CHILE
Church Militant
by Joseph Pelletier • October 2, 2015
SANTIAGO, Chile, October 2, 2015 (ChurchMilitant.com) – A Chilean cardinal and close advisor to the Pope is being accused of complicity in the cover-up of sex abuse.
Cardinal Francisco Javier Errázuriz Ossa, one of nine appointed by Pope Francis to the highly influential Council of Cardinal Advisers, testified for five hours Wednesday in a suit filed by the victims of Fr. Fernando Karadima, a high-profile priest accused of sexually abusing several boys two decades ago. The accusations assert that Cdl. Errázuriz, Archbishop-Emeritus of Santiago, Chile, was fully aware of the abuse as early as 2003 and that he chose to ignore the victims’ pleas for action.
Cardinal Errázuriz contends that, while admitting knowledge of the allegations against Karadima, his refusal to act stemmed from a genuine belief that the charges were untrue.
In 2011 the Vatican found Fr. Karadima guilty of sexually abusing several minors and sentenced him to “lifelong prohibition from the public exercise of any ministerial act, particularly confession and the spiritual guidance of any category of persons.” This following the Chilean Catholic Church referring the case to the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith in June 2010.
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