To Catch a Kiko Predator

In the summer of 2019, the Spanish newspaper El Español published the headline:

Scandal in Yecla: Antonio, priest of the "Kikos," had sexual relations with a minor. The bishop denounced him after learning that he allegedly committed sexual abuse of a minor.

"Affectionate, friendly, funny in Masses, and with enough empathy to reach out to the youngest of the flock." This is how some members of the "Kikos" defined Antonio Lax Zapata, the parish pastor of St. John the Baptist and chaplain of the Virgen del Castillo Hospital, linked to the Neocatechumenal Way and convicted of committing sexual abuse of a minor. In fact, there is a large community of "Kikos" in the town of Yecla, and several councilors in the municipal government also adhere to the Neocatechumenal movement. "The news surprised us a lot," admitted the popular mayor, who also belongs. "No one suspected anything."

And when are the Neocatechumenals never NOT surprised?

Lax, born in Monteagudo, Spain (near Murcia), entered the Way with his whole family and crossed the ocean - sent by Neocatechumenal lots - to attend the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Medellín, Colombia, where he was ordained a priest. (Fr. Ángel Arturo Vásquez Urizar, a native Guatemalan, also attended the Medellín RMS and was arrested in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain in 2020 for sexually abusing a preteen boy).

After 15 years in Colombia, ten of which were spent in seminary, Lax returned to Spain in 2006. He was assigned to two parishes considered reference points for the "Kiko" community and "he actively participated in spiritual retreats, trips, and gatherings of members of the Neocatechumenal Way."

His personal profile on LinkedIn was accompanied by a photo with a naked child in his arms, about to approach the baptismal font. This detail must not have favorably impressed investigators.

In fact, Lax befriended an underage boy and, before long, the friendship escalated to sexual abuse. In 2022, he was sentenced to seven years and nine months in prison for pedophilia.

In February 2023, the "Kiko" priest was in the newspapers again when Murcia's Provincial Court sentenced him to an additional nine years and two months in prison for sexually abusing two other minors, again as a priest in Yecla, which is part of the Diocese of Cartagena.

The sentence, published on March 9, 2023, considers him the perpetrator of two crimes of sexual abuse: one against a 13-year-old and another against a 16-year-old boy. In both cases, Lax took advantage of his status as a priest. In addition to the prison sentence, Lax must pay €8,200 in compensation to the two victims.

The defendant had made friends with the minors' families back in 2013. He would take them on fishing trips or trips to the ocean, invited them for ice cream, and gave them kisses. According to the sentence, the priest also had sexual conversations with the children, in which he asked them questions such as the size of their penises or the frequency with which they masturbated. (Perhaps he was preparing them for the ritual questions of the Second Scrutiny?)

The sentence, which is not definitive and allows an appeal to Murcia's Supreme Court, is based on the credible and reliable testimony of the victims, as well as acknowledgement of part of the acts by the accused. If the sentence becomes final, the nine years' imprisonment will be added to the seven years and nine months already inflicted for the other case of sexual abuse. However, the priest has yet to serve any prison time.

A statement from the Diocese of Cartagena expressed solidarity with the priest's victims, regretting that bad examples of this kind cloud the work of diocesan clergy, and reiterating its commitment to eradicate any behavior contrary to human dignity, especially the young and vulnerable; finally, it states that the priest is currently suspended and subjected to a canonical trial, still in progress. The current Bishop of Cartagena, since 2009, is José Manuel Lorca Planes.

Note well: the Merkaba "providentially" destined Fr. Lax to the RMS in Medellín, Colombia. If he had remained there, even if he was guilty of pedophilia, he likely would have had a better fate.

One of his colleagues, the Neocatechumenal Fr. Harold Casellas Triviño, ordained the same year as Lax, had a sentence on his shoulders of pederasty against an 11-year-old girl as early as 2015. He was first relieved of his parish duties and put in charge of formation at the Medellín RMS. Then, with a legal trick, he was sent to a "recovery home" for priests in Copacabana (just outside Medellín). He is currently a fugitive and several arrest warrants have been issued against him. The predator priest underground railroad, it seems, is alive and well and fully functional.

(The original Italian version of this article, courtesy of the Osservatorio, can be found here.)