Update | Pope Francis stuns Chile, accusing paedophilia victims of ‘slander’ as he defends bishop accused of cover-up
‘He has just turned back the clock to the darkest days of this crisis. Who knows how many victims now will decide to stay hidden, for fear they will not be believed?’
Pope Francis accused victims of Chile’s most notorious paedophile of slander on Thursday, an astonishing end to a visit meant to help heal the wounds of a sex abuse scandal that has cost the Catholic Church its credibility in the country.
“The day they bring me proof against Bishop (Juan) Barros, then I will speak,” the pope said in response to a journalist’s question about the 61-year-old bishop, appointed by Francis in 2015 despite being accused of covering up another priest’s abuse of boys.
“There is not a single piece of proof against him. Everything is slander,” he said before celebrating open-air mass in the northern city of Iquique.
The pope’s remarks drew shock from Chileans and immediate rebuke from victims and their advocates. They noted the accusers were deemed credible enough by the Vatican that it sentenced Karadima to a lifetime of “penance and prayer” for his crimes in 2011.
A Chilean judge also found the victims to be credible, saying that while she had to drop criminal charges against Karadima because too much time had passed, proof of his crimes wasn’t lacking.