Did Pope Francis Help Cover for Pedophile Priests in Argentina?

La Croix
June 22, 2017

https://international.la-croix.com/news/did-pope-francis-help-cover-for-pedophile-priests-in-argentina/5389

An Italian association of sexual abuse victims is seeking to prove that the Pope ignored several alerts to the presence of pedophile priests at an institute for deaf-mute children in Argentina, his country of origin.

The Antonio Provolo Institute at Lujan de Cuyo in Mendoza province, Argentina. / Marcelo Ruiz/AP

Did Pope Francis cover up for pedophile priests at the Provolo Institute, an establishment for deaf-mute children in Mendoza at the foot of the Andes, 980 km to the west of Buenos Aires?This question was raised by the French newspaper Le Monde on Monday, June 19, following accusations relating to the pope earlier over the matter of several days by an Italian association, the Federation of Survivors of Ecclesiastical Sexual Abuse.According to the Federation, Pope Francis was aware of the background of several priests suspected of having abused children in Italy who were later sent by their superiors to the Provolo Institute in Argentina. These priests, who were arrested in November 2016, are now in prison.According to a document uncovered by the “L’abuso” network and other victims’ associations, the Vatican was made aware several times of the actions of the 14 priests from the Verona region. Moreover, at that time, Pope Francis was no longer in Argentina but at the Vatican since the first report dates to 2014.At least three reportsAccording to Francesco Zanardi, the president of the Federation, the pope was “informed about the facts at least three times since 2014", including once by a letter given to him personally in 2015. A video was also sent that never received a reply.It is possible that the pope transmitted the information received to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), which is responsible for dealing with cases of sexual abuse committed by members of the clergy, and that the CDF was slow to address the issue.In addition, it was undoubtedly for lack of diligence that the pope replaced the head of the CDF disciplinary bureau, the Mexican Pedro Miguel Funes Diaz. This occurred at the precise moment that the CDF had been accused of its lack of responsiveness in the battle against pedophilia.In May, the Vatican also sent two priests to Mendoza to carry out a canonical inquiry in parallel with the state prosecution after Argentine prosecutors requested their collaboration on the dossier.Several days ago in the midst of the media crisis on the Provolo Institute issue, the Argentine Church expressed its “mea culpa", recognizing its “errors” in dealing with several sexual abuse cases.