Colombian judge archives case against Father Francisco de Roux

A Colombian judge dismissed a case against Father Francisco de Roux regarding allegations that he covered up sexual abuse. The 64th judge in Bogotá closed the case following a request from the Fiscalía, which concluded after two years of investigation that there was no evidence the priest failed to fulfill a functional duty.

The investigation began in November 2024 after Luis Fernando Llano Narváez publicly claimed that he informed de Roux, who was then the superior of the Compañía de Jesús in Colombia, about abuses committed by the late Father Darío Chavarriaga. Llano Narváez stated he reported that Chavarriaga abused him and his seven sisters between 1976 and 1979.

In his defense, de Roux stated he conducted a canonical process that resulted in the separation of Chavarriaga, who died in 2015. He explained that he did not report the matter to the Fiscalía because canon law did not require it and because the law in 2014 established that sexual crimes against minors prescribed 20 years from when the victim reached adulthood.