Re Urrutgoity, his case has been a big topic for years in the Catholic media. He fled to S. America after the Bishop in the Diocese of Scranton suppressed the organization he started. He did not allow or permit him to relocate to S, America, and expressed his concern about the safety of children due to the allegations against him, and his anger that the bishop in Paraguay was protecting him. You can read his official statement here:
dioceseofscranton.org/2014/03/15/statement-regarding-the-status-of-reverend-carlos-urrutigoity/
The bishop in Paraguay who allowed him refuge said he did not think the allegations were true and felt they were ideologically motivated because of Urrutgoity’s conservative theological views.
Pope Francis acted pretty quickly and decisively and removed the Paraguayan bishop from office in 2014. This isn’t an easy thing to do under canon law, so Pope Francis changed canon law to make it easier for him to remove such bishops in the future. There were other issues that came into play with the bishop, as the Vatican stated, but the Pope doesn’t need to use Western Union to send a message.
Urrutgoity has had no minsterial assignment since 2014. If the allegations about him are true (and the statute of limitations has passed on the charges in America, so he hasn’t been charged), he’s a homosexual pederast who has no place in the priesthood. I don’t know if the Paraguayan authorities are considering charging him. Benedict banned those with same-sex inclinations from entry into seminaries, but Urrutgoity (who initially had been in a schismatic SSPX seminary) was reported to have come on sexually to adult males there and it was not reported by the SSPX seminary prefect until after his ordination when he went to the Bishop of Scranton and asked to re-enter the Catholic Church and attend seminary there - at least that’s my understanding.
The Vatican’s spokesman, Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi, confirmed that Urrutigoity had been removed from his position as vicar general, or deputy bishop, of the diocese on July 14, 2014
“He has not been suspended. He has been removed from the position,” Lombardi said.
Was he a wolf in the fold? It sure sounds like it. There are similar cases of apparently founded allegations where some superiors protected an accused predator in pretty near every one of the Protestant denominations, among Orthodox Jewish groups, among Buddhists, among Jehovah’s witnesses, and almost every other religious organization you can name. It’s even worse in education (where protection of child abusers is enshrined in New York’s Teacher’s Union rules), in correctional institutions, in law enforcement and in the military. It stinks no matter where it happens, but the Vatican seems to have taken steps to stop it.
We must do as Christ said in the Gospel from yesterday’s Mass, and remember that it would be better for anyone who harms little ones to have a great millstone tied around his neck and be drowned in the sea.