A priest raped her at 17, forced her to have an abortion and she can not have any children anymore.

"A priest raped me at the age of 17," said Denise Buchanan, a 57-year-old Jamaican. Tene recounted how her harsh story began with mistreatment, followed by rape, and ended with two abortions. Now you can not have children.

Although Denise fought for years and wrote letters directly to the pope, her badailant was never convicted, he explained in an interview with the news agency. AFP.

Forty years later, the woman, who comes from a very modest and religious family in Kingston, continues to tremble when he tells his painful story and his fight for the Catholic Church to recognize his victim status.

As Denise explained, her attacker was a priest belonging to the Pbadion Congregation, also called pbadionate.

The day he raped her, "It was as if something was dying in me"he said.

A few weeks later, she discovered that she was pregnant. "I was 17 years old and I was pregnant … I was devastated."

The priest organized a clandestine abortion. Denise did not tell her parents because of "shame" but also because of fear. "I was thinking of the disgrace it would bring to my family," he admitted.

Abuses continued. The priest told him that he "liked" her and asked her to take contraceptives. "I've obeyed like a robot; I came to my room at the university to make love (…) or I went to the church presbytery. "Nothing mattered more," said the woman, who felt completely lonely.

At 21, she is pregnant again. "He told me that what I wanted most in the world was to continue to be a priest". Denise then had a second abortion in a "clandestine clinic". After that, he could never have children.

As soon as he could, Denise escaped from this hell. At age 25, he was granted a visa to study in Canada. There he met a man with whom he married five years later. But the couple ended up separating. "I have the impression of having destroyed the relationship because of all the anger and fear I had it inside, "he admitted.

Denise now lives in California, USA, where she is a university professor and psychoneurologist. After years of therapy to "recover his identity and self-esteem", he decided to write his story in a book ("Sins of the Father", 2013).

For a year and a half he sent every month to the Vatican a letter accompanied by his book.

In 2016, he received a letter from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, who said he was "deeply saddened" by his story. "The Holy Father regularly prays for the victims of abuse and will keep it in their prayers," says the letter.

But as for his request to dismiss the priest, the only answer he got was that he was she who should "gather the evidence" to start the process.

"Furious" that they proposed "prayers instead of real helpDenise decided to file a lawsuit against the priest In November 2017, at a meeting in Jamaica between Denise, the current Archbishop of Jamaica, lawyers and the priest in question, he "admitted that he had had bad with her and that he had left her pregnant, but He denied having raped and having organized an abortion", counted Denise.

Because of the legislation in force in this country, if she asks the priest to have forced her to have an abortion, it is she and the doctor who risk being arrested.

"We have Bob Marley, reggae (…) but in fact, Jamaica is a very Christian country, we do not talk about our badual experiences or bad outside marriage, "he said.

His lawyer recently sent a letter to the archdiocese "asking for compensation for emotional, physical and spiritual harm".

"The letter has remained unanswered," said Denise, who fears that the priest may have made other victims. "Over the years, was moved from parish to parish", a common procedure in the Church to cover abuses.

Since meeting him in 2017, the priest has "left his last parish". "Nobody knows where he is," he said.

Denise continues her fight in the organization "Ending Clerical Abuse" (CEA), a global initiative that brings together victims from 21 different countries who are fighting badual crimes against women. of the Catholic Church.

"It's an opportunity to help other victims to express themselves and to act, so that no child will endure what I've endured," a- he declared.