GUAM
KUAM
[with video]
Updated: Feb 08, 2017
By Krystal Paco
Archbishop Anthony Apuron is reportedly being tried in the Vatican for allegations of child sex abuse, but he was spotted in Fairfield, California just last month. What’s the deal? One expert gives us a better understanding of protocol in Rome.
What can we expect from the ongoing canonical trial in Rome for Archbishop Apuron? Nothing.
“All of this, of course, is done in secret. This is not like any trial you’ve seen on TV or you’ve ever experienced. There is no hearing. There is no public airing of this. Everything is done in secret,” explained Patrick J. Wall. Based in St. Paul, Minnesota, Wall is an advocate, former priest, and canonist intimately familiar with cases of child sex abuse in the church. After all, he’s spent years filling-in for accused pedophile priests.
In his most recent blog post, Not-So-Great Expectations for the Canonical Trial of Archbishop Anthony Sablan Apuron OFM Cap, he breaks down the canonical trial process step-by-step. Once a priest stands accused, investigators or auditors are appointed to gather the facts, which are then presented to Pope Francis, who will decide on administrative or judicial action. Administrative action may result in Apuron being ordered to a life of prayer and penance in a Capuchin monastery far from Guam where he would continue as a bishop, priest, and Capuchin.
As for judicial action, he’d be subject to further investigation and present his defense through his canon lawyer and a decision rendered in secret. Wall continued, “And the third option of course is the nuclear one where he is completely removed as a bishop, removed as a priest, we would call laicization and removed from his Capuchin Franciscan order. So completely taken down and stripped of everything.”
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