VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter
Joshua J. McElwee | Nov. 3, 2016
The papal appointee given authority to take charge of a Guam archdiocese rocked by allegations of sexual abuse against its archbishop has said the Vatican is preparing to put the prelate on trial.
Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai, who Pope Francis appointed in June to step-in over Agana Archbishop Anthony Apuron, told reporters Tuesday that “they just formed all the conditions for the trial.”
“I’m going to receive some news, some updates later,” said Hon, who has been serving as the archdiocese’s apostolic administrator while also remaining the second-in-command of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
Hon, a native of Hong Kong, spoke to journalists Nov. 1 following Francis’ appointment Oct. 31 of Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Michael Byrnes as the new coadjutor archbishop of the Agana archdiocese, the island’s only Catholic diocese. …
Hon explained that Francis had appointed Byrnes to have special faculties over the Agana archdiocese, saying: “This appointment suggests a more permanent solution.”
“As a matter of fact, in this appointment the Holy Father has expressly granted His Excellency Msgr. Byrnes all the faculties, rights and obligations of the archbishop of Aganda, civilly and ecclesiastically without any exception,” Hon continued.
“In other words, as coadjutor archbishop, Msgr. Byrnes has the complete right of responsibility over everything concerning the archdiocese,” said Hon.
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