VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Register
by Edward Pentin 09/30/2014
There has been increasing disquiet and accusations of injustice over the forced removal of a Paraguayan bishop, ostensibly because of his “difficult” relations with other bishops and priests.
The Vatican has said Bishop Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano was removed last month not so much because he appointed a priest accused of sexual abuse as his vicar general or allegations of embezzlement – as many had thought – but because of internal disagreements.
“The important problem was the relations within the episcopacy and in the local church, which were very difficult,” Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said Sept. 26. Concerns about the former vicar general, Father Carlos Urrutigoity, were “not central, albeit have been debated,” he added. “There were serious problems with his management of the diocese, the education of clergy and relations with other bishops,” Father Lombardi said.
But that being the case, a leaked letter Livieres wrote to Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, still points to a possible injustice. In the letter, Bishop Livieres insisted he had not had an opportunity to defend himself, that other bishops conspired against him, and that he was being “persecuted” for his orthodoxy (in an interview with CNS, he said it was because of his opposition to liberation theology, a claim rebuffed by Father Lombardi as “naive”).
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.