LifeSite - Msgr. Coronado-Arrascue: "Prevost [Leo] also lied because he said before the cardinals that he fulfilled all his duties... investigating the abusive priest in Chiclayo... He didn't"
https://youtu.be/tzjMPw0yrik?is=7q7_htx73oEA-IqG
Msgr. Ricardo Coronado-Arrascue: I would challenge Bishop Golka. You lied a lot. Let me tell you, you lie about two priests in Colorado Springs who misbehaved sexually among themselves. I judged them. I especially judged one of them because he broke the seal of confession. I put some penalties on him. I knew did not observe these penalties. And you said that he's the best priest you have in Colorado Springs. You also elevated to a higher position another priest who exploited his employees at his parish. And he was sending them to work in his private house and fix his private house with no payment, even on the weekends. I put some penalties on that priest, and Bishop Golka then dismissed all these penalties. He's a liar. He does things that are totally unlawful in the church.
John-Henry Westen: These things, Monsignor, are very hard to hear because there are a lot of people who will regard a bishop. How can you say a bishop is lying? That's impossible to believe. But I think perhaps with the advent of the sex abuse crisis and seeing the cover-up, people's eyes have been opened just a little bit more, but still hard to hear.
Msgr. Ricardo Coronado-Arrascue: Prevost [Leo] also lied because he said before the cardinals that he fulfilled all his duties, all his canonical duties, investigating the abusive priest in Chiclayo. But you know what? He didn't. I have the letter from the current bishop of Chiclayo saying that they didn't do a canonical investigation. He said that it is a pastoral investigation. You know, a pastoral investigation does not exist. You cannot do pastoral investigation. There is only one way to do binding things in the church, is canonical investigations. And they never did that. He presented something to the College of Cardinals, and the College of Cardinals chose to believe that.
John-Henry Westen: What advice would you have for Catholics? Because it's all over the place right now. There are Catholics who are saying, well, obviously we believe the bishop, and then there's some Catholics now ripping on Father Ripperger, who are basically saying, you know, he was dangerous and so on. It's mayhem out there, and this is among really good Catholics, Catholics who all, you know, presumably believe in the faith and try and promote it in different ways. But this tendency to want to, I guess, defend the bishop or defend Leo XIV, it's so strong that it's almost impossible.
Msgr. Ricardo Coronado-Arrascue: But I don't blame them. You know why? Because this is psychological. It's not theoretical. It's not theological issue. It's psychological issue. If I cannot believe the Pope, who am I going to believe? Nothing is left. Everything is destroyed. My seeker cannot handle that. This is what most of the people struggle with. You know, if I cannot rely on my bishop, who is the vicar of Christ for me in my diocese, to whom should I rely?
Well, however, we need to have a better faith than that. You live in the 5th century, when 80 or 90% of bishops were Arians, heretics. But you have died. I mean, all of them were teaching their people the wrong teaching. They were running their diocese like a huge mistake. The church didn't collapse. The church was not finished. The church was not destroyed. If we rely more on human beings than we do in Christ, then the Catholic Church is a club where we want more power, more earthly power, more temporal power. We don't want the truth.
You know, I am not afraid to say all of this. I was never afraid to be punched, to be removed. I will continue to say this because I know the facts. I'm not making anything up. I'm not. I'm telling you the truth. I don't consider myself dismissed from the clerical estate for the simple reason that I don't have any decree saying that. They claim that Bergoglio signed it. They never wanted to show it to me. Why? Because they don't want history to say, well, here's one case where you just made somebody for nothing. Yeah, they don't want that to be in the record. But I haven't seen my canonical process ever. My canonical advocate was denied from having access to it. When my case went to Rome, my canon lawyer in Rome went and what they showed her was superficial.
Notes:
1. Msgr. Ricardo Coronado-Arrascue, JCD was the Judicial Vicar and Chancellor for the Diocese of Colorado Springs and the Judicial Vicar for the Inter-diocesan Tribunal of Cajamarca-Chachapoyas-Chota in his native Peru.
2. Editor’s note: Msgr. insists that his removal from the priesthood was wholly unjust. He also believes the final straw that lead to his dismissal was his decision to provide legal counsel to three women who approached then-Bishop Robert Prevost in 2022 about having been abused over a decade prior by priests of the Diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, which Prevost had overseen since 2015. Multiple mainstream media outlets have already reported on the women and their claims. See here:
“Survivors of clergy sexual abuse say Pope Leo XIV covered up reported abuse in Peru”
“Survivors of clergy sexual abuse turn up calls for reforms from new pope’s American hometown”
“Pope Leo Chiclayo abuse case proves tricky to translate outside Peru”
“New pope under scrutiny for handling of abuse claims”
[https://kokxnews.substack.com/p/full-text-msgr-coronado-arrascues]
3.
... Dear Mrs. Allen,
Lima-Peru, 6th August 2025
I write to you in regard to the article you published on the Crux website this past Friday (August 1, 2025, with subsequent amended version August 5th, 2025) maliciously and provocatively entitled, Coverup allegations against Leo spun by defrocked priest. (I note that the unamended Aug. 1 version had also been reproduced in Spanish on the news website Religion Digital.) My name is Msgr. Ricardo Coronado Arrascue about whom you wrote in the article and whom you significantly disparage in it. Let it be noted that I have dedicated my life to the Catholic Church, entering the Augustinians when I was eighteen years old; later my family was left to flee Peru due to death threats and persecution. I served within the Augustinian order until 2001, holding posts as teacher, vice principle for pastoral affairs, and even rector of the order's seminary.
Upon my lawful departure from the order, with the approval of the then Prior General Robert Prevost (I can send you that letter affirming this if you like), I continued studies and proceeded to serve for sixteen years in the Diocese of Colorado Springs, all the while continuing to travel and serve in three dioceses in Peru as Judicial Vicar for the interdiocesan tribunal.
During all of those years of service to the church, I never had a canonical process opened against me. I was never given a monitum or warning from my superiors, including Fr. Prevost. I was never given any formal correction; I was never accused of wrongdoing. I operated in all of those contexts with full use of my priestly faculties and in good graces with the various ecclesiastical superiors for whom I worked.
Problems only began with the arrival of the new diocesan bishop in Colorado Springs, James Golka, in June of 2021. After months of tension, doctrinal disagreements and personality conflicts, Bp. Golka to removed me from my various offices. Ultimately, he violated a civil and canonical contract with me, and in order to avoid being taken to civil court by me, he agreed to a settlement.
When I returned full-time to Peru in January of 2022, I discovered that Bishop Golka had sent a communication to my new bishop in Cajamarca, Bishop Isaac Circunscisión Martínez Chuquizana. The content of that communication has never been made known to me or to my legal counsel despite years of inquiry and efforts on our behalf. It was indeed after that communication of Bishop Golka that relations with my bishop in Cajamarca and the diocese thereof turned sour. Since that time, the dramatic escalation of accusations against me has only grown worse and worse, especially when I took on the defense of the three women from Chiclayo, Peru. With the present letter, I want to correct a number of errors and falsehoods stated in your article, and I ask that you correct these:
1. You stated that I was defrocked for sexual misconduct and that I have a "history of sexually inappropriate behavior". The decree from the Dicastery for Clergy indicated canon 1395 §1 and § 3 as the reasons for my dismissal from the clerical state; this canon states:
*********
Can. 1395
§ 1. A cleric living in concubinage, other than in the case mentioned in can. 1394, and a cleric who continues in some other external sin against the sixth commandment of the Decalogue which causes scandal, is to be punished with suspension. To this, other penalties can progressively be added if after a warning he persists in the offense, until eventually he can be dismissed from the clerical state.
§ 3. A cleric who by force, threats or abuse of his authority commits an offense against the sixth commandment of the Decalogue or forces someone to perform or submit to sexual acts is to be punished with the same penalty as in § 2.
*****
Canon 1395 § 1 addresses the crime of living in concubinage. However, for the past six plus years I have lived exclusively with my mother and in my house or her apartment. I have had no "lover", live-in or otherwise. I have not violated the 6th commandment with anyone, male or female. Moreover, the canon mentioned above requires that the offending party receives a warning before any penal action be taken. Not only did I never commit a delict against the 6th commandment of the Decalog, I never have received a warning that I had done so as the law of the church above prescribes.
The Dicastery for Clergy in fact used an accelerated process to defrock me which is reserved for the most heinous cases of abuse, namely, those involving children something of which I have never been accused. During that charade of a process, no victims were named, no material of an actual crime was presented to me, and no evidence was gathered. The Dicastery gave me thirty days to make a defense and then handed down their decision, which I am convinced was determined before this deeply flawed in its conduct legal process was even begun. The decision was also handed down with no possibility of appeal.
2. As for the accusation that I have a longstanding track record of sexually inappropriate behavior, where is the evidence for this? Treating slander and gossip as fact is not worthy of any journalist who seeks to be a pursuer of truth. Suggesting with a clever play of words in your article that I am a homosexual preying on young men in priestly formation is revolting and without any historical proof. I have labored for many years to promote vocations to the priesthood; many of the men with whom I have worked now serve in Holy Mother Church as dedicated priests. If people have grievances against me, it is not for being sexually inappropriate in my conduct with others; it is for being a defender of orthodoxy and an upholder of the law, including the fundamental right to self-defense.
3. You reported that I was the one who first made known the alleged cover-up by then Bishop Prevost. This is in no way a factual portrayal of the situation. The victims had already made known their grievance. After getting nowhere with the Church hierarchy, they proceeded to look for legal counsel. After failed attempts on their part to get anyone to represent them, I was approached by a third party to take on their case and give them the legal representation which is their due. I did so simply out of a desire to help alleged victims tell their side of the story. Lawyers, including canon lawyers do this all the time, it is part of their profession. And I may add that I have never received any monetary remuneration from the three women or from any third party for the work I did for them. In the end, my effort to legally represent and give these plaintiffs voice resulted in my being canceled by the entire Peruvian Bishop's Conference. The very day after the Conference took the unprecedented step of prohibiting me from practicing canon law anywhere in Peru, I was informed of a juridical process launched against me by my bishop which ultimately resulted in my being removed from the clerical state.
4. You assert that I have close ties to Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV). I have never been a member of the aforementioned group. Yes, I have known and had friendly relations with members over the years, including with the SCV founder, but I have never been associated with them in any official capacity. As a matter of fact, I had never had any one-on-one conversation with the Sodalitium founder Mr Figari. How can I be demonized for having acquittances with members of a group that was legally approved by the Church? My familiarity with members does not make me an accomplice in the abuse that certain members and leaders of the group are alleged to have committed. I have even helped a number of members leave the SCV who found that the organization was not suitable for them. Did I go to their formation house in the San Bartolo neighborhood? Yes, but how is hearing confessions of young men in priestly formation for a Church approved group a crime or offense? I have of course done the same for other institutions in the Church and groups of faithful and never had an official confessor for the SCV. It is strange that you seem to single out Sodalitium. Why is this?
5. The suggestion that I advocated for the three Peruvian women from Chiclayo as retaliation for the actions taken against Archbishop Jose Antonio Eguren by then Cardinal Robert Prevost as Prefect of the Dicastery of Bishops is preposterous. My relationship with Archbishop Eguren has been limited to a casual greeting on a few occasions and on one occasion to a actual conversation that I held with him in his office about the tribunal in his archdiocese. Such is the sum total of my interactions with him to date. Why would I exploit abuse victims to get back at then Cardinal Prevost for actions he took as Prefect for the Dicastery of Bishops against an archbishop who has never had any meaningful relationship with me? My advocating for the three Peruvian women was undertaken to give them a voice and to hold the Church hierarchy accountable for alleged misdeeds — something that canon lawyers are called to do ex professo.
6. I only reached out to SNAP because I was beginning to despair that the three Peruvian women from Chiclayo would obtain any fair hearing from the Church hierarchy — sadly this situation that not uncommon in recent decades, as you may well be aware. Where the Church hierarchy fails to provide justice and engages in appalling cover-ups the only recourse of victims typically is to turn to the civil authorities and to the court of public opinion.
7. You incorrectly state that the Cuarto Poder television program apologized for their report detailing the story of the alleged sexual abuse covered up by the diocese of Chiclayo. They did no such thing, what they did was, commenting after the election of Cardinal Prevost, state that in that program they had fulfilled their journalistic duty, and they clarified how they had proceeded in putting the documentary together.
To conclude, as a journalist and as a Catholic laywoman, I present this information to you with sincerity and love for the Church to which I have dedicated my life. Am I supposed to remain silent about alleged abuse within the Church because it is not convenient to the Pope's narrative that he did nothing wrong? If there was nothing to the womens' accusations, then why have the documents of the alleged preliminary investigation never been released to the public as transparency requires? Why was I gravely persecuted for taking on their case? Why did the whole Peruvian Bishops Conference cancel me? Why the very next day did my legal counsel, whom my bishop had refused to respond to for years, get notified of a canonical process initiated against me for crimes that are in no way substantiated or remotely plausible? Why, after I recused my bishop from judging my case, as I deemed him in no way to be impartial, did the Vatican move at an accelerated pace (unknown to those familiar with the Roman Curia) to have me tried by a mockery of a canonical process that gathers no evidence, provides for no real right of defense, and whose decision is without appeal?
My canonical counsel in Rome in fact went to the Dicastery for Clergy and examined the file for my fabricated laicization process. She reported to me that she had never seen such a dossier there was no evidence contained in it beyond hearsay and gossip. The dossier effectively concluded that as it was reported I had a messy room when in charge of the Augustinian formation house, I therefore must be a sexual abuser. The dossier included quotes from two priests in the Diocese of Colorado Springs who alleged that I had appeared to do wrong (no evidence of anything was provided), but their comments contradict what they had previously sworn under oath; one way or the other they both of these priests committed perjury. The dossier alleged that I had an ongoing romantic relationship with a person who is mentally unstable and who has committed crimes against me; I have brought suit against the individual in question and that case is ongoing in the civil courts in Peru.
In sum, within the dossier that the Vatican used to attempt to laicize and silence me thereby, there was no material crime detailed. There was no actual delict with evidence cited whatsoever. And yet this past December 2024 I received the decree of laicization that supposedly was signed with a letter "F", the apparent initial of Pope Francis. All of this happened at an extraordinarily and uncustomarily accelerated pace. It was some five months later that Cardinal Robert Prevost appeared in St. Peter's logia dressed in white.
Mrs. Allen, I am aware that you are a former Sodalitium member, and I ask you to correct your erroneous story as presented in the August 1st and 5th articles. I am not some malicious monster; I am a man who has given his life to the Church and who by an outrage against justice has been "cancelled" by some members of the Church's hierarchy. I have been deprived of all possibilities to support myself and my elderly mother economically; and, more significantly, my good name has been unjustly trashed by some, including you.
Sincerely,
Msgr. Ricardo Coronado [Arrascue, JCD https://kokxnews.substack.com/p/full-text-msgr-coronado-arrascues]
- Pray an Our Father now for reparation for the sins committed because of Francis’s Amoris Laetitia and for the restoration of the Church.
- Stop for a moment of silence, ask Jesus Christ what He wants you to do now and next. In this silence remember God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost – Three Divine Persons yet One God, has an ordered universe where you can know truth and falsehood as well as never forget that He wants you to have eternal happiness with Him as his son or daughter by grace. Make this a practice. By doing this you are doing more good than reading anything here or anywhere else on the Internet.
I ask all The Catholic Monitor readers to also pray for the end of this war. Watch "Trump Calls Putin To Get Iran War Offramp! w/ Scott Ritter" on YouTube: ...Read more Please Pray for Trump to end the Iran War: Watch "Trump Calls Putin To Get Iran War Offramp! w/ Scott Ritter" on YouTubeFranklin & Graham calls on Christians to pray for 'end to the bloodshed' ahead of Trump-Putin summit...7mo
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Conclave Notes:
-- Open letter urges Pope Leo XIV to correct ‘scandalous incoherence’ in Amoris Laetitia...[Wow! Even notorious Popesplainer Fr.] Harrison warns that Pope Francis taught a ‘dangerous self-contradiction’ on Communion for the divorced and ‘remarried,’ petitioning Pope Leo to correct the record. [https://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2025/08/open-letter-urges-pope-leo-xiv-to.html]-- Dr. Seifert, regarded as one of the greatest living Catholic philosophers, founding Rector of the International Academy of Philosopher & friend of John Paul II, to Cardinals: INVESTIGATE FRANCIS' HERESIES, VALIDITY BEFORE THE CONCLAVE.."If Francis is found guilty of heresy or apostasy, then: - His cardinal appointments would be invalid" [https://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2025/04/dr-seifert-philosopher-personal-friend.html]-- Are the Cardinals who will participate in the upcoming conclave authentically appointed & morally justified in voting, or will the shadow of Francis's possible illegitimacy cast itself over the next papacy? [https://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2025/04/are-cardinals-who-will-participate-in.html]
-- 5 Dubia Questions for 1P5's Steve Skojec & All faithful Catholics especially Francis is definitely Pope Cardinals, Bishops & pundits [https://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2019/06/5-dubia-questions-for-steve-skojec.html]
Francis Notes:
l– Doctor of the Church St. Francis de Sales totally confirmed beyond any doubt the possibility of a heretical pope and what must be done by the Church in such a situation:
“[T]he Pope… WHEN he is EXPLICITLY a heretic, he falls ipso facto from his dignity and out of the Church, and the Church MUST either deprive him, or, as some say, declare him deprived, of his Apostolic See.”
(The Catholic Controversy, by St. Francis de Sales, Pages 305-306)Saint Robert Bellarmine, also, said “the Pope heretic is not deposed ipso facto, but must be declared deposed by the Church.”
[https://archive.org/stream/SilveiraImplicationsOfNewMissaeAndHereticPopes/Silveira%20Implications%20of%20New%20Missae%20and%20Heretic%20Popes_djvu.txt]– “If Francis is a Heretic, What should Canonically happen to him?”: http://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2020/12/if-francis-is-heretic-what-should.html
– “Could Francis be a Antipope even though the Majority of Cardinals claim he is Pope?”: http://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2019/03/could-francis-be-antipope-even-though.html
– If Francis betrays Benedict XVI & the”Roman Rite Communities” like he betrayed the Chinese Catholics we must respond like St. Athanasius, the Saintly English Bishop Robert Grosseteste & “Eminent Canonists and Theologians” by “Resist[ing]” him: https://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2021/12/if-francis-betrays-benedict-xvi.html
– LifeSiteNews, “Confusion explodes as Pope Francis throws magisterial weight behind communion for adulterers,” December 4, 2017:
The AAS guidelines explicitly allows “sexually active adulterous couples facing ‘complex circumstances’ to ‘access the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist.'”
– On February 2018, in Rorate Caeli, Catholic theologian Dr. John Lamont:
“The AAS statement… establishes that Pope Francis in Amoris Laetitia has affirmed propositions that are heretical in the strict sense.”
– On December 2, 2017, Bishop Rene Gracida:
“Francis’ heterodoxy is now official. He has published his letter to the Argentina bishops in Acta Apostlica Series making those letters magisterial documents.”
Pray an Our Father now for the restoration of the Church by the bishops by the grace of God.Election Notes:
– Intel Cryptanalyst-Mathematician on Biden Steal: “212Million Registered Voters & 66.2% Voting,140.344 M Voted…Trump got 74 M, that leaves only 66.344 M for Biden” [http://catholicmonitor.blogspot.com/2020/12/intel-cryptanalyst-mathematician-on.html?m=1]
– Will US be Venezuela?: Ex-CIA Official told Epoch Times “Chávez started to Focus on [Smartmatic] Voting Machines to Ensure Victory as early as 2003”: http://catholicmonitor.blogspot.com/2020/12/will-us-be-venezuela-ex-cia-official.html
– Tucker Carlson’s Conservatism Inc. Biden Steal Betrayal is explained by “One of the Greatest Columns ever Written” according to Rush: http://catholicmonitor.blogspot.com/2021/01/tucker-carlsons-conservatism-inc-biden.html?m=1
– A Hour which will Live in Infamy: 10:01pm November 3, 2020:
http://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2021/01/a-hour-which-will-live-in-infamy-1001pm.html?m=1What is needed right now to save America from those who would destroy our God given rights is to pray at home or in church and if called to even go to outdoor prayer rallies in every town and city across the United States for God to pour out His grace on our country to save us from those who would use a Reichstag Fire-like incident to destroy our civil liberties. [Is the [J6] DC Capitol Incident Comparable to the Nazi Reichstag Fire Incident where the German People Lost their Civil Liberties?: http://catholicmonitor.blogspot.com/2021/01/is-dc-capital-incident-comparable-to.html?m=1 and Epoch Times Show Crossroads on Capitol Incident: “Anitfa ‘Agent Provocateurs‘”:
http://catholicmonitor.blogspot.com/2021/01/epoch-times-show-crossroads-on-capital.html?m=1]Pray an Our Father now for the grace to know God’s Will and to do it.
Pray an Our Father now for America.
Pray an Our Father now for the restoration of the Church as well as the Triumph of the Kingdom of the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
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