Press. voanews.com
Pope Francis has
forcefully defended Chilean Bishop Juan Barros, who has been accused of
concealing a priest's sexual abuse of children, saying he has no evidence the
allegations are true. "The day they bring me proof against Bishop Barros,
then I will speak," the pope said in response to a reporter's question
Thursday about Barros prior to celebrating an open-air mass in the northern
Chilean city of Iquique.
Chile's most
infamous pedophile priest, Fernando Karadima, was given a lifetime of
"penance and prayer" during a church proceeding when victims publicly
disclosed their accusations in 2010 following years of complaints to leaders
that he kissed and fondled them when they were teenagers. Many Chileans are
still angry about the pope's 2015 decision to appoint Barros, a Karadima
protege, as bishop of the southern city of Osorno. Barros' controversial
appointment has divided the diocese, as he has denied being aware of Karadima's
abuse, and local Catholic groups in his southern diocese of Osorno are
demanding that Francis remove him.
But the anger
did not stop the pope from offering his unwavering support of the 61-year-old
bishop. "There is not a single piece of proof against him. Everything is
slander. Is this clear?" One of Karadima's victims, Juan Carlos Cruz, said
Barros "is a liar, a delinquent, who has amnesia after covering up for
Karadima. He has covered-up abuses and should be in jail or at least
dismissed." Barros, who was
attending the mass with hundreds of other bishops and clergy, has had a
conspicuous presence at both of the pope's previous open-air masses and his
meeting with clergy at the Santiago cathedral.
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