An investigator appointed by Pope Francis to look into abuse cover-up claims against Bishop Juan Barros of Osorno, Chile, is expected to give his verdict to the Pope in the coming days.
Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta was scheduled to finish his fact-finding trip to Chile on Wednesday after being forced to pause interviews with survivors in order to undergo emergency gallbladder surgery.
The archbishop said he had flown to Chile despite feeling unwell but went to the hospital for a check-up after his condition worsened.
Interviews with abuse survivors and with Bishop Barros himself were conducted by Fr Jordi Bertomeu Farnos, a Spanish official of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Bishop Barros has been accused by victims of witnessing and ignoring the abuse of young parishioners by his mentor, Fr Fernando Karadima, who was removed from ministry and sentenced to a lifetime of “penance and prayer” in 2010.
The controversy over his appointment as Bishop of Osorno was reignited during Pope Francis’s trip to Chile when the Pontiff said the accusations against Bishop Barros were “calumny” and that he had not received any evidence against him.
The Pope later apologised For his choice of words and appointed Archbishop Scicluna, the Church’s most respected prosecutor of sex abuse crimes, to look into the matter.
It emerged that the Pope had been given a letter giving detailed testimony against Bishop Barros three years ago. Before coming to Chile, Archbishop Scicluna travelled to New York to hear from Juan Carlos Cruz, the abuse survivor who had written the letter.
Mr Cruz called the four-hour meeting “a good experience … I feel that I was heard, it was very intense and very detailed and sometimes eye-opening for them.”
During their visit to Chile, the Vatican team was scheduled to hold about 20 meetings. All those with testimony had been asked to send written documents containing their accusations.
Gallery explores saint’s stigmata
An exhibition dedicated to St Francis of Assisi’s reception of the stigmata opened at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC last week. Heavenly Earth: Images of St Francis at La Verna includes 30 pieces of art centred on the 13th-century miracle.
Ginger Hammer, an assistant curator at the museum, said the display focused on an “unprecedented event in Western spirituality”.
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