A highly unusual church trial of a senior prelate accused of sexual abuse is under way at the Vatican this week.
Archbishop Anthony Apuron of Agaña in Guam, a US dependent territory in the Pacific Ocean, has been accused by at least four former altar boys of sexual abuse offences including rape, between the 1950s and 1970s.
On Monday (28 November) it was confirmed by the newly appointed coadjutor archbishop of Agaña, Michael Byrnes, that Archbishop Apuron’s canonical trial had begun and would be heard in front of three Vatican judges. “The argument has been exchanged and now it’s in the second phase of investigation,” he told reporters.
In 2015, Polish archbishop and papal diplomat, Jozef Wesolowski, was laicised following a canonical trial after he was accused of abuse and possessing child pornography. He was then to be tried on Vatican criminal charges but died before the beginning of the proceedings.
Pope Francis has already intervened in the case of Guam by appointing Rome-based Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai to be a temporary apostolic administrator of the archdiocese, taking responsibility away from Archbishop Apuron, 71.
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