VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

By Joshua J. McElwee

October 13, 2018

Pope Francis has laicized two retired Chilean bishops, in what an Oct. 13 Vatican announcement said was “a consequence for demonstrated abuse of minors.”

The statement said that both former Archbishop Francisco José Cox Huneeus and former Bishop Marco Antonio Órdenes Fernández will have no possibility for appeal.

News of the defrocking of the former prelates came hours after Francis had met at the apostolic palace with Chilean President Sebastián Piñera. In a brief statement summarizing their conversation, the Vatican said the two had discussed “the painful scourge of abuse of minors.”

Cox, 84, is a former Vatican official and member of the Schonstatt Fathers who led the archdiocese of La Serena from 1990-1997. His institute had announced earlier this month that he had been accused of sexually abusing someone in 2004.

Órdenes, 53, led the diocese…