Former Pastor Deceased José Ramón De La Villa: A Priest with a Controversial and Polemical Image He died in Spain, his native country, after suffering from a brain disease. For 30 years he led the Nuestra Señora Parish in Pilar. His philanthropic works included the founding of school and children’s homes. But his career was marred after harboring a priest who was a convicted pedophile. Pilar de Todos February 29, 2012 [Translated into English by BishopAccountability.org. Click below to see original article in Spanish.] http://www.bishopaccountability.org/Argentina/news/2012_02_29_Pilar_de_Todos_Former_Pastor_re_De_La_Villa_SASSO_Spanish.pdf Last Sunday, Father José Ramón de la Villa died in Spain. For 30 years he led the parish Nuestra Señora del Pilar. De la Villa, whose death was caused by a brain infection, first arrived in Pilar in December, 1979 to take over the parish. His philanthropic work there had a significant impact, but he was shunned by the community after being implicated in a cover-up of a pedophile priest. His accomplishments include the founding of the chapels of San José, San Francisco, María Reina de la Paz; the establishment of several schools (Instituto Parroquial, Nuestra Señora del Pilar, and San José Obrero); and the construction of children’s homes and low-income housing. Also under his management was the start of the restoration of the town church, built in 1856. This project was initiated with the support of various entities who contributed to its restoration, at the same time that De la Villa sharply criticized the government of Néstor Kirchner after their promise of a one-million-peso subsidy never arrived. Accessory after the Fact Despite his important social work, De la Villa was harshly criticized for his cover-up of the pedophile priest, Napoleón Sasso, sentenced in November 2007 to 17 years in prison for having abused at least five boys in the dining hall in the town of La Lonja. Authorities charged De la Villa with active cover-up because he and the vicar Gabriel Micheli helped Sasso hide from authorities. During his trial, De la Villa admitted he knew about Sasso’s crimes (the priest revealed them to him on the condition of secrecy). In consideration of his social standing, he was given probation that consisted of a community service requirement. His final years were spent traveling between his residence in Pilar and Spain. On February 28, 2010, he was replaced at the parish by Father Jorge Ritacco. Excavations Father José Ramón de la Villa got caught in the eye of the storm when, in 2006, he prevented the completion of archeological excavations in the backyard of the parish. The excavations, which were initiated by Professor Alberto Susco of the University of Salvador, were halted when skeletal remains began to appear in the ground. De La Villa argued that there had been a century-old cemetery on the parish grounds, but others pointed out that the bones were only 30 years old, although that claim was never officially confirmed.

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