Father Javier Olivera Ravasi, one of the organizers of the controversial visit a group of La Libertad Avanza (LLA) deputies made to incarcerated dictatorship-era military members convicted for crimes against humanity, was expelled from the diocese in which he was currently residing.
The Zárate-Campana Diocese in Buenos Aires province, where Olivera Ravasi had been living on and off since August 2019, issued a communiqué on Thursday saying that they had informed the priest that he was no longer authorized to reside there due to what they called a failure at changing certain “expressions and attitudes.”
According to the statement, Olivera Ravasi had requested to live in BA province despite being incardinated in the San Rafael Diocese, in Mendoza, for what he said were “family reasons.” Incardination is the formal term in the Catholic Church for a clergyman being under a bishop or other ecclesiastical superior.
During his time in Zárate-Campana, his superiors received “numerous well-founded complaints” for expressions that were against “Christian testimony, especially coming from a priest,” and asked Olivera Ravasi to change his behavior.
“Given that these requests for changes in attitude have not been made, and taking into account that the aforementioned priest does not belong to the Zárate-Campana Diocese […] he has been informed that he will no longer be allowed to reside in the diocese,” the communiqué read.
The priest and the prison visit
Father Olivera Ravasi played an integral role in organizing a meeting between multiple dictatorship-era repressors and five LLA legislators at Ezeiza Prison. Although the visit took place on July 11, it only made headlines last week when a picture showing the deputies alongside the incarcerated military members surfaced.
Alfredo Astiz, Raúl Guglielminetti, Adolfo Donda, and Antonio Pernías, who have been convicted of crimes against humanity, are among those depicted in the photo next to the deputies.
The Argentine Episcopal Conference, which groups all of the country’s bishops, had already distanced itself from Olivera Ravasi, the son of a former mayor during the dictatorship years who is currently in jail in San Juan also for crimes against humanity.
“The words and actions of Father Javier Olivera Ravasi related to a group of deputies’ visit to Ezeiza Prison do not reflect the thoughts and attitudes of the Episocopal Conference of Argentina,” the organization’s spokesperson, Máximo Jurcinovic, wrote in an X thread on Monday.
On Tuesday, human rights organizations met with monsignors Oscar Vicente Ojea and Marcelo Colombo, president and vice president of the Episcopal Conference, and requested that Olivera Ravasi be expelled.