Pope defrocks two retired Chilean bishops over sexual abuse of minors

Pope Francis on Saturday expelled from the priesthood two retired Chilean bishops accused of abusing minors, and made it clear they had no possibility of appeal.

>>Jason HorowitzThe New York Times
Published : 14 Oct 2018, 07:07 AM
Updated : 14 Oct 2018, 07:33 AM

One of the bishops, Francisco Cox, 84, is archbishop emeritus of the city of La Serena and is in poor health. He has a record of sexually abusing children dating to before his arrival as the bishop of the Chilean diocese of Chillan in 1974. The other is Marco Antonio Ordenes Fernandez, 53, and he has not been seen publicly for years.

The pope’s sentence, the harshest available in church canon law, was handed down a day after the pope reluctantly accepted the resignation of Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, one of the most powerful men in the US Roman Catholic Church.

The accusations against Wuerl were linked to his time as the bishop of Pittsburgh and were included in a Pennsylvania grand jury report that documented widespread abuse over decades. The allegations, which Wuerl has disputed, had to do with his suspected mismanagement of abusive priests.

The Chilean bishops defrocked on Saturday were accused of sexual abuse.

Cox had been living since 2002 at the institute of the Schönstatt Fathers in Santiago, Chile, at the request of the Vatican. In a statement released Oct 6, the Rev Fernando Baeza, the institute’s provincial superior, said another allegation of abuse in 2004 in Germany was reported against Cox in 2017 and prompted a Vatican investigation.

The other laicised priest, Fernandez, retired in 2012 at 47, citing health problems linked to hepatitis.

It later emerged, however, that Fernandez, who has not been seen in public since 2013 and is believed to be living a life of penitence and prayer in Peru, was under church and civil investigations for sexual abuse.

In September, Francis defrocked Father Fernando Karadima, the 88-year-old Chilean priest whose abuse of teenage boys is central to an abuse scandal in which some of Karadima’s followers who have gone on to become powerful bishops are accused of witnessing and covering up his abuse.

© 2018 New York Times News Service