VATICAN CITY
AFP
February 7, 2018
A former member of the Vatican’s child protection panel said Tuesday that she sent Pope Francis a letter warning him about a Chilean bishop accused of covering up for a paedophile priest, contradicting the pontiff’s previous remarks.
During a trip to Chile in January marred by controversy after Francis hugged Bishop Juan Barros, the pope indicated that he had not heard from victims in the case.
But Irish survivor of abuse Marie Collins, who quit the pope’s commission on the protection of minors last year, said she travelled to Rome in 2015 with a letter written by Juan Carlos Cruz, a victim of disgraced paedophile priest Fernando Karadima.
In 2015, Francis appointed Barros the head of the diocese of Osorno in southern Chile despite accusations the prelate covered up for Karadima.
“The day they bring me proof against Bishop Barros, then I will speak. There is not a single piece of proof against him. Everything is slander,” the pope had said in Chile.
“You tell me that there are victims, but I did not see them,” he said.
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