VATICAN CITY
Pacific Daily News
Haidee V Eugenio, heugenio@guampdn.com
May 7, 2018
Nearly two months after the Vatican announced he had been convicted in a canonical trial, former Guam Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron was seated near Pope Francis on a stage in Rome during Saturday’s 50th anniversary of the founding of the Neocatechumenal Way.
Apuron is part of the Neocatechumenal Way, which he welcomed to Guam in the mid-1990s, and whose practices are sometimes at odds with Catholic teachings, beliefs and practices.
Pope Francis, in his May 5 message, urged the Neocatechumenal Way to respect different cultures and not try to impose its own pre-established models.
“Love the cultures and traditions of peoples, without imposing pre-established models. Do not start from theories and fixed mindsets, but from concrete situations: it will thus be the Spirit Who shapes the proclamation according to His times and His ways. And the Church will grow in His image: united in the diversity of peoples, gifts and charisms,” the pope said at the event.
Apuron found guilty
Apuron was found guilty of certain accusations in a canonical trial that included allegations he sexually abused or raped children on Guam before or while he was archbishop, based on a March 16 announcement from the Vatican.
Apuron, who said he will appeal the conviction, was stripped of his position as archbishop and banned from the island’s archdiocese.
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