Pope Francis has sent one of his top sex crimes investigators to Bolivia at a time when the Andean nation is being shaken by an escalating pedophilia scandal involving priests.
The Vatican’s main charitable organization, Caritas Internationalis, is hoping to open a new chapter this week, but the recently ousted head is fighting back, claiming the Vatican engaged in a “brutal power grab” fueled by a “colonialist” attitude.
Francis met the papal abuse commission at a time when many questions have been raised about its organization, governance and direction following the resignation at the end of March of Hans Zollner, S.J.
A federal judge donated tens of thousands of dollars to New Orleans’ Roman Catholic archdiocese and consistently ruled in favor of the church amid a contentious bankruptcy involving nearly 500 clergy sex abuse victims.
Father Hans Zollner clarified that his resignation was not intended to personally attack anyone or impede the work of the commission, which he called “a success in itself and a great idea by Pope Francis.”
A criminal complaint filed on Friday alleges that ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick sexually assaulted a Wisconsin man in 1977, when the alleged victim was 18 years old.