ROME
National Catholic Reporter
May 8, 2018
by Joshua J. McElwee
ROME — Abuse survivor advocates are expressing alarm after a Catholic archbishop accused of molesting young men, who was recently convicted in a canonical trial, appeared on a stage with other prelates at an event in Rome with Pope Francis.
Guam Archbishop Anthony Apuron was seen at a May 5 event for the 50th anniversary of the Neocatechumenal Way, a popular adult formation movement. He was sitting alongside dozens of other prelates behind Francis as the pontiff took part in a meeting with some 100,000 members of the community in a field on the edge of Rome.
A Guam native who has led the U.S. territory’s only diocese since 1986, Apuron was placed on leave by the pope in June 2016 after a series of accusations about abuse of young men in the 1960s and 70s were made public.
A Vatican tribunal announced in March that the archbishop had been found “guilty of certain of the accusations” against him, but, due to the secrecy of the canonical proceedings, it remains unclear if he was convicted of sexual abuse or of other charges.
Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of abuse tracking website BishopAccountability.org, called it “disturbing” that Francis would appear on stage near Apuron.
“Does he not realize that Apuron has been accused by at least five people of child sexual abuse?” Doyle asked in a comment to NCR. “Is he callous or is he uninformed? Either explanation is unacceptable.”
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