Cardinal drags late pope to abuse controversy

Tag: france

A senior cardinal who headed the Vatican office for clergy has dragged Pope John Paul II into controversy saying he had papal approval to congratulate a French bishop for hiding a sexually abusive priest in 2001.

Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, who headed the Vatican Congregation for Clergy for ten years, until 2006 said he praised French Bishop Pierre Pican of Bayeux-Lisieux in 2001 for the cover up.



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The cardinal made the disclosure during a press conference in the Spanish city of Murcia, English daily DNA reported quoting international press.

“After consulting the pope … I wrote a letter to the bishop congratulating him as a model of a father who does not hand over his sons,” the daily La Verdad quoted Castrillon Hoyos as saying.

“The Holy Father authorised me to send this letter to all bishops in the world and publish it on the internet,” he said.

His comments came after a Vatican spokesman indirectly confirmed that a 2001 letter to the bishop posted on a French website on Thursday was authentic and was proof the Vatican was right to tighten up its procedures on sex abuse cases that year.

Cardinal Hoyos’ letter praised Bishop Pierre Pican for not denouncing a French priest who was later sentenced to 18 years in jail for the repeated rape of a boy and sexual assaults on 10 others.

http://www.cathnewsindia.com/2010/04/...ntroversy/