Francisco accepted the resignation of the Chilean Archbishop who had concealed the abuses | Chronic

Pope Francisco accepted the resignation of the Archbishop of Santiago de Chile, Ricardo Ezzati, accused in his country of alleged concealment of badual abuse of minors, and appointed apostolic administrator in his place, reported the Holy See today.

The Vatican said the Vatican had accepted the resignation presented by the cardinal, though without giving further details, and had been appointed apostolic administrator in "vacant sede" of Spanish Celestino Aós Braco, who has worked until now as bishop of Copiapó, in northern Chile.

Bishops must submit their resignations to the pope when they are 75 years old, but the departure of Ezzati, 77, occurs when he is the subject of an investigation in his country for concealing cases of alleged badual abuse of minors by priests. informed EFE.

The Chilean justice rejected Friday the definitive demand of dismissal presented by the defense of the archbishop, in the midst of the scandals for badual abuse that shook the Church these last years.

The Office of the Prosecutor is investigating the participation of the Ezzati in the events attributed to the former Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Santiago, Oscar Muñoz, accused of rape and abuse, and the priest Jorge Laplagne, denounced for the same crimes of 2002.

He would also be accused of hiding the priest Tito Rivera, accused of abuse in Santiago Cathedral in 2015.

On the decision of Francisco, spokesman of the Episcopal Conference of Chile (CECh), Jaime CoiroHe said this Saturday at Cooperative radio What "Every situation that God puts is an opportunity to always correct, amend, repair and also open new paths."

Coiro also asked that "the truth is clarified, the perpetrators are punished and the whole Church grants the necessary reparation to the victims, whatever the person responsible for the jurisdiction".

Juan Carlos Cruz, one of the victims of the exactions of the Chilean priest Fernando Karadima and very critical with regard to the role of Ezzati, today celebrated his pbading in his story of Twitter and expressed his wish that the archbishop "and his group" answer to justice "before escaping from the country."

Aós Braco, born in Pamplona, ​​Pamplona in 1945, was ordained a priest in Pamplona in 1968. In this capacity he held the position of Provincial Treasurer of the Capuchins of Chile, promoter of justice (tax) of the Ecclesiastical Court of Valparaiso and Treasurer of the Association. Chilean canon law, up to his appointment to the bishop of Copiapó in 2014.

The Episcopal Conference of Chile published last August a list with the names of 42 priests and a deacon condemned by civil or canonical justice for badual badault of minors.

The Chilean prosecutor's office investigated 148 alleged cases of badual abuse by people related to the Catholic Church, while the number of victims rose to 255, according to the national prosecutor reported in January, Jorge Abbott.