Maike Hickson
Pope Francis greets Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta. El Tribuno
Sun Jan 20, 2019 - 11:27 am EST
January 20, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – Pope Francis promoted one of his protegés within the Vatican, Argentine bishop Gustavo Oscar Zanchetta, despite the Vatican having received evidence prior to the bishop's promotion of sexual misconduct, which included accusations of "sexual harassment" of adult seminarians, taking "nude selfies," and exhibiting “obscene” behavior.
The Rev. Juan José Manzano, the former general vicar of Zanchetta in Argentina, told these facts to Associated Press, which released its report today. He stated that already in 2015, and then in 2017, Pope Francis spoke with Zanchetta twice about his misconduct.
The news comes on the heels of the Vatican announcing earlier this month that Zanchetta was under investigation for sexual abuse and had been removed from his post. Vatican press speaker Alessandro Gissoti said at the time that "there had been no accusation of sexual abuse" against the bishop after he resigned from his diocese of Oran in 2017.
"No charges of sexual abuse had arisen at the time of appointment as advisor [to the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See, which oversees the various real estate and other properties of the papacy]. The accusations of sexual abuse date back to this fall," he stated.
Reports AP:
The pope’s decision to allow Zanchetta to resign quietly, and then promote him to the No. 2 position in one of the Vatican’s most sensitive offices, has raised questions again about whether Francis turned a blind eye to misconduct of his allies and dismissed allegations against them as ideological attacks.
As the Miami Herald reports today, the Rev. Manzano – who is now a parish priest – said that he started to “raise alarm” already in 2015 about his superior who had even taken “nude selfies.” Manzano is one of three diocesan officials who at the time contacted the Vatican, first sending in some nude “selfies” of Zanchetta. In 2017, these officials made a second complaint to the Vatican “when the situation was much more serious,” not only because of the sexual abuses, but also because the “diocese was increasingly heading into the abyss.” The complaints then were about Zanchetta's “authoritarian rule” and “inappropriate behavior and sexual harassment of adult seminarians.” After each of these complaints, Manzano reports, Pope Francis met with Zanchetta in Rome.
