MINNESOTA
Catholic Online
By Marshall Connolly (CALIFORNIA NETWORK)
A memo from an outraged priest has been published, along with a trove of other documents in a sex abuse cover up. The aim of the memo and the document release is to convince the Vatican to take action against two high ranking individuals.
LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) – In 2014, the Vatican’s ambassador to the United States ended an independent investigation into possible sexual abuse and misconduct by Archbishop john C. Nienstedt of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
According to one priest, Rev. Dan Griffith, the decision to end the investigation was a cover up.
Fr. Griffith worked for the Archdiocese and had detailed inside knowledge of what was going on with the Archbishop. According to Fr. Griffith, the Archbishop mishandled priests accused of abusing children and participated in his own sexual misconduct. Then, the Papal nuncio in Washington, Archbishop Carlo Vigano, ordered the termination of an internal investigation after it uncovered evidence against the Archbishop.
Archbishop Nienstedt has been accused of sexual misconduct with seminarians and priests, and possibly even with a member of the Swiss Papal Guard in Rome.
The accusations follow an independent investigation by the law firm, Greene Espel, retained by the Church to look into the matter. According to Fr. Griffith, the investigation revealed 11 witnesses who had credible testimony against the Archbishop. The investigation adds that the Archbishop took retaliatory actions against those who rejected his advances.
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