CHILEAN CHURCH OFFICES RAIDED AS PART OF SEX ABUSE PROBE

Prosecutors seized documents in raids on Roman Catholic Church offices in two cities as part of an investigation into growing clergy sex abuse scandals, while Vatican investigators met with Chile’s attorney general to discuss cooperation in the civil and canonical probes.

The surprise raids on Wednesday targeted the headquarters of Santiago’s Ecclesiastical Court and the diocese in Rancagua in the O’Higgins region, where 14 priests are accused of having had sexual relations with minors.

They came hours before two envoys sent by Pope Francis met with Chilean prosecutors, including Attorney General Jorge Abbott, to coordinate their response to scandals that have discredited Chile’s church and last month led all of its 30-plus active bishops to offer to resign over their collective guilt in failing to protect children from abusive priests.

“The commitment is to a greater collaboration between the institutions,” Abbott said, adding that church and civilian authorities are going to set up a system that will provide victims with the protections needed to come forward and freely lodge complaints. Abbott said prosecutors met some resistance in the Rancagua raid, though they were satisfied with the information seized in both operations. He added that prosecutors will ask the Vatican for any information it has related to the investigations.

SANTIAGO: