Abuse victim tells Francis to sack Chile cover-up bishop

Buenos Aires Herald
February 8, 2016

http://www.buenosairesherald.com/article/208327/abuse-victim-tells-francis-to-sack-chile-coverup-bishop

Peter Saunders, a prominent British member of a papal advisory commission on sexual abuse by the clergy speaks during a press conference in Rome on Saturday.

VATICAN CITY — A man who says he was sexually abused by a priest on multiple occasions delivered two letters yesterday addressed to Pope Francis from Chilean Catholics, asking the pontiff to remove a Chilean bishop accused of protecting a notorious paedophile.

Juan Carlos Cruz delivered the letters with Peter Saunders, a prominent and outspoken British member of a papal advisory commission on sexual abuse by the clergy. Saunders on Saturday refused to step down from his position despite a no-confidence vote, and said only the pope could dismiss him, raising tensions.

The letters were left for Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, the president of the commission, at a Rome guest house where the commission was meeting. O’Malley was asked to give them to the pope.

The letters involve Juan Barros, who was installed last year as bishop of Osorno. The appointment outraged many parishioners, legislators and abuse victims who said Barros had protected a priest accused of having been one of the nation’s most notorious sexual predators.

The priest in question has denied he abused Cruz and the bishop has denied knowledge of wrongdoing.

‘Devastation’

“The devastation that your decision has caused us, Pope Francis, cannot withstand any more silence or omission,” said one of the letters, signed by about 30 representatives of parishes in Osorno. “We have knocked on every door... and have received nothing but mockery.”

Cruz, 51, sent a copy of the Spanish-language letter along with a statement in English to reporters. The other was a private letter to the pope from clergy in Osorno, Cruz said.

Critics in Chile say Barros was aware of and helped cover up abuse by Father Fernando Karadima, 85.

In 2011, the Vatican sentenced Karadima to “a life of prayer and penitence” for abusing children as far back as the 1950s. A judge later ruled the accusations were valid though Karadima was not prosecuted because of the statute of limitations.

Cruz says he was sexually abused by Karadima when he was 16. Karadima has denied the accusations. Barros denies he had any knowledge that abuse took place.

The letter asks the pope to “consider the consequences” of the division that the appointment of Barros has caused in the community.

In a statement, Cruz said “We can never give up when it comes to protecting children and this is not the message being sent by Pope Francis appointing Bishop Barros to Osorno. This bishop witnessed my own abuse and that of many other boys over a period of 35 years.”

The Osorno controversy has taken on national implications.

During an incident last year which was broadcast by a Chilean television station, Francis told a group of Chileans that the accusations were cooked up by “lefties.”

In November, the country’s Supreme Court formally requested that the Vatican hand over all records that the pope used to defend Barros.

Saunders’ dismissal

On Saturday, Saunders said that the sexual abuse commission had taken a near-unanimous vote of no-confidence against him, accusing him of being hard to work with and a “campaigner,” and of talking too much to the media.

A statement issued on Saturday said that “it was decided” at a commission meeting that Saunders would take a leave of absence. Saunders, head of Britain’s National Association for People Abused in Childhood, would “consider how he might best support the commission’s work.”

But Saunders, who as a child was abused by two priests, told a hastily called press conference: “I have not left and I am not leaving my position... the only person who can remove me is the person who appointed me, the pope.”

Saunders said he had not been aware of the statement until after it‘s issue by the Vatican press office.

Saunders had been publicly critical of the commission. Made up of clerics and lay people from around the world, its task is to help Pope Francis establish “best practices” in dioceses around the world to root out sex abuse. Eight of its 17 members are women and two are themselves victims of abuse by clerics.

Groups that track sexual abuse by the clergy rallied to his defence.

“For me the commission is a disgrace, as a survivor,” said Cruz, who also attended Saturday’s press conference with Saunders. “They think that rape and child abuse in general is something that is behind us already but this is not.”