A Catholic priest from Mexico has been accused of sexually assaulting a child during long-ago visits to Chicago, local church officials said this weekend.
The Rev. Ernest Tovar-Trejo, a priest of the Diocese of Tampico, Mexico, has visited Chicago for “short periods in past years,” Chicago’s archbishop, Cardinal Blase Cupich, wrote in a letter dated Saturday to St. José Sánchez Del Rio Parish in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood.
Cupich added that Tovar-Trejo also has celebrated mass at Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church without obtaining “proper permission.” The church is part of St. José Sánchez Del Rio Parish.
Tovar-Trejo allegedly abused the child while visiting Chicago “many years ago,” according to Cupich’s letter, which didn’t indicate a specific date or location of the alleged assault.
Cupich said the archdiocese – the arm of the Catholic church for Cook and Lake counties that he leads – is working with the Tampico diocese to investigate the allegation. The Mexican diocese has since relayed that Tovar-Trejo is no longer allowed to minister as a priest.
Neither he nor his diocese – centered in a community several hundred miles south of Brownsville, Texas – could immediately be reached for comment.
Chicago’s archdiocese has seen a number of allegations against its priests in recent years, some of which turned out to be unfounded. More than 160 clerics identified by church authorities as credibly accused of child sex offenses are listed on a publicly available online list maintained by Cupich’s office.