Pope Francis accepts resignation of leading Chilean cardinal accused of abuse cover-up

Santiago, Chile, Mar 23, 2019 / 09:45 am (CNA).- Pope Francis has accepted Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati of Santiago’s resignation as the cardinal and many leading Chilean churchmen face continued allegations of covering up sex abuse by clergy.

The Vatican made the announcement March 23.

The 77-year-old Italian-born archbishop had headed the Santiago archdiocese since 2010. His former chancellor Father Oscar Munoz Toledo faces charges he abused and raped at least five minors. Munoz has admitted to sexual abuse of one minor.

Ezzati has denied that he covered up sex abuse in the case of Munoz and others.

A state prosecutor sought to question the cardinal in October but he invoked his right to silence, citing his lawyers’ efforts to dismiss the case.

Ezzati has also faced accusations regarding his role in the 2015 rape of an adult man by Fr. Rigoberto Tito Rivera Munoz, who was found guilty of the sexual abuse of adults in August 2018 by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Rivera sexually assaulted a man who was then about 40 in a room of the Santiago Metropolitan Cathedral.

The victim claims he told Cardinal Ezzati of the attack during a confession, and that the archbishop asked him to pray for the abuser, gave him 30,000 pesos, about $45, and asked that he not share what happened.

However, the cardinal denies having had any contact with the victim.

The Pope named Bishop Celestino Aos Braco, O.F.M. Cap., as apostolic minister of the Santiago archdiocese. The Spanish-born bishop was named to head the Copiapo diocese in 2014.

While Pope Francis conspicuously defended a Chilean bishop accused of cover-up, during his January 2018 visit to the country, he took action after Vatican investigators Maltese Archbishop Charles Scicluna and Msgr. Jordi Bertomeu of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith wrote an unreleased 2,300-page report on sex abuse by clergy in Chile, given to the Pope in February 2018.

All of Chile’s 34 bishops offered their resignations to the Pope in the wake of the report. Cardinal Ezzati becomes the eighth Chilean bishop whose resignation has been accepted.

Oscar Munoz, the former chancellor of Cardinal Ezzati, had served as vice-chancellor of the Santiago archdiocese under Cardinal Javier Errazuriz, who is a member of Pope Francis’ Council of Cardinals which advises the pontiff.

Chilean police raided several archdiocesan offices after Oscar Munoz was linked to a suspected network of 14 abuser-priests in the neighboring Diocese of Rancagua, approximately 40 miles south of Santiago.

During one of the searches, authorities discovered a 2013 letter from a former Bishop of Rancagua to Ezzati criticizing the cardinal for his response to victims of Fr. Fernando Karadima. Karadima was a serial abuser of minors whose relationship to Bishop Juan Barros, who allegedly covered up this abuse, triggered a scandal that has engulfed the Chilean Church.

Barros maintained his innocence, saying he didn’t know the abuse was happening. Pope Francis initially backed him, refusing to allow Barros to step down from his post and calling accusations against him “calumny” during a visit to Chile in January.

However, after the Vatican investigation, in April 2018 the Pope apologized for having made “serious mistakes” in judging the case due to “a lack of truthful and balanced information.”

The Pope then accepted Bishop Barros’ resignation in June 2018.