Pope Leo XIV has accepted the resignation of Spanish Bishop Rafael Zornoza, who is under church investigation over an allegation that he sexually abused a seminarian in the 1990s.
It is the first publicly known case in which the new pontiff has allowed a bishop to step down while facing an abuse probe.
In a brief notice issued on Saturday, the Holy See announced that Leo had accepted the resignation of the 76-year-old bishop of Cádiz and Ceuta. As is customary, the communiqué gave no reasons. Zornoza had already submitted his resignation in 2024 on reaching the standard retirement age of 75, but it was not acted on until this weekend, shortly after Spanish media revealed that a canonical investigation was under way.
The daily El País reported earlier this month that the Vatican had opened a case after receiving a detailed complaint from a former seminarian, who wrote directly to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith over the summer. According to that account, the alleged abuse began in 1994, when the complainant was 14, and continued into his early twenties, during the period when Zornoza was a priest and rector of the diocesan seminary in Getafe, near Madrid. The former seminarian alleges that Zornoza shared his bed on a regular basis, fondled him and used confession and spiritual guidance in a way he describes as manipulative.
The diocese of Cádiz and Ceuta has firmly rejected the accusation. In a statement issued on 10 November, it described the claims, which relate to events almost three decades old, as “very serious and also false”. At the same time, it confirmed that the matter had been referred to the church tribunal of the Rota attached to the apostolic nunciature in Madrid and said the bishop was cooperating fully. The diocese announced that Zornoza had suspended his public agenda “to clarify the facts” and to undergo treatment for what it called an aggressive form of cancer.
Because the alleged offences date back to the 1990s, they are reported to be time-barred under Spanish civil law. The case therefore proceeds exclusively within the framework of canon law, where the doctrine dicastery and the Rota court are responsible for determining whether a full canonical trial should follow and, if so, what sanctions might be imposed. Church officials in Spain have repeatedly stressed that Zornoza, like any accused person, enjoys a presumption of innocence while the process runs its course.
Zornoza is the first Spanish diocesan bishop known to be placed under a formal abuse investigation since the Catholic Church in Spain began to confront systematically its own record on child protection. Media and victim groups have pointed out that he remained in office for several months after the complaint reached Rome and before the inquiry became public, a period during which he continued to exercise pastoral duties. The Vatican and the Spanish bishops’ conference have faced questions over why no immediate precautionary measures were taken.
The acceptance of his resignation also places a spotlight on Leo XIV’s response to abuse cases in the early months of his pontificate. Elected in May 2025 following the death of Pope Francis, Leo has already met survivors’ groups and pledged to back what Vatican officials describe as a “zero tolerance” approach. Vatican commentators note that allowing a bishop to step down under these circumstances, while leaving the canonical investigation in place, enables the Holy See to remove a prelate from diocesan governance without prejudging the outcome of the case.
The Spanish church has in recent years come under intense scrutiny over its handling of historic abuse. In 2023, an independent inquiry carried out by the office of the national ombudsman, drawing on a wide-ranging survey and hundreds of testimonies, suggested that the number of people abused in a church context could reach into the hundreds of thousands.
In response, the Spanish bishops commissioned their own audit. A report released in 2024 identified 728 alleged perpetrators within the church since 1945 and catalogued more than 900 victims. The hierarchy later announced a compensation mechanism for survivors, after the government approved a framework seeking to ensure that the church contributes to financial reparations. Victim associations and some legal experts have criticised the scheme as slow and limited in scope, while the bishops have questioned elements of the state-backed investigations but acknowledged failures in past handling of complaints.
Saturday’s announcement from Rome left several practical questions unresolved, including who will govern Cádiz and Ceuta during the investigation and when a permanent successor might be named. Spanish media have reported that an apostolic administrator has been appointed on a temporary basis, but this had not yet been confirmed in the Vatican’s daily bulletin at the time of writing.
The case now moves into its next phase before the church court in Madrid. Whatever conclusion the judges reach, the handling of Zornoza’s resignation is likely to be seen as an early test of Leo XIV’s approach to episcopal accountability in a country where the legacy of abuse – and of institutional cover-up – remains a central issue in public debate about the role of the Catholic Church.
