BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – The trial of a Roman Catholic bishop accused of sexually abusing younger males in northern Argentina will begin on Monday, within the newest court case to spotlight allegations of intercourse crimes which have roiled the worldwide church over the previous few a long time.
Pope Francis, the previous archbishop of Buenos Aires and the primary Latin American pontiff, has repeatedly apologized for previous crimes by clerics and pledged to finish cover-ups whereas making certain that priestly sexual abuse be “erased from the face of the earth”.
The Argentine case facilities on accusations that Gustavo Zanchetta, who served as bishop of Oran within the largely Catholic northern province of Salta, preyed on younger males finding out for the priesthood at a seminary he based in 2016.
In late 2017, Zanchetta left Oran to work within the Vatican’s Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, a monetary and accounting workplace that additionally manages church properties in Italy.
The following yr, three monks accused him of sexual abuse, abuse of energy and monetary mismanagement, which they stated happened on the Oran seminary.
A lawyer for Zanchetta didn’t reply to a request for remark, however in 2019 a Vatican spokesperson for him stated the bishop would cooperate with the authorized proceedings to attempt to restore his popularity.
Zanchetta’s trial is predicted to final a minimum of per week and embrace some 15 witnesses. It is feasible the bishop will testify on Monday, an official within the prosecutor’s press workplace stated.
A neighborhood prosecutor first referred to as for Zanchetta’s arrest in 2019, however the case has dragged on amid authorized delays associated to the COVID-19 pandemic and a Vatican canon regulation investigation.
Sexual abuse allegations have been lodged towards a minimum of 100 Catholic monks in Argentina, in response to BishopAccountability.org, an abuse monitoring group.
(Reporting by Agustin Geist; Writing by David Alire Garcia; Editing by Alex Richardson)
