Fernando Karadima, former priest and protagonist of one of the Catholic Church’s most emblematic cases of abuse, has died

Former Chilean priest Fernando Karadima, convicted by the Vatican for sexual abuse in 2011, a notorious case that exposed a scandal of child abuse perpetrated by local clergy, has died aged 90 due to multiple illnesses in a retirement home in Santiago de Chile, according to an official document.

Karadima died Sunday evening from a “Bronchopneumonia, renal failure, diabetes mellitus and high blood pressure”, according to the death certificate, to which the agency had access AFP.

The Archdiocese of Santiago has not confirmed the death and he dissociated himself from the subject by declaring that he is no longer a priest.

Karadima was expelled from the priesthood by the Vatican in 2018, the most severe sentence applied within the Catholic Church, which had previously relegated him to a life far from prayer and penance for the sexual abuse of minors in the 1980s and 1990s.

The case is one of the most emblematic in Chile because of the influence of the then priest within the Church.

From the parish of Santiago de The forest, located in an affluent district of the capital, which he directed from 1980 to 2006, Karadima Over the years, he has forged strong ties with sectors of Chile’s political and economic elite.

According to official figures, up to 2019, more than 200 members of the Chilean Church have been investigated for more than 150 cases of sexual abuse, while more than 240 victims have been identified, including 123 minors.

“Plus link”

Chilean justice declared the criminal case against the former priest time-barred but two years ago ordered the local Church pay compensation of $ 450,000 for “moral damage” three of his victims: doctor James Hamilton, philosopher José Andrés Murillo and journalist Juan Carlos Cruz, today facing the defense of victims of sexual abuse committed within the Chilean Church.

The court ruling held that the local Church was negligent by not investigating allegations of abuse and credited the “psychological damage“Suffered by Hamilton, Murillo and Cruz, the three plaintiffs who opened in 2010 with their complaint the Pandora’s box which unearthed the “Culture of abuse” in the Chilean Church which has been recognized by Pope Francis.

“Fernando Karadima, a former Catholic priest who sexually and spiritually abused many people, has passed away, including us. Everything we had to say about Karadima has been said. He was one more link in this culture of perversion and occultation in the Church “the three plaintiffs said in a public statement.

“We are at peace and we are only urged to keep fighting so that these crimes do not happen again. and for so many people who have lived it and who still do not have justice, “the statement added.

After a visit to Chile in January 2018, Pope Francis has promoted a complete revival of the Catholic Church, which has lost the enormous influence it had in the Latin American country after the series of child sexual abuse scandals.

After acknowledging that questions from the press made him doubt the extent of the abuses in Chile and the information transmitted to him, he decided to send a special mission, headed by the Archbishop. Charles Scicluna, who after hearing the complaints of hundreds of victims wrote a report confirming the abuse and cover-up by Chilean clergy.

Francisco asked for forgiveness and admitted his mistake. He listened to the victims of abuse of priests in the Vatican and then, in an unprecedented event of great importance, he summoned all the Chilean bishops to Rome, who before him tendered their resignations..

In August 2019, driven by this case, the law was promulgated in Chile which declares “imprescriptible“Sexual offenses against minors under the age of 18 Juan carlos cruz was appointed in March member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors

(With information from AFP)

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