Papa Francisco Acoberta Casos de Pedofilia? Seis Exemplos que Dizem que Sim.

O site Life News relatou seis casos em que Papa Francisco pode ser visto como acobertando casos de abuso sexual dentro da Igreja. O Life News declara que as palavras do Papa de que seria mais rígido com casos de abuso sexual dentro da Igreja não condizem com seus atos. O Papa Francisco chegou a dizer que teria "tolerância zero" em casos de pedofilia. Mas não é assim que tem se comportado, em pelo menos seis casos relatados pelo Life News.

Vejam abaixo o texto do Life News, aqui vai o resumo dos seis casos:

1. Caso do Padre Mauro Inzoli que praticou pedofilia. Ele foi condenado pela Congregação da Doutrina da Fé, e assim foi obrigado a deixar de ser padre. Mas o Papa Francisco o perdoou e Inzoli voltou a ser padre em 2014. Em 2015, Padre Inzoli voltou a molestar crianças e foi condenado pela justiça italiana por oito casos de pedofilia, e preso para cumprir sentença de quase 5 anos;

2. Em 2013, um grupo de crianças surdas e mudas do Instituto Provolo enviaram carta ao Papa Francisco informando que o Padre Nicola Corradi molestou sexualmente as crianças e denunciando que Corradi continuava atuando com crianças surdas e mudas na Argentina. Apenas em 2016, o Papa Francisco respondeu às crianças negando uma investigação independente e delegando os casos para a Congregação de Bispos da Itália. Em novembro de 2016, a polícia da Argentina prendeu Corradi, o padre Horácio Corbacho e mais três homens acusados de pedofilia. E encontrou 34 mil dólares e pornografia na sala de Corradi em Mendoza na Argentina.

3. Em 2010, o cardeal belga Godfried Danneels foi pego em gravação acobertando os casos de pedofilia do seu amigo bispo Roger Vangheluwe. A vítima era um sobrinho do bispo. Danneels foi pego até pedindo que a vítima ficasse em silêncio e reconhecesse seus próprios erros. Quando a gravação saiu em público, o bispo reconheceu o erro e renunciou. Ao invés de condenar Danneels, o Papa Francisco o recompensou, dando posição de destaque no Vaticano e indicando-o pessoalmente para o Sínodo da Família. 

4. O Cardeal hondurenho Oscar Maradiaga é considerado um vice Papa pela proximidade que ele tem do Papa Francisco. Ele é chefe do chamado C9, o Gabinete dos Cardeais do Papa. Talvez o Gabinete mais poderoso do Vaticano. Em 2002, Maradiaga declarou em entrevista que a imprensa foca em casos de pedofilia da Igreja porque quer esconder o conflito Israel-Palestina. E disse que preferia ir para a cadeia do que denunciar um caso de pedofilia de um padre.

5. O cardeal chileno Errázuriz também foi nomeado para o C9, pelo Papa Francisco. Mas ele é acusado de acobertar por anos os casos de pedofilia do padre Karadima, no Chile. O cardeal foi avisado dos abusos sexuais contra menores pelas vítimas e nunca fez nada. As vítimas ficaram muito enfurecidas pela nomeação de Errázuriz para o C9.

6. Em março de 2015, o Papa Francisco apontou o bispo Juan Barros para liderar a Diocese de Osorno, no Chile. As vítimas do padre Karadima e os católicos de Osorno ficaram furiosos por conta dos fortes laços entre Juan Barros e Karadima. Mais de 1.300 católicos em Osorno, juntamente com 30 sacerdotes diocesanos e 120 membros do Parlamento chileno, enviaram uma carta ao Papa Francisco pedindo-lhe que rescindisse a nomeação de Dom Barros, que estava marcada para 21 de março de 2015. Os bispos do Chile apoiaram Barros contra os acusadores e o Vaticano rejeitou as acusações. Em maio de 2015, o papa Francisco foi filmado criticando católicos chilenos que protestaram contra a nomeação de Barros. Francisco os chamou de "estúpidos" por acreditarem nas acusações contra Barros. As acusações contra Barros eram muito sérias, incluindo dois ex-seminaristas alegando que Barros estava na sala quando foram abusados por Karadima. A mídia mundial relatou que milhares de católicos, vestidos de preto, invadiram a Catedral de San Mateo durante a cerimônia de instalação de Barros

Abaixo o texto do Life News. Rezemos pelas vítimas.

Six cases where the sexual abuse scandal touches Pope Francis

By Elizabeth Yore

January 25, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) – Recent revelations concerning Pope Francis and negligence over sexual abuse of minors are calling into question his strong words condemning the cover-up of sexual abuse.

In March 2014, in an announcement that received massive publicity, Pope Francis promised a new, more improved Vatican response to the clerical abuse of minors. He reaffirmed that the Vatican would institute zero tolerance for pedophile priests. He announced the creation of a new papal commission on child protection made up of Cardinals, experts, and victims of clergy abuse. This past May, Pope Francis spoke of the scandal again by saying, "This is a tragedy, we must not tolerate the abuse of minors. We must defend minors. And we must severely punish the abusers." Yet, there appears to be a gulf between his words on reform and the reality.

The following six cases suggest a grave disconnect between Pope Francis’ public gestures on the sexual abuse cover-up and his actions.

1. The Fr. Inzoli case: Shocking papal intervention on behalf of a sexual predator

Earlier this month, Michael Brendan Dougherty reported the troubling case of Fr. Mauro Inzoli, who was accused of molesting children, including in the confessional.  In 2012, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) found him guilty and defrocked him. Yet, shockingly, Inzoli won a reprieve from Pope Francis.

According to Dougherty, the Pope’s close collaborators, Cardinal Coccopalmerio and Monsignor Pio Vito Pinto, now dean of the Roman Rota, both intervened on behalf of Fr. Inzoli. Pope Francis reversed the action of the CDF and returned Inzoli to the priestly state in 2014, inviting him to "a life of humility and prayer." Coccopalmerio is a trusted confidante of Francis. However, the flashy “Don Mercedes,” as Fr. Inzoli was known, did not follow these admonishments. Dougherty reports, “In January 2015, Don Mercedes participated in a conference on the family in Lombardy.”

This past summer, civil authorities concluded the trial of Inzoli, convicting him of eight offenses, while another 15 charges were beyond the statute of limitations. Inzoli was sentenced to 4 years and 9 months by the Italian Court.

2. The sex abuse victims of the Argentina/Italy Provolo Institute for Deaf and Mute

In December 2013, a group of deaf and mute students from the Italian Provolo Institute in Verona who were sex abuse victims of Fr. Nicola Corradi wrote directly to Pope Francis notifying him that Corradi had sexually abused them and informed the Pope that Fr. Corradi was still in ministry with deaf and mute children in Francis' native Argentina.  The letter to Pope Francis details the heartbreakingly brutal treatment of abuse victims by the Vatican:

We are a group of former students of the Antonio Provolo Institute for the Deaf and Dumb of Verona (Italy) who told the press about the abuses committed by paedophile priests at the Institute. This was done only after three years of fruitless contacts with the Curia of Verona and in order to prevent what happened to us from happening to other children. The Bishop of Verona, who had been aware of what was going on, immediately accused us of being slanderers.

On May 9, 2014, the eight Provolo victims of Italy sent Pope Francis a video message pleading for justice. They asked the Pope for safety measures to protect children.

After repeated pleas and requests to the Vatican, in February 2016, the Vatican informed the victims that the Pope had referred the matter to the Italian Bishops’ Conference, refusing their request for an independent investigation. For three years, Fr. Corradi remained at the school, after Pope Francis was informed that an active child predator priest was teaching deaf and mute children in Argentina.

In late November 2016, Argentine Police arrested the 82-year old Rev. Corradi, 55-year-old priest Horacio Corbacho, and three other men. They are accused of sexual and physical child abuse at the Antonio Provolo Institute in northwestern Mendoza province in Argentina. When the police raided the school in Argentina’s Mendoza province, they found pornography and about $34,000 in Fr. Corradi’s room.

Now at least 60 students of the Provolo Institute in Argentina have come forward seeking justice for the abuse they say they suffered at the hands of the accused men. Read about the school of horrors here.

3. Belgian Cardinal Danneels

In 2010, Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels was caught on tape attempting to cover up years of abuse involving his close friend and fellow bishop, Roger Vangheluwe, then-Bishop of Bruges. The victim on the 2010 tape was Bishop Vangheluwe’s nephew. In a meeting, which was secretly recorded, Cardinal Danneels directed the abuse victim to remain silent about the abuse, while telling him to “ask for forgiveness” and “acknowledge your own guilt.” When the tape was leaked shortly after the meeting, Bishop Vangheluwe admitted to the sexual abuse of his nephew and stepped down from his post.

While Pope Francis has repeatedly assured Catholics that bishops who cover up abuse will be removed from office, Danneels was instead rewarded. In addition to having Cardinal Danneels accompany him on his initial presentation to Catholics on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis ignored the outcry as he made Danneels one of his personal appointments to both the first and second Synod on the Family.

4. Honduran Cardinal Maradiaga

Shortly after his election as Pope, Francis named Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga as the head of the C9, the newly created Papal Cabinet of Cardinals. As head of the C9, Maradiaga is sometimes dubbed the “vice pope.” Yet, there are questions about how seriously Maradiaga takes the sex abuse crisis.

He came under withering attack in 2002 for an interview he did with the Italian Catholic publication 30 Giorni. Maradiaga claimed that Jews influenced the Boston Globe to exploit the controversy regarding sexual abuse by Catholic priests in order to divert attention from the Israeli-Palestinian crisis. The "fury" with which the press reported the scandal, Maradiaga said, "reminds me of the times of Diocletian and Nero and, more recently, Stalin and Hitler."

"It certainly makes me think that in a moment in which all the attention of the mass media was focused on the Middle East, all the many injustices done against the Palestinian people, the print media and the TV in the United States became obsessed with sexual scandals that happened 40 years ago, 30 years ago.”

Cardinal Maradiaga also expressed his allegiance to priests over victims: ''For me it would be a tragedy to reduce the role of a pastor to that of a cop. We are totally different, and I'd be prepared to go to jail rather than harm one of my priests.''

5. Chilean Cardinal Errazuriz

After the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith found Chilean priest-predator Fr. Karadima guilty of sexual abuse of minors, Pope Francis appointed Karadima’s bishop, Chilean Cardinal Errázuriz, to his powerful Council of Cardinals (C9).  

Cardinal Errazuriz first was informed of abuse by Fr. Karadima by a young male victim/parishioner who assumed an investigation would be opened.  According to the New York Times, “The cardinal sent back a note, saying he was praying for Mr. Murillo, but failed to open a preliminary investigation. He chose not to do so, the cardinal said in an e-mailed response, because ‘unfortunately, I judged that the accusations were not credible at the time.’”

The Karadima appeals judge criticized Cardinal Errázuriz for not acting on the Karadima allegations for years, and protecting a sexual predator of children.

The Karadima abuse victims were enraged over Errázuriz’s appointment to the Council of Cardinals. "Why would Pope Francis, who's trying to clean up the church, pick a man like Errázuriz who has done so much harm to so many, by his actions?" asked victim Juan Carlos Cruz. "Errázuriz said he did not believe us, and minimized sex abuse cases.”

6. Chilean Bishop Barros

In March 2015, Pope Francis appointed Bishop Juan Barros to lead the Diocese of Osorno, Chile.  The Fr. Karadima sex abuse victims and Osorno Catholics were furious over this papal selection because of Bishop Barros’ long association with Fr. Karadima. The priest-predator was in fact a longtime mentor to Barros.

Over 1,300 Catholics in Osorno, along with 30 diocesan priests, and 120 members of the Chilean Parliament sent a letter to Pope Francis urging him to rescind the appointment of Bishop Barros which was scheduled for March 21, 2015.

The bishops of Chile supported Barros against the accusers and the Vatican rejected the accusations. In May 2015, Pope Francis was filmed criticizing Chilean Catholics who protested Barros’ appointment. Francis called them “stupid” for believing the allegations against Barros.  

The accusations were very severe including two former seminarians claiming that Barros was in the room when they were abused by Karadima.

Worldwide media coverage reported that thousands of Catholics, dressed in black, stormed the Cathedral of San Mateo during Barros’ installation ceremony.

A question of integrity

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), under Cardinal Ratzinger and now Cardinal Mueller, has won praise and recognition for its swift, thorough review and action on a large and complex caseload of predator priests. Despite the CDF’s reputation for justice for abuse victims and efficiency, Pope Francis recently fired three priests who were among the finest and most talented staff. Francis refused to give a reason for their termination. It is now reported that Francis is exploring transferring the responsibility of the investigation and trial of clergy abuse cases from the CDF to the Congregation for Clergy.

On December 28, 2016, the Feast of the Holy Innocents, Pope Francis sent a chastising letter to bishops around the world reaffirming the Church’s position of “zero tolerance” for abuse of children by clergy. In his pastoral letter, Francis warned the bishops to ensure children are protected from sexual abuse by clergy. Francis wrote that "the sufferings, the experiences and pain of minors who were abused sexually by priests. It is a sin that shames us…  the sin of failing to help, the sin of covering up and denial, the sin of the abuse of power."

Dear Pope Francis, who is responsible for ignoring the pleas of victims of the sexual abuse by Fr. Nicola Corradi of deaf and mute children? Who restored priestly faculties and released back into the community a formerly laicized sexual predator, Fr. Inzoli? Who raised the stature of Cardinal Danneels caught on tape covering up abuse by appointing him to the Synods on the Family and having him on the balcony at the papal election?

Elizabeth Yore is an international child advocate attorney.  She is the former General Counsel at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the former General Counsel at the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. She is an expert in human trafficking prevention and international child abuse investigations. She has investigated several clergy sex abuse cases.