Interview with Radio Boston 6th February 2018
http://www.wbur.org/radioboston
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http://www.wbur.org/radioboston
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ASSOCIATED PRESS ARTICLE - 5th February 2018
By Nicole Winfield and Eva Vergara
By Nicole Winfield and Eva Vergara
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis received a victim’s letter in 2015 that graphically detailed how a priest sexually abused him and how other Chilean clergy ignored it, contradicting the pope’s recent insistence that no victims had come forward to denounce the cover-up, the letter’s author and members of Francis’ own sex- abuse commission have told The Associated Press.
The fact that Francis received the eight-page letter, obtained by the AP, challenges his insistence that he has “zero tolerance” for sex abuse and cover-ups. It also calls into question his stated empathy with abuse survivors, compounding the most serious crisis of his five-year papacy.
The scandal exploded last month when Francis’ trip to South America was marred by protests over his vigorous defense of Bishop Juan Barros, who is accused by victims of covering up the abuse by the Rev. Fernando Karadima. During the trip, Francis callously dismissed accusations against Barros as “slander,” seemingly unaware that victims had placed him at the scene of Karadima’s crimes.
On the plane home, confronted by an AP reporter, the pope said: “You, in all good will, tell me that there are victims, but I haven’t seen any, because they haven’t come forward.”
But members of the pope’s Commission for the Protection of Minors say that in April 2015, they sent a delegation to Rome specifically to hand-deliver a letter to the pope about Barros. The letter from Juan Carlos Cruz detailed the abuse, kissing and fondling he says he suffered at Karadima’s hands, which he said Barros and others witnessed and ignored.
Four members of the commission met with Francis’ top abuse adviser, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, explained their objections to Francis’ recent appointment of Barros as a bishop in southern Chile, and gave him the letter to deliver to Francis.
“When we gave him (O’Malley) the letter for the pope, he assured us he would give it to the pope and speak of the concerns,” then-commission member Marie Collins told the AP. “And at a later date, he assured us that that had been done.”
Cruz, who now lives and works in Philadelphia, heard the same later that year.
“Cardinal O’Malley called me after the pope’s visit here in Philadelphia and he told me, among other things, that he had given the letter to the pope — in his hands,” he said in an interview at his home Sunday.
Neither the Vatican nor O’Malley responded to multiple requests for comment.
While the 2015 summit of Francis’ commission was known and publicized at the time, the contents of Cruz’s letter — and a photograph of Collins handing it to O’Malley — were not disclosed by members. Cruz provided the letter, and Collins provided the photo, after reading an AP story that reported Francis had claimed to have never heard from any Karadima victims about Barros’ behavior.
The Barros affair first caused shockwaves in January 2015 when Francis appointed him bishop of Osorno, Chile, over the objections of the leadership of Chile’s bishops’ conference and many local priests and laity. They accepted as credible the testimony against Karadima, a prominent Chilean cleric who was sanctioned by the Vatican in 2011 for abusing minors. Barros was a Karadima protege, and according to Cruz and other victims, he witnessed the abuse and did nothing.
“Holy Father, I write you this letter because I’m tired of fighting, of crying and suffering,” Cruz wrote in Francis’ native Spanish. “Our story is well known and there’s no need to repeat it, except to tell you of the horror of having lived this abuse and how I wanted to kill myself.”
Cruz and other survivors had for years denounced the cover-up of Karadima’s crimes, but were dismissed as liars by the Chilean church hierarchy and the Vatican’s own ambassador in Santiago, who refused their repeated requests to meet before and after Barros was appointed.
After Francis’ comments backing the Chilean hierarchy caused such an outcry in Chile, he was forced last week to do an about-face: The Vatican announced it was sending in its most respected sex-crimes investigator to take testimony from Cruz and others about Barros.
In the letter to the pope, Cruz begs for Francis to listen to him and make good on his pledge of “zero tolerance.”
“Holy Father, it’s bad enough that we suffered such tremendous pain and anguish from the sexual and psychological abuse, but the terrible mistreatment we received from our pastors is almost worse,” he wrote.
Cruz goes on to detail in explicit terms the homo-eroticized nature of the circle of priests and young boys around Karadima, the charismatic preacher whose El Bosque community in the well-to-do Santiago neighborhood of Providencia produced dozens of priestly vocations and five bishops, including Barros.
He described how Karadima would kiss Barros and fondle his genitals, and do the same with younger priests and teens, and how young priests and seminarians would fight to sit next to Karadima at the table to receive his affections.
“More difficult and tough was when we were in Karadima’s room and Juan Barros — if he wasn’t kissing Karadima — would watch when Karadima would touch us — the minors — and make us kiss him, saying: ‘Put your mouth near mine and stick out your tongue.’ He would stick his out and kiss us with his tongue,” Cruz told the pope. “Juan Barros was a witness to all this innumerable times, not just with me but with others as well.”
“Juan Barros covered up everything that I have told you,” he added.
Barros has repeatedly denied witnessing any abuse or covering it up. “I never knew anything about, nor ever imagined, the serious abuses which that priest committed against the victims,” he told the AP recently. “I have never approved of nor participated in such serious, dishonest acts, and I have never been convicted by any tribunal of such things.”
For the Osorno faithful who have opposed Barros as their bishop, the issue isn’t so much a legal matter requiring proof or evidence, as Barros was a young priest at the time and not in a position of authority over Karadima. It’s more that if Barros didn’t “see” what was happening around him and doesn’t find it problematic for a priest to kiss and fondle young boys, he shouldn’t be in charge of a diocese where he is responsible for detecting inappropriate sexual behavior, reporting it to police and protecting children from pedophiles like his mentor.
Cruz had arrived at Karadima’s community in 1980 as a vulnerable teenager, distraught after the recent death of his father. He has said Karadima told him he would be like a spiritual father to him, but instead sexually abused him.
Based on testimony from Cruz and other former members of the parish, the Vatican in 2011 removed Karadima from ministry and sentenced him to a lifetime of “penance and prayer” for his crimes. Now 87, he lives in a home for elderly priests in Santiago; he hasn’t commented on the scandal and the home has declined to accept calls or visits from the news media.
The victims also testified to Chilean prosecutors, who opened an investigation into Karadima after they went public with their accusations in 2010. Chilean prosecutors had to drop charges because too much time had passed, but the judge running the case stressed that it wasn’t for lack of proof.
While the victims’ testimony was deemed credible by both Vatican and Chilean prosecutors, the local church hierarchy clearly didn’t believe them, which might have influenced Francis’ view. Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz has acknowledged he didn’t believe the victims initially and shelved an investigation. He was forced to reopen it after the victims went public.
He is now one of the Argentine pope’s key cardinal advisers.
By the time he finally got his letter into the pope’s hands in 2015, Cruz had already sent versions to many other people, and had tried for months to get an appointment with the Vatican ambassador. The embassy’s Dec. 15, 2014, email to Cruz — a month before Barros was appointed — was short and to the point:
“The apostolic nunciature has received the message you emailed Dec. 7 to the apostolic nuncio,” it read, “and at the same time communicates that your request has been met with an unfavorable response.”
One could argue that Francis didn’t pay attention to Cruz’s letter, since he receives thousands of letters every day from faithful around the world. He can’t possibly read them all, much less remember the contents years later. He might have been tired and confused after a weeklong trip to South America when he told an airborne press conference that victims never came forward to accuse Barros of cover-up.
But this was not an ordinary letter, nor were the circumstances under which it arrived in the Vatican.
Francis had named O’Malley, the archbishop of Boston, to head his Commission for the Protection of Minors based on his credibility in having helped clean up the mess in Boston after the U.S. sex abuse scandal exploded there in 2002. The commission gathered outside experts to advise the church on protecting children from pedophiles and educating church personnel about preventing abuse and cover-ups.
The four commission members who were on a special subcommittee dedicated to survivors had flown to Rome specifically to speak with O’Malley about the Barros appointment and to deliver Cruz’s letter. A press release issued after the April 12, 2015, meeting read: “Cardinal O’Malley agreed to present the concerns of the subcommittee to the Holy Father.”
Commission member Catherine Bonnet, a French child psychiatrist who took the photo of Collins handing the letter to O’Malley, said the commission members had decided to descend on Rome specifically when O’Malley and other members of the pope’s group of nine cardinal advisers were meeting, so that O’Malley could put it directly into the pope’s hands.
“Cardinal O’Malley promised us when Marie gave to him the letter of Juan Carlos that he will give to Pope Francis,” she said.
O’Malley’s spokesman in Boston referred requests for comment to the Vatican. Neither the Vatican press office, nor officials at the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, responded to calls and emails seeking comment.
But O’Malley’s remarkable response to Francis’ defense of Barros and to his dismissal of the victims while he was in Chile, is perhaps now better understood.
In a rare rebuke of a pope by a cardinal, O’Malley issued a statement Jan. 20 in which he said the pope’s words were “a source of great pain for survivors of sexual abuse,” and that such expressions had the effect of abandoning victims and relegating them to “discredited exile.”
A day later, Francis apologized for having demanded “proof” of wrongdoing by Barros, saying he meant merely that he wanted to see “evidence.” But he continued to describe the accusations against Barros as “calumny” and insisted he had never heard from any victims.
Even when told in his airborne press conference Jan. 21 that Karadima’s victims had indeed placed Barros at the scene of Karadima’s abuse, Francis said: “No one has come forward. They haven’t provided any evidence for a judgment. This is all a bit vague. It’s something that can’t be accepted.”
He stood by Barros, saying: “I’m certain he’s innocent,” even while saying that he considered the testimony of victims to be “evidence” in a cover-up investigation.
“If anyone can give me evidence, I’ll be the first to listen,” he said.
Cruz said he felt like he had been slapped when he heard those words.
“I was upset,” he said, “and at the same time I couldn’t believe that someone so high up like the pope himself could lie about this.”
This version corrects that the commission members’ trip to Rome was paid for by the commission, not themselves.
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Link to the Chilean newspaper Elmostrador's article on 9th September 2015 covering the leaked e mail exchange of Cardinal Ezzati and Cardinal Errazuriz on the prevention of a survivor's consideration as a new member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors
Link: Los correos secretos entre Ezzati y Errázuriz y el rol clave de Enrique Correa en las operaciones políticas de la Iglesia
An English translation of the e mail exchange below
(NB I do not speak Spanish so cannot guarantee this is 100% accurate but have no reason to believe it is not a fair translation of the originals... MC)
From: Ricardo Ezzati Andrello
To: Francisco Javier Errázuriz
Sent: Saturday, June 28, 2014 at 23:16
Dear Mr. Cardinal,
Yesterday, the day of the Sacred Heart, in the headquarters of the Catholic University, I met with Father Marcelo Gidi (Jesuit priest). Just arrived from Rome and told me that the Pontifical Commission on sexual abuse, would be appointing Mr Juan Carlos Cruz (one of the victims of Fernando Karadima). His appointment is nominated by this Irish woman who was abused [referring to Marie Collins], which is already a member of that committee. I hope not, it would be too terrible for the Church in Chile. It would mean, among other things, to give credit and believe a construction of the truth that Mr. Cruz has shrewdly built after the Decree of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, [*although true facts it would be dangerous] that correspond to the truth of the facts. I hope you can talk and provide light to those who have responsibility for this nomination. [* ] this sentence amended as error in translation
Receive my cordial greeting, which I extend to the Holy Father. Tomorrow at the Cathedral of Santiago, we will remember you in a special way.
Good evening
+ Ricardo (Ezzati)
From: Francisco Javier Errazuriz
To; Ricardo Ezzati
Sent: Sunday, June 29
(…)
First thing Monday morning I will sit in the offices of the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to prevent this evil which you told me about. If he declines, I will speak with the Holy Father. Do they think that an appointment is appropriate without consulting the president of the Chilean Conference of Bishops or any of the Chilean cardinals? It would be a new reason to reform the Curia.
I wish you a great week.
Your brother in the episcopate
+ Francisco Javier
From: Ricardo Ezzati Andrello
To: Francisco Javier Errázuriz
Sent: April 21, 2013
This morning I heard a story that did not please me at all. A journalist informed me that Mr. Cruz has been invited by the Anglophone Episcopal Conference to testify about the experience of suffering abuse by Father Karadima and to talk about the behavior of the Church of Santiago in relation to it. The meeting which will take place in Rome in the last week of May. A team from our archdiocese will be present. This was communicated to me by Fr. Ramos who wanted to attend with several members of the team.
Tomorrow I'll talk to Mons. Goic to see if this invitation has his authorization (since the Committee has not told us anything).
Also, I ask for your advice to see who can intervene in Rome to prevent this from happening. We know the intentions of Mr. Cruz towards you and to the Church of Santiago. I hope we can avoid that his lies find agreement among those who form the Church. Sorry to end your Sunday with this bad situation.
With great respect, greetings in the Lord,
+ Ricardo
From: Francisco Javier Errazuriz
To: Ricardo Ezzati
Sent: April 22, 2013
Dear Don Ricardo,
How strange is it that on the Sunday of the Good Shepherd we also have to deal with robbers and wolves
I need advice: Which are the countries included in this Anglophone Episcopal Conference?
I see two paths which should be followed simultaneously:
I remember you with gratitude and fraternal trust,
Your brother in the episcopate,
+ Francisco Javier Errazuriz Ossa.
From: Francisco Javier Errazuriz
To: Ricardo Ezzati
Sent: July 1, 2014
Dear Don Ricardo,
The head of that commission is Cardinal O'Malley.
He wants the names of all potential members – before the appointment by the Holy Father -- to pass through the nuncios in consultation with the respective Bishops. I handed the material. Cruz is clearly not to be named. Anyway, although I already did on Sunday, you do the same and warn the Nuncio again, give him a warning once more. Juan Carlos Cruz has been proposed to be appointed to the Commission.
(…)
For now, I implore for you all the gifts of the Holy Spirit of joy, wisdom, strength and peace.
Your brother in the episcopate,
+ Fco. Javier
From: Francisco Javier Errázuriz
Link: Los correos secretos entre Ezzati y Errázuriz y el rol clave de Enrique Correa en las operaciones políticas de la Iglesia
An English translation of the e mail exchange below
(NB I do not speak Spanish so cannot guarantee this is 100% accurate but have no reason to believe it is not a fair translation of the originals... MC)
From: Ricardo Ezzati Andrello
To: Francisco Javier Errázuriz
Sent: Saturday, June 28, 2014 at 23:16
Dear Mr. Cardinal,
Yesterday, the day of the Sacred Heart, in the headquarters of the Catholic University, I met with Father Marcelo Gidi (Jesuit priest). Just arrived from Rome and told me that the Pontifical Commission on sexual abuse, would be appointing Mr Juan Carlos Cruz (one of the victims of Fernando Karadima). His appointment is nominated by this Irish woman who was abused [referring to Marie Collins], which is already a member of that committee. I hope not, it would be too terrible for the Church in Chile. It would mean, among other things, to give credit and believe a construction of the truth that Mr. Cruz has shrewdly built after the Decree of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, [*although true facts it would be dangerous] that correspond to the truth of the facts. I hope you can talk and provide light to those who have responsibility for this nomination. [* ] this sentence amended as error in translation
Receive my cordial greeting, which I extend to the Holy Father. Tomorrow at the Cathedral of Santiago, we will remember you in a special way.
Good evening
+ Ricardo (Ezzati)
From: Francisco Javier Errazuriz
To; Ricardo Ezzati
Sent: Sunday, June 29
(…)
First thing Monday morning I will sit in the offices of the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to prevent this evil which you told me about. If he declines, I will speak with the Holy Father. Do they think that an appointment is appropriate without consulting the president of the Chilean Conference of Bishops or any of the Chilean cardinals? It would be a new reason to reform the Curia.
I wish you a great week.
Your brother in the episcopate
+ Francisco Javier
From: Ricardo Ezzati Andrello
To: Francisco Javier Errázuriz
Sent: April 21, 2013
This morning I heard a story that did not please me at all. A journalist informed me that Mr. Cruz has been invited by the Anglophone Episcopal Conference to testify about the experience of suffering abuse by Father Karadima and to talk about the behavior of the Church of Santiago in relation to it. The meeting which will take place in Rome in the last week of May. A team from our archdiocese will be present. This was communicated to me by Fr. Ramos who wanted to attend with several members of the team.
Tomorrow I'll talk to Mons. Goic to see if this invitation has his authorization (since the Committee has not told us anything).
Also, I ask for your advice to see who can intervene in Rome to prevent this from happening. We know the intentions of Mr. Cruz towards you and to the Church of Santiago. I hope we can avoid that his lies find agreement among those who form the Church. Sorry to end your Sunday with this bad situation.
With great respect, greetings in the Lord,
+ Ricardo
From: Francisco Javier Errazuriz
To: Ricardo Ezzati
Sent: April 22, 2013
Dear Don Ricardo,
How strange is it that on the Sunday of the Good Shepherd we also have to deal with robbers and wolves
I need advice: Which are the countries included in this Anglophone Episcopal Conference?
I see two paths which should be followed simultaneously:
- We will call the president of the Episcopal Conference, warning him that the invitation will cause serious harm.
- I could have a high authority in Rome intervene , probably Cardinal Ouellet, but it would be nice to send it to Cardinal Bertone, who will take care of it since you have a great relationship with him. This letter could be also written by the Nuncio ... if they write letters.
I could prepare a brief report on the steps of the complaint of Mr. Juan Carlos Cruz, which was promptly taken care of.
I remember you with gratitude and fraternal trust,
Your brother in the episcopate,
+ Francisco Javier Errazuriz Ossa.
From: Francisco Javier Errazuriz
To: Ricardo Ezzati
Sent: July 1, 2014
Dear Don Ricardo,
The head of that commission is Cardinal O'Malley.
He wants the names of all potential members – before the appointment by the Holy Father -- to pass through the nuncios in consultation with the respective Bishops. I handed the material. Cruz is clearly not to be named. Anyway, although I already did on Sunday, you do the same and warn the Nuncio again, give him a warning once more. Juan Carlos Cruz has been proposed to be appointed to the Commission.
(…)
For now, I implore for you all the gifts of the Holy Spirit of joy, wisdom, strength and peace.
Your brother in the episcopate,
+ Fco. Javier
From: Francisco Javier Errázuriz