After an internal investigation, the Vatican found the Rev. Fernando Karadima guilty of sexually abusing minors in Chile and ordered him to retire to a “life of prayer and penitence,” the Archbishop of Santiago announced Friday.
The ruling, announced by Santiago Archbishop Ricardo Ezzati, said Father
Karadima, 80, would be relocated to a place where he will have no
contact with his former parishioners or “persons that have been
spiritually guided by him.”
The accusations by former parishioners against Father Karadima last year
stunned Chile, a conservative and predominantly Catholic nation
unaccustomed to questioning its priests, especially one as revered as
Father Karadima. He had trained five bishops and dozens of priests,
acting as a spiritual leader and father figure for young men who later
accused him of molesting them.
The decision is a rare case of a powerful church figure being called to
account for the charges of sexual abuse that have swept the Catholic
world the past few years.
The Vatican decision “is going to mark a before and after in the way the
Chilean Catholic church proceeds in cases like these, or at least it
should,” said Antonio Delfau, a Jesuit priest in Santiago.
“From now on
every case of sexual abuse must be treated with meticulous care and not
be based on the gut feeling of a given church official.”
For the accusers, including at least four men who said Father Karadima
abused them when they were young parishioners, the decision was a
long-awaited vindication. One original accuser said the abuse began when
he was 14.
“At last the truth was revealed and acknowledged,” said an emotional
Juan Carlos Cruz, 47.
“This was like having a father who abused you and a
mother who slapped you in the face,” he said of the Catholic Church.
“Now I feel like this mother has taken me in.”
Chilean President Sebastián Piñera
reacted to the decision by vowing his government would “defend children
and minors from sexual abuse with all the strength in the world and
force of the law.”
Father Karadima has not been prosecuted criminally.
A judge investigating the accusations against him closed the case late last year, ruling that there was not enough evidence to charge him.
An appeals court in Santiago is still deciding whether to reopen the
criminal investigation.
It remains unclear whether the Vatican’s
decision will prod Chilean authorities to do so.
The Vatican ruling announced Friday said that Father Karadima was
subject to “lifelong prohibition from the public exercise of any
ministerial act, particularly confession and the spiritual guidance of
any category of persons.”
In consideration of his age, the Vatican deemed it appropriate “to
impose on the accused his retirement to a life of prayer and penitence,
also in reparation to the victims of his abuses,” said the ruling read
by Mr. Ezzati.
If he violates the conditions of the ruling, Father Karadima could face
stricter sanctions, including removal from the priesthood, the
Archbishop said.
Juan Pablo Bulnes, Father Karadima’s lawyer, said the priest would
appeal the Vatican’s decision and maintained his innocence.
He said the
priest, respecting the ruling, had already retired to a religious
convent in the capital, Santiago, away from anyone in his El Bosque
parish.
The Chilean Catholic Church referred the case to the Congregation for
the Doctrine of the Faith last July, sending a 700-page investigative
report to the Vatican.
Last month, the Vatican quietly issued its ruling and informed the
Chilean church on Jan. 16.
Mr. Ezzati said he notified Father Karadima
the next day and immediately identified a new residence for him.