Pope Francis on Saturday defrocked two more Chilean prelates accused of sexually abusing minors, and the pontiff publicly explained why they were expelled.
He said the move was part of an effort to be more transparent about how the church responds to its global sex abuse crisis.
The Vatican announced that the two men, Archbishop Emeritus Francisco José Cox Huneeus and Bishop Emeritus Marco Antonio Órdenes Fernández, were defrocked “as a consequence of manifest abuse of minors.”
The Pope made the decision on Thursday, the Vatican said. It can’t be appealed.
The Vatican rarely announces laicizations of priests, preferring to issue terse statements when bishops resign.
Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said Saturday’s more detailed statement suggests a change in the way the Vatican announces results of investigations of bishops accused of abuse.
Cox, 87 and suffering from dementia, is a member of the Schoenstatt religious order and had served as a bishop in Chillan, Chile before becoming the No. 2 official at the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Family during St. John Paul II’s papacy.
Ordenes Fernandez, 53, was made bishop of Iquique, in northern Chile, in 2006. He retired six years later allegedly for health reasons. But subsequently, allegations of abuse were leveled against him
Francis recently removed two other Chilean prelates and denied them a chance to appeal.
Advocates for abuse survivors have long complained about the Vatican’s handling of such abuse cases, which were shrouded in mystery.
The church’s abuse scandal has exploded again in the U.S., Chile, Germany and elsewhere.
In May, all active bishops in Chile offered to resign over their collective mishandling of the abuse scandal. To date, Francis has accepted the resignations of seven.
The pontiff lamented “the painful scourge of abuse of minors” during his Vatican audience Saturday with Chilean President Sebastian Pinera Echenique.
Chilean survivors of abuse like Juan Carlos Cruz applauded the defrockings. He said the “circle was getting tighter” around Cardinal Javier Errazuriz, the retired archbishop of Santiago who is a member of Cox’s order.
With Post wires
