Three Chilean bishops step down
Further fallout expected from sex abuse scandal
VATICANCITY— Pope Francis began purging Chile’s Catholic hierarchy Monday over an avalanche of sex abuse and cover-up cases, starting with accepting the resignations of the bishop at the center of the scandal and two others.
More heads were expected to roll, given that the scandal has only grown in the weeks since all of Chile’s active bishops offered to quit over their failing to protect Chile’s children from priests who raped, groped and molested them.
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.
Barros, 61, has been at the center of Chile’s scandal ever since Francis appointed him bishop of Osorno in 2015 over the objections of the local faithful 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 by that priest.
Barros denied the charge, but he twice offered to resign in the ensuing years. Last month, he joined the rest of Chile’s bishops in offering to step down during an extraordinary Vatican summit.
Barros’ removal, which had been expected, was praised by abuse survivors and Catholics in Osorno. Some said more housecleaning now is needed to heal the devastation wrought by the scandal.
“A new day has begun in Chile’s Catholic Church!” tweeted Juan Carlos Cruz, the abuse survivor who had denounced Barros for years and pressed the Vatican to take action.
The other two bishops whose resignations were accepted had submitted them prior to the pope’s summit after having reached the mandatory retirement age of 75. But victims had accused both of having botched cases in the past.
Francis realized he had misjudged the Chilean situation after meeting with Cruz and reading a 2,300-page report compiled by two leading Vatican investigators about the depth of Chile’s scandal.