Former vicar: Vatican already knew about sexual abuse allegations against Argentine bishop

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Former vicar: Vatican already knew about sexual abuse allegations against Argentine bishop​

Buenos Aires, Argentina, Jan 20, 2019 / 12:38 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In an exclusive report from the Associated Press, the former vicar to Argentine Bishop Gustavo Oscar Zanchetta said that the Vatican had had information about sexual abuse allegations against Zanchetta for several years.

This contradicts a Vatican statement made just weeks ago in which they said that they had only gained knowledge of sexual abuse allegations against Zanchetta a few months ago. . . .

. . . . Alessandro Gisotti, interim Holy See press officer, said Jan. 3 that “at the time of his resignation there had been against (Bishop Zanchetta) accusations of authoritarianism, but there had been against him no accusation of sexual abuse…the accusations of sexual abuse date to this autumn.” . . .

. . . Manzano said that for a time after being summoned to the Vatican, Zanchetta’s behavior seemed to improve. But then it worsened, and he would allegedly visit the seminary “at all hours,” get drunk with seminarians, and travel with them alone often without the permission of the rector of the seminary. . . .

. . . Francis had appointed Zanchetta as Bishop of Oran in 2013. Zanchetta had also been the executive undersecretary of the Argentine bishops conference which was headed by then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio from 2005-2011. . . .
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https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/...se-allegations-against-argentine-bishop-91670
 
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. . . The allegations were leveled internally in recent months, Gisotti said, and last week the provincial newspaper in Salta, El Tribuno, reported that three priests had brought accusations against him to the Vatican’s ambassador, or nuncio, in Buenos Aires. The newspaper said the priests had lodged accusations of abuse of power, economic abuse and sexual abuse inside the seminary. . . .

. . . The issue of sexual abuse within seminaries has risen to the forefront in the scandal over McCarrick, the retired archbishop of Washington. Francis removed McCarrick as a cardinal in July after a U.S. church investigation determined that an allegation that he fondled an altar boy in the 1970s was credible. After the allegation became public, several former seminarians came forward to report they had been abused or harassed by McCarrick and pressured to sleep with him.

Francis became implicated in the McCarrick scandal after a former Vatican ambassador accused him of knowing of McCarrick’s penchant for seminarians, and rehabilitating him anyway from sanctions imposed by Pope Benedict XVI. . . .
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The problem is that not every bit of information communicated to “the Vatican” is necessarily communicated to the pope, or to the next pope, personally. With the situation McCarrick, there is a greater chance this Pope didn’t have direct information early on. I would still be concerned over which bishops and Cardinals McCarrick had (name removed by moderator)ut on nomination.

But with a priest in Argentina, who must have worked closely with him for several years? Who was likely nominated by him for bishop?

I respectfully recommend the pope resign. I will continue to support him if he doesn’t.
 
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commenter . . .
not every bit of information communicated to “the Vatican” is necessarily communicated to the pope . . .
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Good point commenter.

But Pope Francis knew this molester for a long time before he was Pope.

Zanchetta was Bergoglio’s (later Pope Francis) “executive undersecretary” under him.
Zanchetta had also been the executive undersecretary of the Argentine bishops conference which was headed by then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio from 2005-2011
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(I am NOT saying Pope Francis/then-Cardinal Bergoglio knew about Zanchetta’s homosexual molestation habits against Catholic seminarians and against our Catholic priests. Just that [then] Bergoglio was in a position to personally know Zanchetta quite well.)
 
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Cathoholic said:
commenter . . .
not every bit of information communicated to “the Vatican” is necessarily communicated to the pope . . .
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I think the two prior popes tended to keep liberals and conservatives at the same table, talking to each other. The last 5 years have seen a purge of conservatives. This damages all kinds of communication.

Pope Francis seemed to be too willing to send into exile people he disagrees with, at the same time extremely loyal to a few people he was close to. And they let him down.

Time for a new pope; let Francis stay in Rome to assist.
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Thank you for sharing your insights into this commenter.

God bless.

Cathoholic
 
I think it takes a bit of experience to grasp what having that amount of people under you care ,and such a complex Archidioecesis aside from quite an amount of dioceses and people in charge of to be able to utter from a comfortable seat that a Pope should do this or that.
Not to mention the out of this earth comment that he should resign.
 
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graciew . . . .
This we do not know.
Geographically speaking, F. Zanchetta moved about dioceses not belonging to the Archidioecesis of Buenos Aires.
Except for a few years he was in Quilmes which is one among over 10 diocese depentedent of the Archidioecesis of Buenos Aires which has 2 647 000 Catholics approx and a surface of
203 km²
His position as a a subsecretario of the Episcopal Conferences doesn’ t imply daily contact nor friendship necessarily.
In other words, there is no objective reason to say the Pooe knew him “ quite well” because of any of this.
If he was , it isn t by this means one gets to know.
Here ,and there one doesn’t even get to know the neighbors on the block sometimes, but if it is about the Pope,oh yes…he knew him quite well and he should resign .
Some shame and introspection doesn t hurt . Gossip and accusations do. Even without having the slightest idea, not even geographical but what gives,right?
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First of all . . .
His position as a a subsecretario of the Episcopal Conferences doesn’ t imply daily contact nor friendship necessarily.
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Where are you getting that I am saying anything about “daily contact”?

.

Secondly . . .
In other words, there is no objective reason to say the Pooe knew him “ quite well” because of any of this.
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Where are you getting THIS?

I never said that.

I said he was in a position to know him quite well and I stand by that.

From me . . .
Just that [then] Bergoglio was in a position to personally know Zanchetta quite well.
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This is ridiculous.
Here ,and there one doesn’t even get to know the neighbors on the block sometimes, but if it is about the Pope,oh yes…he knew him quite well and he should resign .
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I have no idea what you are saying here or why you are directing this toward me.

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Some shame and introspection doesn t hurt . Gossip and accusations do. Even without having the slightest idea, not even geographical but what gives,right?
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This is inappropriate (at least directed towards me).

Enough.
 
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graciew (directed towards me) . . .
Yes, enough.
He is is the Vicar of Christ.
Our Pope.
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??

I have no idea WHY you are directing such against me here.

Please stop misrepresenting what I am saying, misquoting me, and saying things I never said.
 
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This whole Zanchetta affair needs a proper impartial investigation to get to the bottom of who knew what and when.

Only transparency and honesty will bring our current crisis -the greatest crisis the Catholic Church has faced since the Reformation- to an end.
 
Impartial investigation to get to the bottom of who knew what and when… Sounds rather familiar. At what point is the Church going to admit we have a big problem with abuse in our seminaries, apparently all over the world. While the abuse of minors may be a problem that is largely solved, it seems that the problem has simply moved to the seminaries.
 
Pro Ecclesia, a Catholic Activist group in Switzerland, has launched a petition calling on all priests, Bishops and Cardinals guilty of sexual abuse-and all those who covered up for them- to be laicized.

To those interested the petition can be found here.

 
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The Holy Father does seem to have a blind spot for progressives, and I would agree that previous popes promoted both conservatives and progressives while +Francis has favoured the latter…while basically “retiring” conservatives like +Burke and +Mueller years before their retirement age.

His prerogative though.
 
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Everyone agrees abuse of minors is bad, as well as unwanted sexual contact with adults.

The problem is many are in denial of the Church teaching on homosexual actions, which are inherently wrong, even if consented.

The “homosexual network” which undermines the Church is not necessarily those who are personally homosexual, though some are. Rather it includes those who compromise Church teaching.

The Church does not condemn persons for being homosexual, whether clergy or not.
 
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Johann_du_Toit . . .
Only transparency and honesty will bring our current crisis -the greatest crisis the Catholic Church has faced since the Reformation- to an end.
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Absolutely correct Johann_du_Toit.

The same kind of transparency and honesty that Pope Francis has called for in such investigations.

Zero-tolerance as per the Pope too.


https://www.franciscanmedia.org/pope-says-church-was-late-fighting-abuse-promises-zero-tolerance/

From Pope Francis (August 2018) . . .
. . . With shame and repentance, we acknowledge as an ecclesial community that we were not where we should have been, that we did not act in a timely manner, realizing the magnitude and the gravity of the damage done to so many lives. . . .

. . . I am conscious of the effort and work being carried out in various parts of the world to come up with the necessary means to ensure the safety and protection of the integrity of children and of vulnerable adults, as well as implementing zero tolerance and ways of making all those who perpetrate or cover up these crimes accountable. We have delayed in applying these actions and sanctions that are so necessary . . .
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(Bold mine)

http://w2.vatican.va/content/france...-francesco_20180820_lettera-popolo-didio.html

Anything less than zero-tolerance is inappropriate.
 
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Update from today . . .
In a statement released today, the Vatican insisted they only heard of the allegations in autumn 2018. This, despite claims earlier this week from the bishop’s former vicar general that the Pope was informed of the allegations in 2015 and 2017, before promoting Zanchetta in Dec. 2017. . .

. . . Today’s announcement comes in response to inquiries by LifeSiteNews and other agencies following an Associated Press report on Sunday that the Vatican knew about allegations against Zanchetta as early as 2015.

Zanchetta, 54, is accused of taking naked selfies, exhibiting “obscene” behavior and engaging in sexual misconduct with seminarians.

In a sitdown interview with the Associate Press, Zanchetta’s onetime vicar general, Fr. Juan Jose Manzano, said he was one of the diocesan officials who first alerted the Vatican about his bishop in 2015 and sent the digital selfies to the Vatican. He also said he was one of the three current and former diocesan officials who made a second complaint to the Vatican’s embassy in Buenos Aires in May or June of 2017 “when the situation was much more serious . . .

. . . . Mazano also said Bergoglio had been Zanchetta’s confessor and treated him as a “spiritual son.”

In August 2017, after summoning Zanchetta to Rome, the Pope accepted his resignation as Bishop of the remote northern Argentine diocese of Oran.

Zanchetta then spent time in Spain, where he is believed to have met with one of Francis’ spiritual guides, the Rev. German Arana, a Jesuit to whom Francis had sent another problematic bishop, the Chilean Juan Barros. On December 19, 2017, he reemerged as the Vatican announced Pope Francis had appointed him as the No. 2 in the administrative department that handles the Holy See’s real estate and financial holdings (called APSA). This, despite reports that Zanchetta has left the diocese of Oran in financial shambles. . . .
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.

This needs to get to the bottom of.
 
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Cathoholic said:
… from the bishop’s former vicar general that the Pope was informed of the allegations in 2015 and 2017…
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No the information I read is that the vicar informed the Vatican, not necessarily that the pope was informed.
This is bad enough, let’s not make it worse than the facts support.
 
commenter . . .
No the information I read is that the vicar informed the Vatican, not necessarily that the pope was informed.
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Yes but I am not saying “the Pope was informed”.

(You did not put your quote in context)

Here is the quote in context . . .
This, despite CLAIMS earlier this week from the bishop’s former vicar general that the Pope was informed of the allegations in 2015 and 2017 . . .
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(Emphasis mine)

And those “claims” WERE publicly made this last week. Everybody following it knows about it.

That is part of the reason of PRECISELY WHY this needs to be gotten to the bottom of in a timely, honest, and transparent manner.

If someone is purposefully witholding information from the Pope that is bad. Even if he is a priest it is unacceptable (we don’t give him a pass if it turns out to be a priest–that would be the same type of clericalism the Holy Father has warned us against).

If someone is lying to the Associated Press about this that is bad.

As for Zanchetta? It just plain looks bad all around.

These issues need to be addressed with the transparency that Pope Francis has called for on multiple occasions.
 
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