Scandal in the Catholic Church: the bishop of Iasi, criminally investigated for not reporting the sexual abuse of a 13-year-old girl
The Roman Catholic bishop of Iași, Iosif Păuleț, is the subject of a criminal investigation for not reporting sexual abuse of a 13-year-old girl. The prosecutors established that he found out, in 2022, that the priest Augustin Benchea assaulted the girl, but did not notify the authorities, limiting himself to the application of some canonical sanctions.
The Roman Catholic Bishop of Iasi, Iosif Păuleț PHOTO: Ziarul de Iasi
On January 26, 2026, a journalistic investigation by PressOne revealed that the sexual abuse was kept hidden by both the Roman Catholic Diocese of Iasi and the Vatican.
The public prosecutor's office attached to the Bacău Court filed an ex officio complaint on January 27, one day after Emilia Șercan's revelations. The criminal file regarding non-reporting, provided for by art. 266 of the Criminal Code, was taken over by the Prosecutor's Office attached to the Bacău Court of Appeal.
The case of sexual abuse of the 13-year-old girl was investigated as early as 2023, and the priest Augustin Benchea was definitively sentenced in 2024 to four years in prison with execution for continued sexual assault. He served in Cleja parish, Bacău county.
At the end of last week, Bishop Iosif Păuleț sent a video message on the Facebook page of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Iasi, in which he admitted that “there were errors” in the way the case of the abusive priest was handled, specifying, however, that he acted with “good faith”.
“I express my deep regret and regret for the suffering caused by the abuse committed by one of our priests. I unequivocally condemn his act and express my pain for the suffering of the victim. From the beginning I have been with the victim and her family and I will continue to be. It is an extremely serious act, morally, canonically and criminally reprehensible. I admit that there were errors in the handling of the case, but I assure you that I acted in good faith and not out of a desire to hide the case. It's an unprecedented situation, from which I had to learn.” said Bishop Iosif Paulet.
According to PressOne, Bishop Păuleț found out about the abuse committed by the priest in 2022 and applied only canonical sanctions, without informing the state authorities.
The documents in the file show that, before the Romanian state intervened, the case was managed entirely within the Church, through canonical procedures later validated by the Vatican.
Although Vatican rules recommend cooperation with state authorities in cases of abuse of minors, intervention has been limited to administrative measures.
On January 27, the Vaslui Court decided on the conditional release of the former priest. The court ordered him to follow a supervision program until the end of his sentence and warned him about the consequences of committing further crimes.
The court's decision is not final and has been appealed by prosecutors.
