Hundreds protest against ordination

Hundreds of protesters have disrupted the ordination of a bishop accused of covering up the sex abuse committed by the priest Fernando Karadima.

Bishop Juan Barros was ordained on Saturday in a ceremony that was cut short after 650 protesters arrived at the cathedral in Osorno. The bishop was at first prevented from entering the building and was then forced to leave by a side door as the protesters clashed with his supporters.

Bishop Barros is accused of having known about the abuse committed by Karadima in the 1980s and 1990s and later of ignoring complaints against the priest.

The bishops’ conference said in a statement that it supported Pope Francis’ decision to name Barros as a bishop. However, senior members of the Chilean hierarchy did not attend the ordination and many were reportedly baffled by the appointment.

The Sacred Heart provincial in Chile, Alex Figueras, said: “It has left us perplexed. It seems to have been a nomination made by the nuncio alone without the backing of the majority of Chilean bishops.”

In February a group of 30 priests and deacons wrote to the nuncio in Chile, Ivo Scapolo, saying they were “troubled” by the nomination of Barros. Juan Carlos Cruz, a victim of Karadima, told a Chilean radio station that the ordination had been a huge shock.

“He [Barros] was present in the room when I was abused,” he said, alleging that Barros later, as secretary to Cardinal Juan Francisco Fresno, destroyed letters from victims.

Bishop Barros did not appear for his first Mass on Sunday. In comments to the press before his ordination he distanced himself from Karadima and denied destroying evidence. “I am no friend of Fernando Karadima,” he said. “It never crossed my mind that these things were going on.”

In 2011, after an internal investigation, the Vatican found Karadima guilty of sexually abusing minors and ordered him to retire to “a life of prayer and penitence” in Santiago.

ARGENTINA: Ahead of Argentina’s general election in October, the bishops have called on voters and politicians to unite for the sake of the future of the country.

The bishops said the big issues facing the next government would be inflation, extreme poverty, unemployment, corruption and the drugs scourge.

They appealed for a focus on the long- term health of the country and asked candidates to confine themselves to proposing initiatives that would “not destroy gains already made”. Referring to the huge sums of money that Argentina owes to international hedge funds (so-called vulture funds) the bishops said that “efficient and successful [financial] management” was crucial.