Former students of Colegio Santa Rosa de Lima staged a peaceful protest on May 31 outside a Tijuana parish, demanding accountability for a Catholic priest accused of raping a nun in 2020. The demonstrators gathered at the Parroquia Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe Reina de México in Ejido Matamoros, where Father Noel Sebastián D’Mello reportedly serves as a vicar.
The group carried signs reading “An abuser does not deserve the altar, he deserves jail” and “Stained cassocks, hidden truths.” They called on the Archdiocese of Tijuana to remove D’Mello from ministry and provide a formal written response to their demands within 30 days.
Protesters Cite March Interview With Nun
Laura Franco Sánchez, a mother who participated in the protest, referenced an interview the nun from the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Cross gave to the investigative weekly Semanario ZETA in March. In that interview, the nun described the alleged 2020 rape. Franco Sánchez publicly criticized institutional passivity toward abuse complaints against clergy members.
Isabel Morales Crisóstomo, a former student of the school and fellow protester, said some parishioners had already distanced themselves from the church because they could see D’Mello “was not a man of God.” Morales called on the Archdiocese of Tijuana to stop covering for “rapists, abusers, and pedophiles.”
Demands Include Protective Measures and Transparency
The protesters submitted a formal list of demands. They want the Archdiocese to disclose any precautionary or administrative measures it has taken to protect parishioners. They also want a written response within 30 calendar days. If the church does not remove D’Mello from his duties within that period, the group plans to move its protests directly to the Archdiocese of Tijuana’s offices and organize public assemblies.
No criminal charges or arrest have been publicly confirmed. Under Mexican law, D’Mello is presumed innocent until proven otherwise. The protest participants described their gathering as a show of support for the nun and a broader demand for transparency from church leadership.
Tijuana Has Faced Clergy Abuse Scrutiny Before
The case adds to a pattern of clergy abuse allegations in Tijuana. A 2020 ProPublica investigation found that the Archdiocese of Tijuana had allowed a priest from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, who appeared on a credibly accused list, to serve at a Tijuana church for decades. That priest, Jeffrey David Newell, had been accused of sexually abusing a teenager in the United States.
The protest was first reported by Semanario ZETA.