Santiago archdiocese sends investigation of priest to CDF

Santiago, Chile, Dec 6, 2018 / 13:49 pm

The Archdiocese of Santiago de Chile reported Tuesday it has sent to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith all information from the preliminary investigation into Fr. Diego Ossa Errázuriz, an associate of Fernando Karadima.

"The preliminary investigation is an inquiry to determine if there are sufficient elements for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to resolve whether or not to carry out a penal process or other measures," the archdiocese said Dec. 4.

Ossa, 54, was one of the more than 40 priests directly formed by Karadima, who was found guilty  of sexual abuse by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2011.

The investigation implicating Ossa deals with two accusations of sexual abuse and abuse of authority for incidents alleged to have occurred in 2005, when the supposed victims were minors.

Fr. Ossa has been barred from publicly exercising priestly ministry, and from residing outside the Santiago archdiocese.

The Archdiocese of Santiago, accused of covering up abuse by Karadima, petitioned the civil appellate court Oct.10 to reconsider its decision to deny the request for the Holy See to provide all the information it has on the Karadima case and "that can give an account of alleged acts of cover-up by the archdiocese."

"So far there is no evidence of cover-up found during the judicial proceedings, as has been confirmed by the ruling of the lower court, and for that reason it is important to know of any new evidence," stated Nicolas Luco, the lawyer for the Archdiocese of Santiago.

This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.