Even in “Catholic” countries, the Church preferred to have its clerics enjoy the privilege of clergy whereby they could only be tried in the canonical courts. The 1953 Concordat with Franco in Spain provided that a bishop could only be put on trial in a civil court with the consent of the Vatican, and priests with the consent of the bishop.  The trial, if agreed to, was not to be publicised. The 1973 concordat with Colombia still provides that bishops can only be tried by the canonical Courts. Priests on the other hand can be tried in State Courts but the proceedings are not to be publicised. I am not aware of any similar concordat with other South American countries. One of the reasons for the imposition of secrecy under canon law, in my opinion, is that the same result could be achieved by a cover up in countries unsympathetic to similar concordats. If the State did not know about these crimes, the matter could be dealt with exclusively in the canonical courts.