Ex-Bishop Guillermo Abanto has officially recognized the paternity of the two-year-old daughter he fathered with a young woman that he met though his work as a priest.
Abanto told La República that “I’ve never denied that the child is mine, I’ve never resisted acknowledging her,” adding that the decision not to give his last name to the child was a joint decision. “That wasn’t a decision that was made by one person; rather, two people decided. There was never any kind of desire to deny or not follow through with any responsibilities.”
However, Alexandra Daniela de la Lama, the child’s mother, has also come forward with unflattering details about the case. De la Lama alleges that Abanto asked her to abort the pregnancy, telling television program Punto Final, “Yes, he asked me not just one, but several times. He said ‘Are you sure you want to have it, that you don’t want to have an abortion?’”
Abortion is illegal in Peru except in cases where the life of the woman is endangered by the pregnancy. Furthermore, abortion is prohibited by the doctrines of the Catholic church.
Archbishop of Lima, Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani has complained about the way that mainstream press has handled the case. “I’d like to reach out and touch the hearts of those people that, it seems to me, are denigrating God with the way they talk. They pretend to search for the truth, but their words and their gestures don’t show that. They have a desire to keep doing even more damage to these people and institutions.” Ex-bishop of Peru’s military ordinariate allegedly asked child’s mother to abort pregnancy.
