Police and prosecutors raided Roman Catholic Church places of work in two Chilean cities Wednesday looking for files, investigative experiences and documents associated with a sex abuse scandal that has damaged the clergy ’s popularity in the South American us of a.
The surprise raids targeted the headquarters of Santiago ’s Ecclesiastical Courtroom and the bishop ’s place of job in Rancagua in the O ’Higgins region, the place 14 monks are accused of having had sexual relations with minors.
“In Chile, we’re all matter to not unusual justice,” said prosecutor Emiliano Arias, who led the raid in Santiago.
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Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati, the archbishop of Santiago, mentioned church officers “gave the prosecutor all the requested documentation.” He brought that they are “available to co-function with the civilian justice device in all that is required.”
In May, all of Chile ’s 30-plus active bishops presented to surrender over their collective guilt in failing to protect Chile ’s children from monks who raped, groped and molested them.
Wednesday ’s raids got here as two prime Vatican investigators – Archbishop Charles Scicluna and Spanish Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu – are in Chile to research the sexual abuse of minors committed by way of clergy.
Scicluna and Bertomeu earlier put together a 2,300-page document that caused Pope Francis to appreciate he had misjudged the Chilean situation.
On Monday, Francis began purging Chile ’s Catholic hierarchy over the avalanche of sex abuse and coverup cases, starting with accepting the resignations of the bishop on the centre of the scandal and others. Extra heads have been expected to roll.
A Vatican remark Monday stated Francis had regularly occurring the resignations of Bishop Juan Barros of Osorno, Bishop Gonzalo Duarte of Valparaiso and Bishop Cristian Caro of Puerto Montt. He named a temporary leader for every diocese.
Barros, SIXTY ONE, has been on the centre of Chile ’s rising scandal ever considering that Francis appointed him bishop of Osorno in 2015 over the objections of the native trustworthy, the pope ’s own sex abuse prevention advisers and some of Chile ’s other bishops.
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The record exposed evidence that the Chilean hierarchy systematically lined up and minimized abuse instances, destroying proof of sex crimes, pressuring church investigators to discredit abuse accusations and showing “grave negligence” in protective kids from pedophile clergymen.
The Ones findings opened a Pandora ’s Box of new accusations that led Francis to transform the first pope to seek advice from a “culture of abuse and coverup” within the Catholic Church.
The raids in Chile were reminiscent of the police seek performed in 2010 at the headquarters of the Catholic Church hierarchy in Belgium, which prompted Pope Benedict XVI to interfere and protest the “deplorable” intrusion in the Catholic Church ’s legal process.
Belgian police took away computer systems and masses of information amid rumours that church leaders were proceeding to cover up abuse circumstances. The raid induced a Catholic panel investigating abuse to close down in protest, announcing Belgian authorities had betrayed the trust of just about 500 victims who made court cases to the panel.
