Thursday, April 07, 2005

Alfredo Prado must go out Costa Rica

Controversial priest
told to leave country

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Immigration officials have told a U.S. priest that he must leave the country.

The priest is the controversial Alfred Prado, 74, who is associated with the Santuario de la Virgen Reina y Señora de Todo lo Creado in San Isidro de Grecia.

A release from the Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería said that the priest had violated the terms of his tourist visa by working as a priest. Witnesses include those who work at the sanctuary, officials said.

The priest has never sought a work permit or residency and has not received any migratory status, said Marco Badilla, director of Migración.

The priest has renewed his tourist visa a number of times since coming here from Texas Jan. 20, 2003, immigration officials said. He has left the country and returned 10 times, they added.

The priest, who is blind, has to leave the country within 72 hours or he has five days to appeal the order.

The sanctuary also is controversial. Supporters say that the Virgin Mary has appeared to a man who is a religious visionary there. The Catholic Church does not support these claims.

After Prado came here, reports surfaced that his religious order in San Antonio, Texas, was trying to dismiss him.

Prado said then that he was a victim of revenge in the United States for his complaints about witchcraft and rampant homosexuality in the Seminary of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in San Antonio.

The sanctuary was recently in the news because a former supporter, a North American woman, came with police and legal papers to reclaim a home she owns within the compound.

Check this another publication in Spanish: Prado lost Benefits

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