ROME
Crux
September 10, 2018
By Inés San Martín
Pope Francis’s silence about allegations by his former ambassador to the United States that he knew of abuses against seminarians by former cardinal Theodore McCarrick is, for some, no more disconcerting than his silence regarding Chile, where three bishops have been subpoenaed by the prosecutor’s office to give testimony about possible abuse cover-ups.
Two of the three bishops are still in charge of their dioceses, despite having presented their resignations to the pope in May. One of them also heads the Chilean bishops’ conference.
The first one to be summoned was Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati, scheduled to testify over charges of cover-up in August, but who, after requesting a delay, has now been rescheduled for the first half of October.
The second is Bishop Juan Barros, who recently resigned from Osorno and who was questioned late last week as part of an investigation into abuse allegations against a former Chilean military chaplain. He was summoned by a different prosecutor than the one who called the other two, and, according to the Chilean newspaper La Tercera, this is a sign of a “holy war” among those investigating the Church’s crimes.
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