Leo XIV Supports Cardinal of Lima Known for His Homosex Seminary
Several anonymous seminarians have accused the former rector of the Lima seminary, Rev Luis Sarmiento (in office from 2020 to 2023), of homosexual misconduct.
Cardinal Castillo, an anti-Catholic Pachamama follower, was appointed in 2019. His predecessor, Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani (Opus Dei), was well known for his theological conservatism.
Cardinal Castillo initiated a shake-up of the seminary alongside numerous other changes within the archdiocese.
Rev Sarmiento was a formator at the seminary briefly in 2017–18, but was dismissed for inappropriate behaviour. At the time, the behaviour was not explicitly homosexual, but rather involved problems with personal boundaries.
Despite the allegations, Castillo instated Rev Sarmiento as rector to lead a 'reform' of the seminary. This time, the accusations against Rev Sarmiento do concern homosexual sins.
A former seminarian described him as being "very touchy-feely," saying that he would give big hugs to seminarians while having an erection: "It happened to me, and I saw it happen to others."
Another source said: "There were two instances in which Sarmiento tried to kiss seminarians. In one, he went to a seminarian’s bedroom to talk with him, hugged him tightly and started smelling him, and tried to kiss him while having an erection." The second time, Sarmiento visited a sick seminarian in his bedroom: “He tried to kiss him, and the seminarian started yelling at him. A few weeks later, the seminarian was dismissed from the propaedeutic seminary."
Another former seminarian described Sarmiento's "weird" behaviour. He would suddenly appear behind a seminarian, even 30 years old, grab him and lift him off the floor.
Some seminarians complained to the formators about the dysfunctional situation, but they were expelled from the seminary.
Another former seminarian said: "A group of seminarians decided to talk with a formator, who went to the archbishop to tell him about the situation, and also spoke with Sarmiento directly. Sarmiento denied everything but said he’d go to therapy, so the decision at the moment was to keep him in his post."
A priest who wanted to help the seminarians was no longer given any tasks.
Other sources added that rector Sarmiento tolerated homosexual misconduct among seminarians: "During some missions, there was a case in which a seminarian was sexually touching another seminarian at night. A third seminarian realised this and, the next day, left his phone filming after he went to sleep and recorded the situation. He and others approached Sarmiento with this information, and he said that he wouldn’t expel them."
Only a few months later, when half of the Lima clergy heard what happened and pressure grew, he decided to dismiss them from the seminary.
When rector Sarmiento was eventually removed from the seminary in 2023, he was not sanctioned or subject to a canonical investigation. Instead, he was sent to Rome for study in order to let the scandal calm down.
Cardinal Castillo even wanted to make rector Sarmiento an auxiliary bishop, but the Nuncio disagreed because he knew of these issues.
Worse: Castillo personally intervened to remove seminarians who reported Rev Sarmiento’s behavior rather than ordering an investigation into the allegations.
Lima had 60 seminarians the year when Cardinal Castillo arrived. A few years later, there were 15 seminarians left.
Pope Leo XIV knows Cardinal Castillo well and has recently decided to keep him in office until he is 80 years old.
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