25 Apr 2018

Another Guam priest accused of sex crimes

3:43 pm on 25 April 2018

Another catholic priest has been accused of child sex abuse on Guam.

Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral Basilica in Guam

Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral Basilica in Guam Photo: 123rf

The Pacific Daily News reported Daniel Cristobal, who is now dead, was accused of repeatedly molesting a boy over a two-year period in the late 1970s.

It was the first time Father Cristobal was named in a lawsuit, although several other priests, including Guam's former archbishop Anthony Apuron, had been accused of child sex abuse from the 1940s to the 1990s.

Last month, a secretive Vatican trial found Apuron, guilty of "certain accusations" related to the sexual abuse of minors.

Apuron plans to appeal against that ruling.

The Archdiocese of Agana is now the defendant in more than 160 lawsuits amounting to more than half-a-billion US dollars, although negotiations are underway to reach an out-of-court settlement.