VATICAN CITY
America
Gerard O’Connell
May 07, 2018
Pope Francis would not have known in advance that the former archbishop of Guam, Anthony S. Apuron, would be on stage with him in Rome on May 5 at the Te Deum celebration of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Neocathecumenal Way, one of the biggest pastoral and spiritual movements in the church today, if at times a controversial one.
A Vatican source (who asked not to be identified) explained that whenever the pope is invited to such a large public event he does not see the guest list in advance nor is the list checked by Vatican officials, as they trust the organizers of these gatherings to act in a responsible way. Archbishop Apuron had been condemned by a Vatican tribunal on March 16. He left Guam in 2016 after child molestation charges against him surfaced, including a more recent allegation of abuse from his own nephew.
A Vatican source said that the organizers “should have known better” than to invite Archbishop Apron.
At the celebration at Tor Vergata, a field outside of Rome, there were many cardinals and bishops from all over the world, including Archbishop Apuron—who has been one of the most friendly bishops to the movement in the Pacific—as well as around 100,000 people from some 130 countries. All the attendees were invited by the Neocathecumenal Way organizers. The movement began in Spain in 1964 and claims more than one million adherents in 6,000 parishes worldwide.
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