CHILE
The Irish Times
February 6, 2018
By Patsy McGarry
February 16th ‘ Worldwide Day of Prayer for Survivors and Victims of sexual abuse’
Pope Francis has been accused of “inexcusable dysfunction at best and wilful deception at worst” following reports on Monday that he received a victim’s letter in 2015 which detailed how a priest sexually abused him and how this was ignored by Chilean clergy.
It contradicted the Pope’s insistence on a recent visit to Chile that no victims had come forward to denounce the cover up in relation to the accused priest Fr Fernando Karadima. He said he had never heard of any victims’ complaints against Bishop Juan Barros, accused of witnessing the abuse by Fr Karadima.
“The most charitable interpretation is that Pope Francis is guilty of either forgetfulness or dysfunction,” said Anne Barrett Doyle of the US -based BishopAccountability.org
She found either “implausible, given the Pope’s demonstrated interest in directly managing the scandal around Barros.” The more likely explanation was that the Pope “was being deliberately deceptive in Chile …when he said he had seen no evidence of Barros’ complicity.”
This latest news was “evidence that the cover-up by the Catholic church continues and that it still begins at the top,” she said.
The Associated Press disclosed on Monday that Francis received the eight-page letter from abuse survivor Juan Carlos Cruz through Cardinal Seán O’Malley in April 2015.
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