BUFFALO (NY)
WKBW TV
Oct. 4, 2019
By Charlie Specht
A Vatican investigation of the Diocese of Buffalo has brought many Catholics hope that Rome is finally taking action on a diocese in crisis .
“It is a milestone here that we finally have had some response, that they aren’t ignoring us completely,” said Catholic whistleblower Siobhan O’Connor.
The move has brought some caution, since the man the Vatican has picked for the job — Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio — is a fellow bishop from New York State.
Some Catholics are also asking why the investigation will take place outside of Pope Francis’ new abuse and bishop accountability law — Vos Estis Lux Mundi — passed last year.
But Rocco Palmo, a Catholic journalist and Vatican expert who runs the widely read “Whispers in the Loggia” news site , thinks it may actually be better that the Vatican is choosing to undertake an “Apostolic Visitation” rather than a Vos Estis probe.
“The fact that this is a full Apostolic Visitation, which is essentially the Catholic Church’s equivalent of a grand jury or an FBI investigation, is massive,” Palmo said in a phone interview.
Palmo said his sources indicate the decision was made directly by Pope Francis, even though Bishop Malone’s spokeswoman Kathy Spangler said in an email, “We have been given no reason whatsoever to believe that what Rocco Palmo is suggesting is true.”
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