A judge in Chile is blocking a Catholic priest from leaving the country.  The church recommended that 77-year old Fr. Gerardo Joannon go abroad for a retreat after allegations he had pressured single women to give up their babies for adoption during the fascist dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

A senior cleric at the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in the Chilean capital, Santiago, the archdiocese suspended Joannon and its own investigation found at least two “irregular adoptions”.  In each case, the mothers were anaesthetized during labor and later told their babies had died.  In fact, the babies were given to families with connections to the fascist regime in the 1970s and ‘80s.  The practice was also common with the stolen children of Leftists were who "disappeared" into Chilean prisons, never to be seen again.

The church recommended he go to Madrid “to initiate a process of psychological and spiritual accompaniment”.  But Judge Mario Carroza ordered Joannon to stay in Chile for at least two months while police and prosecutors determine if charges will be filed.