A SPANISH priest jailed over child sexual abuse has continued to receive a salary from the Church who ‘believe he is innocent’, according to documentation seen by EL PAIS.
Jose Luis Galan was arrested in 2021 for abusing a teenager between 2011 and 2014, while he was spiritual director at Toledo’s Hijos de Maria Nuestra Señora de Talavera de la Reina school.
Galan, a priest, had met the minor during a school trip on the Camino de Santiago in 2010 and then, a year later, was appointed as her spiritual director and came to be seen as the teenager’s ‘second father’.
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The sixteen-year-old’s mother advised that her daughter sought guidance from Galan and so the student began to meet the priest two times a week in his parish office in San Ildefonso church.
It was here that he repeatedly assaulted her sexually, physically and psychologically for three years.
Two years ago Galan began an eight year sentence for the crimes but the Toledo church has continued to provide the priest with an income.
Alongside his time in prison, the defendant was required by the Supreme Court to pay €100,000 in compensation and cover court costs.
In 2024, the year that the prison sentence began, Spain’s Supreme Court criticised the defence for ‘questioning the credibility of the victims’ testimony’.
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Despite being inside a cell, Galan is still receiving funds from the church, revealed EL PAIS.
When asked why this has occurred the diocesan bursar of the archdiocese of Toledo, Anastasia Gomez, said that ‘all information related to the economic situation of an identified individual is personal data.’
She went on to state that when a priest is arrested by courts the church does not maintain a working relationship with them or pay a salary for the financial year of the ministry. They do however offer ‘a basic allowance designated exclusively to allow the individual to meet financial obligations, including possible compensation fees.’
The value of this ‘basic allowance’ was not specified but Conerencia Episcopal Española data suggests that these fees are lower than the national minimum wage.
Despite Gomez stating that those imprisoned are not given a salary, the description given to the payments to Galan is ‘payroll’, according to documentation seen by EL PAIS.
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To explain this, the bursar said: “No priest in Spain has an employment relationship with their diocese; it is a non-contractual relationship and therefore a payslip cannot be issued. However, when making the transfers and sending the monthly or quarterly remittance, the code used is ‘payroll’ to generate a bank transfer.”
Gomez went on to state that from what they are told ‘Jose Luis has not ceased to be a priest because in the canonical process the outcome was not negative for him’.
This canonical process occurred after the victim wrote a letter to the Pope in 2017.
This move prompted the arzobispo of Toledo to begin the process which ruled that the priest was innocent.
According to Supreme Court documents Galan did not only abuse the minor, but also tricked her into an exorcism on three occasions, stating that this procedure would alleviate an eating disorder that doctors diagnosed.
On the day of the first exorcism, the minor was met at the abuser’s office by the abuser himself, another priest and her mother.
Her mother ‘explained to her that her illness was caused by the influence of the devil, and that she therefore needed to undergo an exorcism; to do so, she had to remove all her clothes except for her knickers and T-shirt,’ according to the facts of judgement originally published by the high court of Castille-La Mancha and upheld by the Supreme Court.
When the minor’s mother had first suggested that her daughter use Galan for spiritual guidance she was going through a divorce because of the romantic relationship that she started with the priest.
The teenager was unaware of this relationship at the time however Galan stated during court proceedings that the minor was motivated to make a report due to jealousy towards her mother for the romantic relationship she had with him.
After her mother’s instructions regarding the first exorcism, the teenager did as she was told and the other priest present began the procedure, an act which ecclesiastical law states should be authorised by a bishop and accepted voluntarily by the victim.
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In 2019 when the priest was processed, the arzobispado confirmed to El Pais that he was not aware of the reported exorcism.
It was these incidents, alongside the abuse, that led the Supreme Court to issue a compensation fee with reports detailing ‘very serious consequences’ for the ‘physical and mental health of the young person’
During the years of abuse the teenager developed anorexia nervosa and tried to take her own life, leading to multiple hospitalisations.
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