Cardinal: Abuse Investigation Requires 'More Evidence'

Tag: chile

A Cardinal in Chile is under fire for suspending the church investigation into a retired priest because he is "looking for more evidence," according to an AP report.

Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz wrote a letter that he read to his parishioners, saying "I suspended the matter to wait for new evidence, analyze more deeply what we already had and hold new consultations with experts in canonical law."

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The letter concerns retired Rev. Fernando Karadima, 79, who is under criminal investigation by Chilean authorities.

The former priest is accused of molesting at least four young men over at least two decades, three of them when they were still minors.

One accuser says the abuse lasted for 20 years.

Karadima's lawyer, of course, says he is innocent.

This is just one of many recent priests to be accused of sexual abuse.

A Belgian Catholic bishop resigned on Friday after admitting he had sexually abused a boy when in charge of the diocese of Bruges.

A Mexican priest, Nicolas Aguilar Rivera, was first accused of sodomizing boys in 1987 when the cardinal was a high-level bishop, only to be transferred to avoid prosecution by his higher ups. He is accused of abusing at least two dozen boys in one of his churches.

Three Roman Catholic priests in northeastern Brazil are suspected of sexually abusing children. The scandal arose after a video showed one of the priests in a sex act with a young man.

Victims of clerical sex abuse in Ireland have accused the Pope of “washing his hands” of the scandals that rocked the Catholic Church in Ireland, condemning the Pope Benedict XVI for not acknowledging that senior clergy covered up decades of sickening abuse, reports the Belfast Telegraph.

Pope Benedict, who has come under fire from victims' groups for using vague language about the Roman Catholic sexual abuse crisis, publicly promised last week Church "action" to counter the scandals.

In the past month since the sexual abuse crisis has exploded, with allegations mushrooming in the United States, Austria and his native Germany, he has used vague terms such as how the Church was "wounded by our sins" or needed "penance" reports Reuters. (c) tPC

Tag: cannon_law

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