CHILE
TeleSurTV
February 9, 2018
Juan Carlos Cruz said Pope Francis had “set the clock back years and years” with his recent comments casting doubt on the credibility of victims of abuse.
A Chilean victim of clerical sexual abuse who is the key witness in the case of a bishop accused of covering it up says a Vatican investigation must be rigorous and fair if the church is to salvage its reputation on the issue.
In a telephone interview with Reuters from his home in the United States on Thursday, Juan Carlos Cruz said Pope Francis had “set the clock back years and years” with his recent comments casting doubt on the credibility of victims of abuse.
On Jan. 30, the Vatican said the pope had appointed the church’s most experienced sexual abuse investigator to look into accusations that Bishop Juan Barros of the diocese of Osorno in Chile had covered up crimes against minors.
It was a dramatic U-turn for the pope, who eight days earlier told reporters aboard his plane returning from Latin America he was sure Barros was innocent and that the Vatican had received no concrete evidence against him.
Cruz said he had been “very touched and grateful” when the investigator, Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, telephoned him to arrange a meeting in New York next week on his way to Chile.
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