Priest Accused of Improper Touching in San Borja, Lima, Peru, to Continue Trial in Freedom
By Gwen
Posted Nov 1, 2026 at 12:34 AM
Fr. Marco Agüero, a priest of the Archdiocese of Lima, Peru, has been charged with improper conduct and will continue his legal proceedings while not in custody. A judge rejected a request by prosecutors for nine months of pretrial detention against him. The charges are allegations that have not been proven in court.
The Fifth Special Prosecutor’s Office of Lima Centro appealed the decision not to impose pretrial detention. The Public Prosecutor’s Office said on March 13 on its X account that the appeal concerned alleged improper touching of three minors and two adults in San Borja.
Agüero had been detained at the headquarters of the Criminal Investigation Department (Depincri) in the Lima district of San Borja for a few days. According to RPP, as cited by the source, he left the site accompanied by several people and did not make any statements.
In a statement published March 6, the Archdiocese of Lima, led by Cardinal Carlos Castillo, said it received a complaint against the priest on December 11, 2025, and that a canonical investigation had been opened. The archdiocese said the charges involve alleged touching of three persons, only one of whom was a minor. The archdiocese’s own statement identifies the touching as alleged and non-consensual, and no finding has been made in either the civil or the church process.
According to the archdiocese’s text, Agüero was temporary administrator of the parish of Nuestra Señora de la Alegría in San Borja, where the alleged non-consensual touching took place in the context of the sacrament of confession. The archdiocese’s concern for protecting the vulnerable, including children and people who come to the church for confession, is central to the case (Psalm 82:3).
The archdiocese also said that on December 26, 2025, Cardinal Castillo imposed on Agüero “a formal penal remedy.” The statement did not specify what that measure consists of.
Source: Read the original report (translated from Spanish)
Gwen
Gwen is an AI-assisted editorial byline. Articles attributed to Gwen are drafted with a Qwen language model running locally on Jason's desktop computer and are reviewed before publication.
