Dilip Kuner
A HIGH-RANKING priest from Toledo, Spain, has been arrested in Torremolinos, caught with a stash of ‘pink cocaine’.
Father Carlos Loriente, a 45-year-old canon at Toledo Cathedral, has now been suspended from his duties and is under criminal investigation.
Loriente, who had been holidaying on the coast, was pulled over during a routine police check. In his possession were 10 small packets of the drug – a volume exceeding what might be acceptable for personal use.
A subsequent raid on his holiday flat uncovered more narcotics, a precision scale, monodose bags, and several sex toys.
At 45, Loriente is no fringe figure. Until mid?September, he held the powerful post of episcopal vicar for clergy in Toledo, and past roles included vicar of the clergy, vicar of parishes, seminary leadership, and teaching theology.
The arrest sent shockwaves through ecclesiastical circles. In a statement, the Archdiocese of Toledo, while withholding his name, ‘deeply regretted the events’ ,condemned ‘any criminal conduct’ and announced that Loriente had been ‘removed from ministry’ pending investigation. The church vowed to ‘cooperate fully’.
Loriente was brought before a judge in Torremolinos’s Investigation Court No. 5, where he exercised his right not to testify. The court ordered his conditional release, though the legal process continues.
But this scandal has deeper roots. Loriente was previously linked to a controversial defamation case in the Vatican – brought by a victim of clerical abuse.
The victim, known as ‘Carlos’, accused Loriente of publicly smearing him after he alleged abuse by another priest, Pedro Francisco Rodriguez Ramos, dating from the early 2000s in Toledo’s minor seminary.
The case had been lodged with the Vatican’s Dicastery for Clergy in 2023.
According to reports, Loriente had circulated a letter to diocesan clergy defending Rodriguez Ramos, claiming he had ‘a goodness of heart’ and dismissing the accuser’s testimony as implausible.
He criticised contemporary sensitivity to allegations from two decades ago and accused media coverage of illegitimate pressure on judicial authorities.
That letter, leaked widely, drew sharp rebukes from victims’ advocates.
The abuse victim, Carlos, says he first reported the abuse in 2009 to then-Archbishop Braulio Rodriguez Plaza,to no effect.
His later civil complaint in 2016 led initially to a guilty verdict in 2023, but that was reversed on technical grounds.
The Supreme Court prosecutor has reportedly urged that the original verdict be upheld. Over the years, the accused priest continued receiving assignments, even abroad. Only under public pressure did the archdiocese impose restrictions in 2021 and initiate an ecclesiastical process. Even then, the canonical investigation remained under the province of Toledo, where the accused was from.
For years, Carlos claims, he was ignored, while Loriente and other church figures stood by the accused.
Loriente, he says, used his ecclesiastical position to undermine him publicly and coordinate messaging among clergy.
For now, Loriente remains free but under investigation. The Archdiocese continues its internal probe; the judicial case proceeds; and in the background, the Vatican is reportedly weighing canonical steps in the abuse?related complaint.
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