Chile survivors win lawsuit accusing two cardinals of cover-up / Cruxnow.com

Three of Karadima’s survivors, James Hamilton, Juan Carlos Cruz and José Andrés Murillo, afterwards decided to sue the Archdiocese of Santiago for covering up for their abuser, specifically naming Cardinals Francisco Javier Errázuriz and Ricardo Ezzati. (Cruxnow.com)

In a decision being hailed as historic, three Chilean survivors of the country’s most infamous pedophile priest reportedly have won a lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Santiago. The court found two Catholic cardinals guilty of covering up for Fernando Karadima.

“The court’s decision hasn’t yet been made official, but it was published on Sunday by local newspaper La Tercera, and the three survivors who were suing the archdiocese quickly released a statement celebrating the decision.

“Assuming the report is correct, the Church either will have to pay the survivors US$600,000 or appeal the decision, which would bring the case to Chile’s Supreme Court. The survivors had previously lost before a lower court, but appealed the ruling citing new evidence discovered by a prosecutor during a raid on the archives of the Archdiocese of Santiago …

“Three of Karadima’s survivors, James Hamilton, Juan Carlos Cruz and José Andrés Murillo, afterwards decided to sue the Archdiocese of Santiago for covering up for their abuser, specifically naming Cardinals Francisco Javier Errázuriz and Ricardo Ezzati.”

By Inés San Martin, Cruxnow.com — Read more …

Pope sends Maltese archbishop to investigate Chilean bishop in abuse cover up case / National Catholic Reporter

“(Juan Carlos) Cruz told NCR Jan. 23 that while ‘the bigger abuse was behind closed doors,’ (Juan) Barros was in the room when (Fr. Fernando) Karadima touched the genitals and put his tongue in the mouth of Cruz and other victims.” (National Catholic Reporter)

“Pope Francis is sending Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta to Chile to take testimony about Bishop Juan de la Cruz Barros Madrid of Osorno, Chile, who is accused of covering up allegations of abuse by a Chilean priest who was found guilty of abuse.

“The Vatican announced Scicluna’s trip to Chile in a statement this morning (Jan. 30).

“Scicluna was in charge of sexual abuse cases in the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith from 2002 until 2010. Francis appointed him to lead a commission in the doctrinal congregation  to hear appeals of priests accused of sexual abuse.

“‘Following recently received information regarding the case of H.E. Msgr. Juan de la Cruz Barros Madrid, Bishop of Osorno (Chile), the Holy Father Francis has arranged for H.E. Msgr. Charles J. Scicluna, Archbishop of Malta and President of the College for the examination of appeals (in matters of delicta graviora) at the Ordinary Session of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, to go to Santiago de Chile to hear those who have expressed their willingness to submit elements in their possession,’ the Vatican press office statement read.”

By Dennis Coday, National Catholic Reporter — Read more …

Pope’s zero tolerance for bishops who covered for pedophiles faces tough test in Chile / Associated Press

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.

“‘Barros was there, and he saw it all,’ Cruz, now a 51-year-old journalist, told The Associated Press.

“Barros has been tapped by Pope Francis to become bishop of a southern Chilean diocese this month, provoking an unprecedented outcry by abuse victims and Catholic faithful who contend he covered up sexual abuse committed by his mentor and superior, the Rev. Fernando Karadima, in the 1980s and ’90s. A Vatican investigation found Karadima guilty in 2011 and sentenced the now 84-year-old priest to a cloistered life of ‘penitence and prayer’ for what is Chile’s highest-profile case of abuse by a priest.”

By Eva Vergara, Associated Press, in Star Tribune — Click here to read the rest of this story.

Chilean Cardinals Close to Pope Stained by Abuse Coverups / National Catholic Reporter

The following story is disturbing because of the connections alleged between the coverup of clergy sexual abuse and Pope Francis; however, continued refusal to dismiss bishops that evidence shows are guilty of covering up abuse corrodes every aspect of attempted reform. Of course, some bishops accused of coverups are actually blameless. But if no bishop anywhere, for any transgression, is removed, we the faithful are left questioning whether any are interested in justice.

Home today is an apartment in Society Hill, Philadelphia, but when Juan Carlos Cruz was growing up in Chile in the 1980s, his family lived close to El Bosque, ‘the forest’ — a tree-draped park avenue and a prime neighborhood in Santiago, the capital city. It was also home to a charismatic pastor, Fr. Fernando Karadima, surrounded by well-dressed boys from top schools, and later unmasked as a sexual predator …

“Last year, Francis named Cardinal Francisco Javier Errázuriz Ossa, Karadima’s most powerful defender, as one of eight cardinals on the commission advising him on Vatican reforms. Errázuriz refused to act on a victim’s allegations in 2003, telling the priest not to worry, according to news accounts and legal testimony …

“‘The impact of Karadima was similar to what we have seen in Ireland, Spain, Italy and America. Every place you find the church in sexual or financial scandals, it has the same effect. In many ways, people stopped looking at the church as a moral beacon. That was not true of the most culturally conservative Catholics, but it is certainly true in terms of the church in social leadership (said Alexander Wilde, a senior scholar for the Latin American Program of the Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington, D.C.).’”

By Jason Berry, National Catholic Reporter — Click here to read the rest of this story.