SANTIAGO (CHILE)
Reuters
March 27, 2019
A Chilean appeals court ruled on Wednesday that the Catholic Church should pay compensation to three victims in a sex abuse case involving former Santiago parish priest Fernando Karadima, potentially opening the floodgates to similar civil lawsuits.
The unanimous decision requires the Church pay 100 million pesos($146,000) each for “moral damages” to Juan Carlos Cruz, Jose Andres Murillo and James Hamilton. The men accuse Karadima of having sexually abused them decades ago, and the Church of having covered up that abuse.
Church officials were not immediately available for comment.
The case could pave the way for a flood of civil lawsuits seeking monetary damages from the Latin American country’s Catholic Church, and beyond.
The decision may still be appealed to Chile’sSupreme Court.
Chilean investigators have looked into about 120 allegations of sexual abuse or cover-ups involving 167 Church officials or workers.
The scandal last week prompted Pope Francis to accept the resignation of Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati, the archbishop of Santiago and the highest-ranking member of the Catholic Church in Chile.
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