GUAM
Pacific News Center
By Janela Carrera
Guam – Former Archbishop Anthony Apuron may have a chance at overturning a guilty verdict against him by a Vatican tribunal.
A canon law expert says the potential reversal could result from a process the Vatican refers to as “second instance,” in which the very merits of the case can be re-examined. This contradicts what most believed: that only the procedure of the canonical trial can be appealed.
Even before the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith reached a judgment in the canonical trial of former Guam Archbishop Anthony Apuron, most experts said the penalty or judgment is not appealable and that only the process can be challenged.
It’s what Archbishop Michael Byrnes said, in a previous press conference, that he understood as well.
But PNC spoke with an expert in canon law, Msgr. Frederick Easton, a judicial vicar with the Archdiocese of Indianapolis who was also the former president of the U.S. Canon Law Society. He says Guam has been misinformed. Apuron can file an appeal on the merits of the case. In fact, he says, it’s happened before.
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