecclesial Sexual Abuse believes the move was intended to cover up his abuses in Spain and prevent justice from being served there.

That is how the Catalan priest ended up at John XXIII School in Cochabamba.

“Since 1972, the Society of Jesus had known about Peris’s crimes. His transfer to Bolivia was not coincidental,” Edwin Alvarado, a spokesperson for the Community, told Crux.

In Cochabamba, he allegedly repeated his long-standing pattern of behavior. Alvarado said one victim, then a girl studying at John XXIII, reported that Peris would go from “bed to bed” in the girls’ dormitory.

He also abused at least one boy there.

“A boy was sleeping during the day, alone in the dorm, when he was woken by Peris, who was abusing him. Before striking him with a guitar, he saw Father Alfonso Pedrajas watching them,” Alvarado said.

Pedrajas, known as Padre Pica, was another serial sexual abuser from Spain who kept a diary of his crimes for decades. He lived in Bolivia for most of his life and died there in 2009. His diary, which documented more than 80 abuses, was discovered by a nephew and given to the Spanish newspaper El País, which broke the story in 2023.

Peris remained in Bolivia for only one year before returning to Barcelona. He continued committing abuse until 2004. In 2005, he was finally removed from Casp by the order and barred from teaching children. Since then, he has lived in a Jesuit residence in Valladolid.

His actions in Bolivia had serious consequences. The Survivors’ Community is aware of five victims. Three suffer health problems resulting from the abuse, and two are receiving psychiatric treatment.

“Some of his victims could not overcome their trauma. They have emotional scars and heart problems,” Alvarado said.

The Community received the news of the dismissal of Peris’s case in Barcelona with sadness.

“In Bolivia, we have already seen how historical truth is not important for the judiciary. A judicial ruling can close an entire case due to dates and procedural mechanisms,” he lamented.

The Community is now preparing to file civil lawsuits against Peris in Spain.

“Given that the Catalan Society of Jesus sent someone it knew was an abuser to Bolivia, the Society of Jesus is complicit in the abuses,” he said.

He added that more victims will likely come forward and join the effort, which Alvarado describes as a “moral sanction, since criminal punishment is no longer legally possible.”

“The Society of Jesus and the world must be aware of that man’s depravity. More than 30 years after the abuse in Bolivia, he still kept a photograph of one of his victims on his desk in Barcelona,” Alvarado said.

The Community will also join networks of clerical abuse survivors in neighboring Latin American countries to change legislation in the region and make child abuse a crime with no statute of limitations.

“This way, we can better prevent new cases in those countries,” he said, adding that being a member of the clergy should be considered an aggravating factor.