Father German Robledo, a 67-year-old priest and head of the tribunal until 2004, went public Aug. 21 with accusations against priests and other church officials in Cali. He said he was doing so because he had not been satisfied with reaction from archdiocesan officials.
Father Robledo said that before first making the allegations last December he met with other Cali priests to discuss the problems. Father Robledo said he was acting as their spokesman when he went public.
"We have criticized and have denounced all of these things without success," he said.
In late August, Archbishop Juan Sarasti Jaramillo of Cali acknowledged that some priests had violated their oaths of celibacy but said that it was unfair to make general accusations. He said Father Robledo's accusations would be investigated.
"Many things are said, but it is necessary to wait until they are proven legally," he said.
Father Robledo said several priests have ongoing sexual relationships, including one with a woman who pretends to be his secretary and another with young boys. Father Robledo said several priests secretly have children and that two of them have been sued by the mothers for child support.
He said parishioners' contributions are used to pay people who obtain children for sexual relationships, as well as being used to pay the youths themselves. Father Robledo said there has been financial and other corruption within the archdiocese. He said he has videos of people who allegedly had sexual relations with priests or knew about them, local news media reported Aug. 23.
Father Robledo also said priests who had been accused of sexual abuse in the United States had been sent to Cali to work.
The priest said that he had presented his accusations in a letter to Archbishop Sarasti in April. The daily newspaper El Pais quoted the April letter as warning about "chronic and shameful homosexual conducts of friends and close collaborators" of the archdiocese.
Father Robledo also asked in the letter: "How is it possible that conducts such as requesting alms from the faithful for deceptively noble ends are tolerated when they are really for paying debts, even extortions for old and recent homosexual services by degenerates from the street and youths who come to request economic assistance?"
The priest said that dozens of youths came to the cathedral in Cali to demand blackmail payments from priests with whom they had had sexual relationships.
Father Robledo charged that on the same day that one priest was ordained a woman gave birth to the new priest's baby. In his letter, he asked the archbishop what he had done about that case.
In a radio interview, Father Robledo said that Archbishop Sarasti responded to the charges by saying that such acts belong to the priests' private lives.
Father Robledo served on the ecclesiastical tribunal for 23 years. He said he resigned from the tribunal in 2004 because the church did not take action in response to complaints against it. He added that in 2000 he was offered the title of bishop, but he declined the title.
Father Robledo resigned from public priestly duties in February, because he said he was disappointed with the archbishop's response and wanted to speak more freely.
Mario Fernando Prado, the El Pais reporter who first broke the story, said that when Father Robledo first came to him with the information it struck him as "absurd." But then he interviewed other priests and said he verified "that it was true."
Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
Fiscalía investigó al padre Fred Potes
Cali on line; El Pais
Entidad abrió, en el 2004, una investigación preliminar contra el sacerdote por el delito de inducción a la prostitución.
Tras las denuncias realizadas por el padre Germán Robledo contra monseñor Fred Potes Venegas, El Pais conoció que en el 2004 la Fiscalía abrió una investigación preliminar contra el sacerdote por el delito de inducción a la prostitución a un menor de edad.
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In opdracht paus
Staatssecretaris Bertone naar Peru vertrokken
Geplaatst door Theo Borgermans 24 aug '07
VATICAANSTAD (RKnieuws.net) - De Vaticaanse staatssecretaris, kardinaal Tarcisio Bertone, is donderdag in opdracht van paus Benedictus XVI vanuit Rome naar Peru vertrokken. Hij zal er de paus vertegenwoordigen bij de slachtoffers van de recente aardbeving en het eucharistisch congres van de Peruaanse Kerk bijwonen.
De nummer twee van het Vaticaan zal persoonlijk de streken bezoeken die op 15 augustus door de aardbeving werden geteisterd. Het Vaticaan maakte eerder al 200.000 dollar vrij voor noodhulp in het getroffen gebied.
Paus Benedictus XVI heeft al twee keer openlijk opgeroepen tot solidariteit met Peru en concrete hulpacties voor de geteisterden te steunen.
Kardinaal Bertone wordt vandaag ontvangen door kardinaal Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne, de aartsbisschop van Lima, en door de Peruaanse president Alan Garcia Perez.
Daarna bezoekt hij de steden Ica en Pisco die het ergst getroffen werden door de aardbeving.
Morgen opent hij in Chimbote het eucharistisch congres in aanwezigheid van alle Peruaanse bisschoppen. De aanwezigheid van kardinaal op dit congres was gepland voor de aardbeving. Het eucharistisch congres wordt op 30 augustus beëindigd met een eucharistieviering in de kathedraal van Chimbote. (tb)
’Kerk is Gods meesterwerk’
Staatssecretaris Bertone hekelt berichtgeving seksueel misbruik
Geplaatst door Theo Borgermans 22 aug '07 (Bron: Christian Today)
VATICAANSTAD (RKnieuws.net) - Kardinaal Tarcisio Bertone, staatssecretaris van de H. Stoel, valt uit naar berichtgeving in de Italiaanse media over seksueel misbruik in de katholieke Kerk.
De staatssecretaris hekelde de ’overdreven aandacht’ de voorbije weken voor bepaalde gevallen van seksueel misbruik door Italiaanse geestelijken.
“Ook in de katholieke Kerk zijn er enkele vervallen en donkere plaatsen, zoals dat ook in de Sixtijnse kapel het geval is. Media belichten enkel deze duistere plekjes”, klaagt de kardinaal.
Zelf omschrijft hij de Kerk als een meesterwerk van God. “Als staatssecretaris heb ik – ook in de landen waar christenen de minderheid vormen – ervaren dat staatsmannen uit de hele wereld de positieve rol van de Kerk en haar bijdrage op caritatief vlak loven. Daarom klaag ik deze valse voorstelling van de Kerk aan.”
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