NEW YORK (NY)
New York Post
October 4, 2018
Chile’s Roman Catholic Church has apologized for a set of conduct guidelines for priests dealing with children that has caused outrage just as the South American country is being rocked by a widespread clerical sex abuse scandal.
The recommendations include asking priests not to “touch the area of the genitals or the chest” of minors, kiss them on the mouth, spank them on the buttocks or “lie down to sleep next to boys, girls or teenagers.” Priest are told to “avoid some behaviors,” including taking photographs of a child, teen or vulnerable person when they’re naked because it could be “misinterpreted.”
The document published on the site of the archbishopric of Santiago was signed by Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati. He is under investigation by prosecutors for allegedly covering up years of abuse, and is expected to be questioned Wednesday.
The guidelines were expected to go into effect in April 2019. But after a flurry of criticism, the Chilean church removed the document shortly after it was published Friday.
“We’ve made a mistake and we’re going to fix it,” Auxiliary Santiago Bishop Cristian Roncagliolo said. “A crime is a crime.”
The so-called “Guidelines fomenting the good treatment and healthy pastoral coexistence” do not mention sex abuse. They refer to “painful acts” or “equivocal signs.”
Jaime Coiro, spokesman for the Chilean bishops’ conference, issued a statement asking Chileans to refer to guidelines for the prevention of abuse against minors published in 2015 that he said were distributed nationwide.
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