Pope Leo XIV authorized the beatification of a bishop who documented in his own writings how he permitted indigenous children and adolescents to touch his genitals, raising alarming questions about the Vatican’s vetting standards for sainthood candidates.
Story Snapshot
- Pope Leo XIV advanced Bishop Alejandro Labaka’s beatification in May 2025, despite the missionary’s own autobiographical writings documenting inappropriate sexual contact with indigenous youth
- Labaka’s published texts describe systematic nudity with children, sleeping naked with adolescent males, and enduring sexualized touching—conduct he justified as “inculturation” and cultural respect
- InfoVaticana exposed these self-documented accounts in February 2026, creating a credibility crisis for Vatican oversight of sainthood processes
- The Vatican has issued no response to revelations that a beatification candidate’s own words contradict Catholic moral teaching on appropriate boundaries with minors
Vatican Advances Sainthood Despite Documented Misconduct
On May 22, 2025, Pope Leo XIV authorized the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints to advance Bishop Alejandro Labaka Ugarte to “Venerable Servant of God” status, a critical step toward beatification and eventual sainthood. Labaka, a Capuchin missionary who served among Ecuador’s Huaorani people until his violent death in 1987, received this recognition for his “offering of life” and dedication to indigenous communities. The authorization moved forward despite the availability of Labaka’s autobiographical writings, which explicitly document conduct that violates fundamental Catholic moral principles regarding modesty, pastoral boundaries, and the protection of minors from inappropriate sexual contact.
Bishop’s Own Words Expose Troubling Pattern
InfoVaticana published extensive excerpts from Labaka’s autobiographical works on February 12, 2026, including passages from his Crónica Huaorani that detail disturbing interactions with indigenous youth. Labaka described allowing adolescents to touch his genitals, which he characterized as their “natural curiosity” that he endured with “naturalness” and without “drama.” He recounted sleeping naked under a mosquito net with a young Huaorani male whom he had previously rejected due to “provocative homosexual attempts.” These are not allegations from critics—they are Labaka’s own published accounts, framed within his theological justification of what he termed “blessed nudism” as authentic inculturation into indigenous culture.
Twisted Theology Normalized Boundary Violations
Labaka developed a missionary approach that treated Christian modesty standards as mere “civilizational costume problems” and portrayed nudity as returning to a state of “Paradise before sin.” This theological framework served to rationalize systematic inappropriate conduct with indigenous children and youth. His methodology emphasized not modifying local customs but rather idealizing and integrating into them—a distortion of legitimate inculturation principles that Catholic teaching has never extended to include sexual contact with minors. The Church’s moral tradition explicitly addresses appropriate boundaries between clergy and those under their pastoral care, standards that Labaka’s self-documented conduct flagrantly violated while cloaking abuse in the language of cultural sensitivity.
Institutional Failure Mirrors Broader Abuse Crisis
The advancement of Labaka’s beatification cause raises serious questions about Vatican oversight mechanisms. Church officials reviewing his candidacy had access to his published writings, yet the process moved forward. Beatification requires examination of heroic virtues, doctrinal orthodoxy, and integral moral coherence—not merely dramatic circumstances of death. The Vatican’s silence following the February 2026 revelations mirrors institutional patterns documented by advocacy groups like the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. This case exemplifies how theological language and cultural relativism can be weaponized to normalize misconduct, while institutional review processes fail to protect the vulnerable or uphold stated moral standards.
Indigenous Victims Remain Voiceless in Vatican Process
The Huaorani people who experienced Labaka’s missionary approach firsthand have no apparent voice in the beatification process that would elevate him to sainthood status. The power dynamics are stark: Vatican officials in Rome determine the legacy of a man whose own writings document sexual boundary violations with indigenous children, while those potentially victimized communities have minimal formal input. This erasure of indigenous perspectives compounds the original harm and reflects a broader pattern in Church institutional processes that prioritize clerical reputation over victim testimony. Conservative Catholics who value traditional family protection and appropriate moral boundaries should demand the Church apply its own stated standards consistently, regardless of a candidate’s missionary reputation or dramatic death.
