Catholic Church cardinals implicated in sex abuse, cover-ups

[Cathoholic]

From the New Jersey Herald . . . .

March 10, 2019

World News​

Catholic Church cardinals implicated in sex abuse, cover-ups​

1 of 5​

FILE - In this Jan. 7, 2019 file photo, French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin waits for the start of his trial at the Lyon courthouse, central France. Pope. A French court on Thursday March 7, 2019 is expected to acquit a cardinal and five other defendants accused of protecting a pedophile priest, but alleged victims say France’s most important church sex abuse trial has at least allowed them to bring the affair into the open. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani, File)
The Associated Press

By NICOLE WINFIELD

Posted: Mar. 7, 2019 8:00 am Updated: Mar. 7, 2019 3:52 pm

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The conviction of French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin for failing to report a known pedophile priest to police deepens the crisis confronting an already discredited Catholic Church hierarchy. The verdict handed down by magistrates Thursday shows the church’s once-untouchable “princes” increasingly are judged accountable for priests who abuse children and the superiors who allowed the abuse to continue.

After centuries of impunity, cardinals from Chile to Australia and points in between are facing justice in both the Vatican and government courts for their own sexual misdeeds or for having shielded abusers under their watch…

Here is a look at cases implicating Catholic cardinals, members of the exclusive club of prelates that advises the pope and eventually elects his successor. . . .

. . . CHILE - CARDINALS JAVIER ERRAZURIZ AND RICCARDO EZZATI

The current and former archbishops of Santiago are under investigation by Chilean prosecutors for allegedly covering up for abusive priests.

Errazuriz, who retired as Santiago archbishop in 2010, was recently forced to resign from Francis’ kitchen cabinet after the depth of his cover-up was exposed last year.

His successor, Ezzati, was sued this week by a man who accused him of protecting a priest who allegedly drugged and raped him in the Santiago cathedral. The victim first filed a complaint with Ezzati in 2015. Ezzati issued a church sentence against the priest last year.

Prosecutors have overseen raids of church offices around the country. Ezzati and Errazuriz have so far refused to answer questions in the investigation. . . .

. . . BELGIUM - CARDINAL GODFRIED DANNEELS

The retired head of Belgium’s Catholic Church has been under fire since 2010, when he was caught on tape suggesting that a victim of a serial predator bishop keep quiet until the man retired.

Two weeks after Danneels met with the victim, Bishop Roger Vangheluwe of Bruges resigned . . .
. . . Francis has been criticized for having included Danneels, considered a key supporter in his 2013 election, in important church meetings since the scandal. . . .

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https://www.njherald.com/article/20190307/AP/303079699#

 

[Cathoholic]

Follow up on Cardinal Philippe Barbarin from the March 7, 2019 New York Times . . .

French Cardinal Offers to Resign After Conviction for Covering Up Priest’s Sexual Abuse​

Image

Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, 68, at a news conference in Lyon, France, on Thursday. He was found guilty of failing to report child abuse to the authorities from 2014 to 2015.Credit Laurent Cipriani/Associated Press

By Aurelien Breeden

• March 7, 2019

PARIS — A Catholic cardinal offered his resignation on Thursday after being found guilty by a French court of covering up decades-old sexual abuse by a priest in his diocese, a surprise victory for the priest’s accusers, who had forced the case to trial after it was dropped by prosecutors.

The conviction of Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, the archbishop of Lyon, was the first in France against such a high-profile clergyman, adding to a long list of sexual abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic Church just weeks after a landmark meeting at the Vatican ended without a concrete plan to tackle the issue.

Cardinal Barbarin, 68, was found guilty of failing to report child abuse by the Rev. Bernard Preynat to the authorities from 2014 to 2015, after parishioners accused the priest of sexually abusing dozens of Boy Scouts in the late 1980s and early 1990s. . . .

French Cardinal Offers to Resign After Conviction for Covering Up Priest’s Sexual Abuse (Published 2019)

Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, the archbishop of Lyon, received a six-month suspended prison sentence for failing to report the clergyman’s abuse of Boy Scouts.

www.nytimes.com