Pope got plaints on indecent bishop
■ Naked selfies, ‘misconduct’ with seminarians came to light
Vatican, Jan. 20: The Vatican received information in 2015 and 2017 that an Argentine bishop close to Pope Francis had taken naked selfies, exhibited “obscene” behaviour and had been accused of misconduct with seminarians, his former vicar general said, undermining Vatican claims that allegations of sexual abuse were only made a few months ago.
Francis accepted Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta’s resignation in August 2017, after priests in the Argentine diocese of Oran complained about his authoritarian rule and a former vicar, seminary rector and another prelate gave reports to the Vatican alleging abuses of power, inappropriate behaviour and sexual harassment of adult seminarians, said the former vicar, the Rev. Juan Jose Manzano.
The scandal over Zanchetta, 54, is the latest to implicate Francis as he and the Catholic hierarchy as a whole face an unprecedented crisis of confidence over their mishandling of cases of clergy sexual abuse of minors and misconduct with adults. Francis has summoned church leaders to a summit to chart the course forward for the church, but his own actions are increasingly in the spotlight. The Pope’s decision to allow Zanchetta to resign quietly, and then promote him to the No. 2 position in one
■ The scandal over Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta is the latest to implicate Pope Francis
■ The Catholic hierarchy faces crisis on mishandling cases of clergy abuse
of the Vatican’s most sensitive offices, has raised questions again about whether Francis turned a blind eye to misconduct of his allies and dismissed allegations against them as ideological attacks.
Manzano, Oran’s vicar general under Zanchetta who is now a parish priest, said he was one of the diocesan officials who raised the alarm about his boss in 2015 and sent the digital selfies to Vatican.
In an interview at St. Cayetano parish in Oran, Manzano said he was one of the three diocesan officials who made a second complaint to the Vatican’s embassy in Buenos Aires in May or June of 2017 “when the situation was much more serious, as the diocese was increasingly heading into the abyss.”