IMAGE: CNS photo/Reuters
By Junno Arocho Esteves
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The brother of Chilean Father Fernando
Karadima called on his brother to ask forgiveness for the hurt inflicted on those
he sexually abused.
“I would ask him to be humble. Fernando, ask for
forgiveness. Not in silence to God or in your prayers. Do it publicly, that
people hear that you ask forgiveness for the harm you have done to victims and
to everyone,” Oscar Karadima said in an interview with Chilean newspaper
La Tercera, published June 17.
“Fernando,” he continued, “you are a man who
is going to die. How can you die in this way, as a proud person who doesn’t ask
forgiveness? I ask you in the name of God and the most holy virgin who you
always said you loved so much. I ask you in the name of my father, my mother,
my two dead sisters.”
Oscar Karadima also revealed that he was among the group of
priests and laypeople who met with Pope Francis June 2 and spoke to him about
the suffering his family endured following the revelation that his brother was
found guilty of sexual abuse.
“I spoke to him about Fernando; I told him what
Fernando was like with his family, with us: He was an arrogant man,
authoritarian, a man we were afraid of and that even my mother was afraid of
him,” Oscar Karadima said.
Recalling his conversation with the pope, Oscar Karadima
said his family members “were also victims of abuse of power and of
conscience” by his brother. Their family name, he added, was tarnished due
to the scandals.
“We are the only Karadima family in Chile. I’ve read on
social media, ‘The Karadima family are a family of degenerates, a family guilty
of covering up, a family of pedophiles,'” he said.
Known as an influential and charismatic priest, Father
Karadima drew hundreds of young men to the priesthood, and four of his proteges
went on to become bishops, including retired Bishop Juan Barros of Osorno.
After accusations of sexual abuse came to light in 2010, the
Vatican investigated Father Karadima and sentenced him to a life of prayer and
penance after he was found guilty of sexual abuse.
Oscar Karadima said he also wanted to inform the pope of the
four bishops who formed part of Father Karadima’s inner circle and that
“they were witnesses and covered up abuses.”
“The pope stopped me and said, ‘Speak to me about
Barros.’ I told him, ‘Your Holiness, Bishop Barros lied. He was my brother’s
friend and, in a certain way, you can say he belonged to his ‘iron
circle,'” Oscar Karadima recalled. The pope had accepted Bishop Barros’
resignation June 11. Abuse survivors have alleged that when Bishop Barros was
still a priest, he witnessed their abuse by his mentor.
“Everyone knew that they were made bishops because my
brother Fernando was able to make it so, through his friendship or closeness
with (Cardinal) Angelo Sodano,” he added.
Cardinal Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals, served as
apostolic nuncio to Chile from 1978-1988 and as Vatican secretary of state from
1991-2006.
Karadima recalled tearing up as he recounted his and his
family’s pain and that Pope Francis touched his hand and encouraged him.
After listening to him, he added, the pope grabbed a piece
of paper and wrote a message for the Karadima family.
“To the family of Oscar Karadima, with my blessing and
my sorrow for so much suffering that you bear. In the name of Fernando, silent
and incapable of realizing (his mistakes), I ask your forgiveness,” the
pope wrote.
Karadima said he was moved by the pope’s gesture and said it
was the first time someone from the Catholic Church recognized his family’s
pain.
“Neither (Cardinal Riccardo) Ezzati, nor (Cardinal
Francisco Javier) Errazuriz, nor anyone acknowledged our pain. That is why what
I also ask for — because no one has said it — is justice for my family. The
pope was the only one who had words of affection and consolation toward
them,” Oscar Karadima said.
Pope Francis has made seeking forgiveness and promoting
reconciliation a priority in the fallout of the sexual abuse crisis that has
rocked the Chilean church.
Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, president of a board
of review handling abuse cases within the Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith, and Father Jordi Bertomeu Farnos, an official of the doctrinal
congregation, concluded their June 14-17 visit to the diocese of Osorno with a
Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew.
During the Mass, Archbishop Scicluna, Father Bertomeu and Auxiliary
Bishop Jorge Concha Cayuqueo of Santiago, apostolic administrator for the
Diocese of Osorno, kneeled before the congregation and asked forgiveness.
“Pope Francis has entrusted me to ask forgiveness for
each one of the faithful of the Diocese of Osorno and all the citizens of this
territory for having wounded you and profoundly offending you,” Archbishop
Scicluna said.
Addressing journalists after the Mass, the archbishop
thanked the people of Osorno for welcoming him and said the visit was only the
beginning of the journey toward reconciliation.
True reconciliation, he said, isn’t achieved with a mission
of a few days, but is rather a gift from God that must be accompanied by long
process that requires patience, generosity and humility.”
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