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“It is the Argentine attitude: Suppress and ignore”—V.S. Naipaul'I was part of the problem,' Pope Francis was quoted telling the Chile abuse victims.Your Holiness,No. You weren’t part of the problem, you are the entire problem. You appointed and elevated a predator protector. For three years, you steadfastly protected him despite overwhelming evidence that he should be removed as Bishop and from priestly ministry.You suppressed and ignored a tsunami of requests, pleas and evidence about Bishop Juan Barros’ complicity and involvement with predator priest, Fr. Fernando Karadima. In 2011, Karadima was removed of his priestly duties and banished to a life...

Was going to write a post about this. Decided a quick video would be faster on a Friday afternoon. Please feel free to share your own thoughts in the comments.Have a good weekend, everyone! Why Did All the Chilean Bishops Offer Pope Their Resignations?

(Santiago de Chile) Twice yesterday, the case of Barros stood front and center: in Rome and in Santiago de Chile. Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati SDB, the Archbishop of Santiago de Chile, opened an extraordinary gathering of the Chilean clergy yesterday. In Rome, the most important critic of Pope Francis was received in audience.  The reason is Pope Francis' letter to the Chilean Episcopal Conference. With the letter, the Catholic Church leader responded to the report of his special envoy, Msgr. Charles Scicluna, on the sexual abuse scandal in Chile and around the ex-priest Fernando Karadima. The focus is Bishop Juan Barros...

In recent weeks, more information about the Barros case has come to us which is worth reporting. The Chilean Cardinal Javier Errázuriz Ossa – one of the members of the pope’s Council of Nine Cardinals – recently wrote a letter to various Latin American bishops’ conferences complaining about the fact that Bishop Juan Barros’ presence during the pope’s visit to Chile in January of 2018 drew too much attention to his case. Cardinal Errázuriz himself did not seem to be concerned about the whole Karadima sex abuse scandal itself, or that Bishop Barros might be culpably complicit in it. We...

At this point, there are only four possible explanations for what happened to a crucial letter“How bad is it?” That was the question a friend put to me, à propos the leadership crisis in the Catholic Church. Pope Francis precipitated the crisis by levelling repeated accusations of calumny against survivors of sexual abuse perpetrated by a prominent Chilean cleric, Fernando Karadima, who was convicted of his crimes by a Vatican court in 2011. Karadima’s victims claim one of their abuser’s protégés, Juan Barros – ordained bishop in 1995 and appointed by Pope Francis to head the diocese of Osorno, Chile,...

Demand Pope Francis Resign or Zero-Tolerance is a Farce: Accusations against Cdl. Law don't Approach what AP Reports Victim says of Bishop Barros and Francis's Cover-up On December 12, 2002, the New York Times headline was: "Catholic Lay Group Demands Resignation of Cardinal Law" No accusation against Cardinal Bernard Law for covering-up sex abusing priest ever came close to the accusations made by the victims of Fr. Fernando Karadima against Bishop Juan Barros and the Pope Francis cover-up that the Associated Press reported today: "Pope Francis received a victim's letter in 2015... contradicting the Pope's recent insistence that no victim...

Here's what you need to know about the Bishop Barros affairPope Francis’s appointment of Bishop Juan Barros to head the small diocese of Osorno, Chile encountered opposition when it was announced three years ago and has contributed to a credibility crisis for the Chilean Catholic Church in the time since.Bishop Barros was a protege of Fr Fernando Karadima, a charismatic priest who was sanctioned by the Vatican in 2011 for sexually abusing minors. Some of the victims allege that Barros witnessed the abuse, placing him at the scene when Fr Karadima kissed and fondled minors. Bishop Barros has denied knowing...

Pope Francis accused victims of Chile’s most notorious pedophile of slander Thursday, an astonishing end to a visit meant to help heal the wounds of a sex abuse scandal that has cost the Catholic Church its credibility in the country. Francis said that until he sees proof that Bishop Juan Barros was complicit in covering up the sex crimes of the Rev. Fernando Karadima, such accusations against Barros are “all calumny.”

SANTIAGO, Chile - In his first public address in Chile, Pope Francis apologized for the “irreparable damage” caused by clerical sexual abuse. In the wake of what he had to say, abuse survivor Peter Saunders, a former member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, wasn’t impressed.“The pope spoke today about shame, but that isn’t good enough,” Saunders told Crux on the phone. “He could have removed [Bishop Juan] Barros a long time ago, and that would have been a good symbolic move to make. Symbols are as good as words.”RELATED: Pope opens Chile trip with apology for clerical...

"I can not help but express the pain and the shame I feel at the irreparable damage caused to children by ministers of the Church." It is fair to ask for forgiveness and support the victims with all their strength. The first words of Pope Francis in Chile were a request for forgiveness for clerical pedophilia , and a commitment to those who have suffered at the hands of predators clad in authority. Is it enough for the victims? It seems not. And much more after the organizers of the papal visit to Chile did not leave space for a...

A few days before the arrival of Pope Francis in Chile, the publication in the Associated Press of a letter of his to the Chilean bishops from January of 2015 has complicated his visit quite a bit. That letter, in fact, generates an authentic brainteaser as to the real thinking of Jorge Mario Bergoglio concerning the biggest scandal that has shaken Chile in recent years, the one centered on a priest named Fernando Karadima.Karadima, now eighty-seven, was for years a pastor in Santiago, but above all was an extremely popular educator and leader of vast ranks of young people and...

Only days after stripping the disgraced pervert Cardinal, Keith O'Brien of his title and power and sending him to retire quietly in a £200,000 cottage, Pope Francis; amidst the outrage of the people of the Diocese of Osorno in Chile has permitted another bishop to take his Cathedra - a man implicated in the scandal of sodomy and perversion and the abuse of three men from the time they were boys. Is this to be considered another "who am I to judge" episode as with Msgr. Ricca appointed to a high position within the Vatican Bank? If so, then the...

Juan Carlos Cruz recalls that he and another teen boy would lie down on the priest's bed, one resting his head at the man's shoulder, another sitting near his feet. The priest would kiss the boys and grope them, he said, all while the Rev. Juan Barros watched.

I never write about these stories because they make me physically ill, so I leave it to others. But it seems like this story is dying on the vine, and I’m not sure it should. And it’s Lent, when we’re supposed to do difficult things, so here goes. Pope Francis has appointed Juan de la Cruz Barros Madrid to a Bishopric in Southern Chile, and Barros is set to be installed there tomorrow, March 21. This may be a problematic appointment, one that blows up in the Holy Father’s face, because it conflicts with his own “zero tolerance” policies in...