Cardinal Francisco Javier Errázuriz closed the investigation for sexual assault "out of respect" for Karadima



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Wrapped in a scandal of badual abuse and concealment, the Chilean Catholic Church received a new blow Thursday.

The lawyer of some victims of badual abuse revealed Thursday a letter that shows how, in 2009, the archbishop of Santiago at the time Francisco Javier Errázuriz Ossa refused to ask priest Fernando Karadima about the charges against him. Your argument? "Out of respect" and closed the investigation.

Karadima, 88, was sentenced in 2011 by the church to lead a life of penance for badually badaulting minors in the parish of Santiago for which he was responsible. A few weeks ago, Pope Francis expelled him from the priesthood, to the extent that the Vatican deemed necessary for the damage done to Chile.

Juan Pablo Hermosilla, defense lawyer for the three Karadima victims who made their stories public. , presented the letter in a courtroom chamber to try to overturn the decision of a judge who, last year, had concluded that it was not necessary to There was no evidence that the Archbishopric of Santiago concealed the abuses of the priest.

The letter is signed by Francisco. Javier Errázuriz, who in 2009 was the Archbishop of Santiago and addressed the Apostolic Nuncio of the time, Giuseppe Pinto.

"Out of respect for Karadima, I did not ask the promoter to question him, and I only asked Andrés Arteaga, Auxiliary Bishop of Santiago, for his opinion," he said. letter.

The victim's attorney did not explain how he had received the letter and in the space reserved for the press of the archdiocese of Santiago, he said to the Associated. A press that would not be delivered for the moment on the letter.

Errázuriz, Cardinal Emeritus, was replaced in the Archdiocese of Chile in 2011 by Ricardo Ezzati, who is currently under investigation for concealment.

Arteaga, auxiliary bishop mentioned in The letter of Errazuriz is one of the five bishops trained by Karadima.

"He considered that everything was absolutely implausible.As for the prescribed facts, I closed the investigation," adds the letter of Errázuriz referring to Arteaga.

The Court of Appeal must now weigh the new evidence presented by the defense and determine if it is appropriate to reverse the decision of March 2017. Judge Juan Manuel Muñoz, who determined that there was no evidence that the archdiocese was concealing the abuses.

The plaintiffs, Juan Carlos Cruz, James Hamilton and José Andrés Murillo, filed a lawsuit in 2011 against the Santiago Archdiocese for concealing the crimes committed. Priest.

The same year, the Vatican condemned Karadima to a life of penance and prayer, which he performed in a comfortable home for the elderly, until Pope Francis excluded him from priesthood at the end of last September.

This year, Pope Francisco baderted that the Chilean Catholic Church had lived for decades in a "culture of abuse and concealment" and called for the resignation of all local bishops, to whom the accused of leaving the parishioners, ignored the victims of badual abuse and destroyed incriminating documents.

Francisco invited the victim public of the priest Juan Carlos Cruz, James Hamilton and Jose Andrés Murillo, to the Vatican, lodged them the same hotel where he lives and he apologized for the sufferings endured.

The complainants badert that the archdiocese has developed several actions to cover the badual crimes committed by Karadima. The archbishop of the time, Errázuriz, admitted in a criminal trial that it had taken years to deal with the complaints because he did not believe the statements of the victims.

According to the National Prosecutor's Office, 119 investigations were opened in early August, for 167 accused. belonging mostly to the Catholic Church and 178 victims of badual abuse, including 79 minors. There are seven bishops among the accused.

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