Pope Francis accepted the resignation of the Archbishop of Santiago de Chile, Ricardo Ezzati, accused of concealing sexual violence

Pope Francis accepted the resignation of the Archbishop of Santiago de Chile, Ricardo Ezzati, imputed in his country by Suspected concealment of badual abuseand appointed in his place an apostolic administrator.

The Holy See reported Saturday in a statement that the pontiff accepted the resignation presented by the cardinal, although without indicating more details.

In place of Cardinal Ezzati, Francis appointed as apostolic administrator in "vacant sede" a Bishop Celestino Years Braco, up to now bishop of Copiapó (north).

Bishops must resign from the pope when they turn 75, but 77-year-old Ezzati's departure comes just as an investigation into his country for concealing cases of violence on children. part of cures.

Chilean justiceThis Friday, the request for definitive dismissal presented by the Archbishop's defense amidst the badual badault scandals that are shaking the South American country's church in recent times.

The prosecutor's office of this country is investigating the participation of the Archbishop of Santiago in the events attributed to the former chancellor of the capital's archdiocese. Oscar Muñoz, accused of rape and abuse, and of the priest Jorge Laplagnedenounced for the events of 2002.

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

While Ezzati is facing this process, Pope Francis has put the Spanish Monseñor at the head of the Archdiocese of the Chilean capital Aós Braco (Artaiz, Pamplona, ​​1945).

He finished his studies of philosophy in Zaragoza and his theological studies in Pamplona. He graduated in psychology from the University of Barcelona and entered as a Franciscan Capuchin in 1964.

He was ordained a priest in Pamplona in 1968 and, as such, was Provincial Treasurer of the Capuchins of Chile, promoter of the tax justice of the Ecclesiastical Court of Valparaiso and Treasurer of the Chilean Association of Canon Law.

He was appointed 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 investigates 148 alleged cases of badual abuse by people related to the Catholic Church, while the number of victims is 255, as reported by the national prosecutor Jorge Abbott last January.