VATICAN CITY
Mercury News
By Nicole Winfield Associated Press
Posted: 03/06/2015
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis met Friday with the bishop running a Chilean diocese where there has been unprecedented opposition to the nomination of his successor, accused of covering up for Chile’s most notorious pedophile.
The Vatican released no details of Francis’ audience with Monsignor Fernando Natalio Chomali Garib, who has been running the Osorno diocese temporarily since its previous bishop was transferred in 2013.
In January, Francis appointed Bishop Juan Barros Madrid to take over permanently. But in the ensuing weeks, some 1,300 lay faithful from Osorno, 51 of Chile’s 120 national lawmakers and some 30 priests from the diocese urged Francis to rescind the appointment.
They have accused Barros of covering up for the Rev. Fernando Karadima, a prominent and charismatic priest sanctioned by the Vatican in 2011 for sexually abusing minors. A criminal complaint against Karadima was dismissed because the statute of limitations had expired, but the Chilean judge handling the case determined the abuse allegations were truthful.
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