The detours of the Supreme shepherd

Soon, the Pope will travel to Panama. Once again Latin America. But, again, not Argentina. For sure, that in Panama there is an obvious justification, there youth day will take place at the end of January the world. More open, however, which is why Francis is so afraid of consistently his home country. Since he left as cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, his birth city of Buenos Aires, to Benedict XVI in Rome, he did not let himself go home. He was close often. He visited Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay, Cuba, Mexico, Colombia, Chile and Peru, and now Panama. There are in Latin America, not many paths, the has not followed this Pope. It is all the more obvious that the real home is missing.

Under Argentine Bergoglio experts has developed, meanwhile, a sub-discipline, in the it comes to decoding the inscrutable ways of travelling of the Supreme shepherd. He avoids Buenos Aires, because he wants to give President Mauricio Macri is no blessing for his neoliberal reforms? He is with the Bishop's conference on the cross? He has Better things to do? The lawyer Juan Pablo Gallego brings another interpretation to the game: "When he came here, he would have to position themselves inevitably in the case of Grassi."

The victims of abuse are waiting for an apology

The priest Julio Cesar Grassi, 62, sits in prison for five years. Already in 2009 he had been convicted of sexual abuse of children and young people 15 years in prison. The Supreme court confirmed the sentence in March 2017. That was the end of a long and spectacular process. But for abuse victims and their lawyer Gallego, the thing is done. You are still waiting for a apology from the Church, and you are waiting for a response from Francis. Gallego says: "Grassi was convicted of all of the legal instances. But the Church has it sanctioned never. He continues to enjoy the Status of a priest."

Chile, Ireland, USA, Australia: The Pope is the subject of abuse, not more. But from his trip to Santiago de Chile a year ago, the idea that he had learned from his many years of negligence in dealing with the pedophilia scandals of the Church remained still. Pope Francis sent a special investigator to Chile, offset heavy duty bishops, who did not resign voluntarily, in the lay state. He received Chilean victims of abuse in Rome, who had previously been waiting for years for an audience, and he asked for forgiveness. The lawyer Gallego wonders since then: "Why is Pope Francis in Argentina as well? Why is protected the convicted sex offender Grassi from the Vatican?" A response a proposal from Juan Pablo Gallego: "Maybe from personal attachment."

Of the justice convicted: father Julio Cesar Grassi. (Image: Reuters)

Bergoglio was between 1998 and 2013, Archbishop of Buenos Aires in the time of the rise and fall of Grassi. Both were characterised by a spirit of liberation theology. Gallego claimed that the Archbishop had been the Confessor Grassis, which has not been disputed from the environment, the Bergoglios always. At the end of the nineties, you knew father Grassi in Argentina as a popular television preacher. He collected donations for the homeless children he brought into the homes of his Foundation Felices Los Ninos (Happy children), and, well, supervised. In 2002, three boys between 14 and 16 years in the television reported that they had rampant abuse. Your identity will be kept secret till today, the main witness alias Gabriel disappeared in the meantime in the witness protection program.

According to a study of the priest shall be innocent

The future Pope is alleged to have meanwhile, his protective Hand over the culprit held In 2010, after Grassi was sentenced to 15 years in prison, was Bergoglio as the Chairman of the bishops ' conference to a 2000 pages thick study in order to be in the exactly the came out of what was to come, according to victim advocate Gallego: Grassi was innocent, the boy had lied to blackmail the priest. All of the courts dealing with the case, came to the opposite conclusion.

In may 2013, two months after Bergoglio was promoted to Pope, wrote the lawyer Gallego, on behalf of his clients, Gabriel a letter to the Holy father. In it, he bemoans the protection of the offender and the denigration of the victims in the abuse scandal. Gabriel asked an audience in Rome, as well as emotional support to "my Faith to recover". Until today, no answer came.

It is idle to speculate whether Francis renounced in fact, because of the Causa Grassi, to date, on a home visit. Is well: If he returns at some point but yet to Argentina, then it will catch up with this story again. (Sunday newspaper)

Created: 06.01.2019, 17:34 PM