The Vatican official in charge of ensuring doctrinal orthodoxy, Archbishop Victor Manuel Fernández, who was appointed by Pope Francis, admitted Sunday that he handled a case of a priest suspected of sexually abusing minors in 2019 incorrectly.
Trying to Protect the Priest?
Critics of the case have asserted that Fernández tried to shield the priest, a claim he has refuted.
On July 1, Pope Francis named Fernández to lead the Holy See's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, which ensures doctrinal orthodoxy and deals with claims of clerical sexual abuse as one of its areas of responsibility. Along with approximately two dozen other religious, he was also named a cardinal Sunday, as reported by The Associated Press.
A U.S. organization called BishopAccountability.org has questioned the archbishop's choice to lead the dicastery and maintains an online record of abuse in the Roman Catholic Church.
Eduardo Lorenzo's Case
According to the report, Eduardo Lorenzo, a priest in the archdiocese of La Plata, was accused of molesting youngsters, and Fernández refused to trust their claims.
The allegations against Lorenzo first surfaced in 2008, when a teenage boy living in a group home accused Lorenzo of abusing him for nearly two years. The boy's sponsor filed a criminal complaint against Lorenzo, but the case was eventually archived due to lack of evidence.
In 2019, two more men came forward with allegations of abuse against Lorenzo. These men claimed that Lorenzo had abused them when they were teenagers. The allegations against Lorenzo led to his removal from ministry by the Archdiocese of La Plata.
In December 2019, Lorenzo was arrested and charged with corruption of minors and sexual abuse of at least five adolescents between 1990 and 2008. He committed suicide hours after a judge issued an arrest warrant for him.
Lorenzo was discovered dead in what was later determined to be a suicide at the end of 2019. He had only learned hours earlier that an Argentine judge had ordered his arrest for allegedly sexually abusing five youngsters.
Fernández's Response
In response to the criticism from the American group, Fernández said that he never claimed not to believe the accusations and that he took action to put the priest in a different position than the alleged victims.
On Sunday, though, he was more critical of his behavior, which he blamed on coming to La Plata in 2018 as archbishop "without any experience in another diocese" and on the fact that at the time, church policies for handling claims of clergy abuse "were less clear."
Fernández stated that he ought to have "treated the victims more closely" and taken action "a little earlier" by removing Lorenzo from his clerical duties while he was under investigation.
Fernández, a trusted advisor to the Argentine-born pope, has earned the moniker "pope's theologian" since it is widely accepted that he contributed to the writing of several of Francis' most significant writings. In 2018, Pope Francis appointed him to lead the La Plata archdiocese.
Lorenzo's case has raised questions about the Catholic Church's handling of abuse allegations.
The case of Eduardo Lorenzo is a reminder of the ongoing problem of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. It is also a reminder of the importance of holding abusers accountable for their crimes.
Related article : Vatican Diary Could Shed Light on Decades of Priestly Abuse in Bolivia
