Chile church abuse: Pope begins purge

FRANCIS REALISED HE HAD MISJUDGED THE CHILE SITUATION AFTER READING A 2,300PAGE REPORT BY TWO LEADING VATICAN INVESTIGATORS ON THE DEPTH OF THE SCANDAL

VATICAN CITY : Pope Francis accepted the resignation on Monday of the bishop at the centre of Chile’s clerical sex abuse scandal and two others, launching a purge of a Catholic Church that has lost its credibility under an avalanche of accusations of abuse and cover-up.

A Vatican statement said Francis had accepted the resignations of Bishop Juan Barros of Osorno, Bishop Gonzalo Duarte of Valparaiso and Bishop Cristian Caro of Puerto Montt. Of the three, only the 61-year-old Barros is below the retirement age of 75.

Francis named temporary leaders for each of the dioceses.

Barros has been at the centre of Chile’s growing scandal ever since Francis appointed him bishop of Osorno in 2015 over the objections of the local faithful, his own sex abuse prevention advisers and some of Chile’s other bishops. They questioned Barros’ suitability to lead given he had been a top lieutenant of Chile’s most notorious predator priest and had been accused by victims of witnessing and ignoring their abuse.

Barros denied the charge, but he joined 30 of Chile’s other active bishops in offering their resignations to Francis at an extraordinary Vatican summit last month. Francis had summoned Chile’s church leaders to Rome after realizing he had made “grave errors in judgment” about Barros, whom he had defended strongly during his troubled visit to Chile in January. Barros’ removal was met with praise by abuse survivors. “A new day has begun in Chile’s Catholic Church!” tweeted survivor Juan Carlos Cruz.