Pope faces challenge of restoring trust in the wake of Peru, Chile scandals

Jan 18, 2018

VATICAN: When Pope Francis embarks on his fourth visit to South America, he faces the enormous task of restoring trust and encouraging healing after scandals in both countries left many wounded and angry at the Catholic Church.

Pope Francis planned the trip Jan 15-21 to Chile and Peru as an opportunity to take a message of hope and comfort to people on the margins of society, particularly the indigenous people.

However, the challenges facing the Church in both countries makes this visit different compared to his previous trips to the continent.

In Peru, young members of Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, a Catholic movement, were subjected to psychological and sexual abuse by group leaders, including the founder, Luis Fernando Figari. An internal Sodalitium investigation confirmed the abuse of children, teens and young adult members of the movement.

Less than a week before the Pope’s visit to Peru, the Vatican’s Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life named a Colombian bishop to be the trustee of the scandal- plagued movement.

The Vatican said Jan 10 that Pope Francis followed the case “with concern” and “insistently requested” the congregation to act.

Despite his actions to address the issue of sexual abuse in Peru, his decision to appoint a bishop accused of turning a blind eye to abuse drew outrage in Chile.

The Pope’s appointment of Bishop Juan Barros as head of the Diocese of Osorno sparked several protests — most notably at the bishop’s installation Mass — due to the bishop’s connection to Father Fernando Karadima, his former mentor.

Fr Karadima was sentenced to a life of prayer and penance by the Vatican after he was found guilty of sexually abusing boys.

Greg Burke, director of the Vatican press office, told reporters Jan 11 that Pope Francis’ formal schedule for Chile and Peru did not include a meeting with sexual abuse victims or with the people still protesting Bishop Barros’ appointment. Sexual abuse was “clearly an important theme,” Burke said, adding “the best meetings are private meetings.”

The protests against the Pope’s appointment of Bishop Barros gained steam when a video of Pope Francis defending the appointment was published in September 2015 by the Chilean news channel, Ahora Noticias. Filmed during a general audience a few months earlier, the video showed the Pope telling a group of Chilean pilgrims that Catholics protesting the appointment were “judging a bishop without any proof.”

“Think with your head; don’t let yourself be led by all the lefties who are the ones that started all of this,” the Pope said. “Yes, Osorno is suffering but for being foolish because he didn’t open his heart to what God says and allowed himself to be led by all this silliness that all those people say.”

Many were outraged by the Pope’s assessment of the situation, including several of Fr Karadima’s victims, who organised an event to coincide with Pope Francis’ arrival in the country.

The conference, titled “Sexual Abuse in an Ecclesiastical Context,” was sponsored by the Foundation for Trust and featured several notable speakers, including Peter Saunders, a former member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

“The fact that the Pope is coming and we are having this seminar is because many people are coming to show their commitment to the rights of children, as well as their anger at the lack of reaction and the mistaken words the Pope gave,” Jose Andres Murillo, director of the foundation who suffered abuse at the hands of Fr Karadima, said in an interview with Chilean news website, El Mostrador.

Protesters from the Diocese of Osorno were also expected to be in Santiago, calling on the Pope to remove Bishop Barros. --CNS