Seminarian, 26, Reports Urgell Priest to Mossos for Rape

A 26-year-old seminarian has filed a complaint with the Mossos d’Esquadra (Catalonia’s police) accusing a 54-year-old priest of the Diocese of Urgell of rape, according to the newspaper Ara, which first reported the case. The priest has not been charged and the allegations have not been tested in court. He remains rector of a church in the diocese, according to Ara and 3Cat.

The diocese says it opened a canonical (church law) investigation after receiving the complaint. The complainant says the church did nothing for him until he went to the police and left the seminary.

What the complaint says

According to Ara, which saw the complaint, the young man came to Catalonia on July 15, 2025, after leaving a seminary in Toledo where, he says, someone repeatedly made sexual advances toward him. He met the priest, who serves a parish in the Noguera area, and the priest offered him a room in his rectory and help finding another seminary.

The alleged assault happened in the early hours of July 17, 2025, in a private flat in Barcelona where the two stayed overnight. The complaint says they shared a bed because there was no other. The man says his residence permit was about to expire and that he depended on the priest for housing and for a seminary place.

He says the priest afterward warned him that he had powerful friends who could ruin his life, and monitored him through calls and WhatsApp messages. Ara reports that he entered the diocesan seminary in La Seu d’Urgell on Nov. 3 with the priest’s help, and that the priest arranged a lawyer for his residence paperwork.

In January he asked for a change of parish without mentioning the assault, and was moved to Bellver de Cerdanya. Weeks later, he says, a resolution from the Subdelegación del Gobierno (central government office) in Toledo stated that his residence renewal had been halted because he had requested withdrawal. He says he never made that request. He later obtained a permit through the extraordinary regularization of foreigners carried out by the Spanish government this year, according to Ara.

How the diocese handled it

Ara reports that he told the Bishop of Urgell, Josep Lluís Serrano Pentinat, everything at a meeting on Aug. 31 and saw no action. On Oct. 5 he sent a registered letter (burofax) to the diocese’s office for receiving abuse reports, received the next day according to the postal receipt. The office director, David Codina Pérez, replied by email on Oct. 17, eleven days later, saying he would inform the bishop and that the man could take his case to the state authorities.

The man also wrote to the Vatican’s nuncio in Spain and to Vatican departments. Sources at the nunciature told Ara they would give no information.

He announced in writing on Oct. 29 that he was leaving the seminary, citing abuse, threats and lack of support from the church. Ara reports that about an hour after he left, Codina emailed to say the bishop had appointed him investigating judge and proposed a meeting to take his statement, scheduled for Monday. Source reports give slightly different dates for the police complaint and his departure: 3Cat says Oct. 26, while Ara describes the exit at the end of October. He is now in hiding, fearing reprisals.

What the diocese and the priest say

In a statement, the diocese said that once the complainant clearly identified the priest on Oct. 17, its office contacted him immediately and opened the canonical investigation. It said it encouraged him to go to public authorities and offered full support, and that it will cooperate fully with the justice system. Ara notes the diocese did not say what support it offered or whether it told him about the investigating judge before he left.

When Ara phoned the accused priest on Friday, he said he did not know what the reporter was talking about and told them to speak to his lawyer.

Why it matters

The priest appeared in public with the bishop at the Sant Ermengol solemn Mass at La Seu d’Urgell cathedral on Nov. 3, and co-celebrated it, according to Ara and 3Cat. The diocese’s own social media also lists him as taking part in organizing a youth gathering in December. Ara cites a 2019 motu proprio (papal decree) by Pope Francis requiring the Church to act without delay on abuse cases.

The Mossos complaint opens a state investigation separate from the church’s internal one. The planned statement to the diocese’s investigating judge is the next announced step.

Sources: 3Cat 324, La Vanguardia, Ara