Gaspar Alemany, the former parish priest at Sant Sebastià Church in Palma, faces a possible fifteen-month prison sentence for the sexual abuse of an altar boy. The Prosecutor's Office accuses him of having allegedly touched a 21-year-old young man with mental disability. He will go on trial in Palma at the end of this month. A prior at Lluc Sanctuary between 1993 and 2001, the Bishopric of Mallorca removed him after the case was uncovered.
The prosecution states that on the morning of July 7, 2020, the accused asked the altar boy, who suffers from a 33 per cent disability, to go to the sacristy to pick up a book. The young man saw that Alemany's computer was on and was displaying a pornographic page with homosexual content. Alemany gave him the book and proposed to meet him in the afternoon at the parish house.
The altar boy showed up at 6pm. According to the prosecution, Gaspar Alemany attempted to touch his genitals. The young man left, saying that he had to meet a friend. The diocese opened an internal investigation and then informed the National Police, who began their own investigations. The diocese has explained that it immediately launched "the protocols established in these cases".