On Monday, Pope Francis accepted the resignations of three Catholic bishops in Chile, including Juan Barros, whom the pope had elevated to bishop in 2015 over the objections of the local dioceses and the Vatican's sex abuse prevention advisers. Francis had defended Barros on a trip to Chile in January, later reading testimony detailing allegations that Barros had ignored evidence of sexual abuse; Francis then acknowledged his "grave errors in judgment" regarding Barros. Last month the pope summoned Chile's 31 active bishops to the Vatican, where all of them offered their resignation. The other two bishops whose resignations the pope accepted Monday were Bishop Gonzalo Duarte of Valparaiso and Puerto Montt Bishop Cristian Caro.
Barros had been a top lieutenant to Rev. Fernando Karadima, an abuser priest who the Vatican convicted of sex crimes in 2011. But Vatican sexual misconduct investigators Archbishop Charles Scicluna and Spanish Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu uncovered a much wider sex abuse scandal in Chile's Catholic church, including coverups by church hierarchy and abuse among religious orders. The findings by Bertomeu and Scicluna, which leaked while the Chilean bishops were in Rome, led Pope Francis to speak publicly of a "future of abuse and coverup" in the Catholic Church, a first for a pope, The Associated Press reports. Scicluna and Bertomeu are headed back to Chile on Tuesday to promote "healing" in Osorno, and the pope is expected to make more changes in Chile.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Political cartoons for November 8Cartoons Saturday’s political cartoons include narco boats, and the new Lincoln monument
-
Why Trump pardoned crypto criminal Changpeng ZhaoIn the Spotlight Binance founder’s tactical pardon shows recklessness is rewarded by the Trump White House
-
Sudoku medium: November 8, 2025The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
-
Pope Leo canonizes first millennial saintSpeed Read Two young Italians, Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati, were elevated to sainthood
-
Southern Baptists endorse gay marriage banSpeed Read The largest US Protestant denomination voted to ban same-sex marriage and pornography at their national meeting
-
Prevost elected first US pope, becomes Leo XIVspeed read Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost is a Chicago native who spent decades living in Peru
-
Pope Francis dies at 88Speed Read 'How much contempt is stirred up at times toward the vulnerable, the marginalized and migrants,' Pope Francis wrote in his final living message
-
Pope returns to Vatican after long hospital staySpeed Read Pope Francis entered the hospital on Feb. 14 and battled double pneumonia
-
Texas megachurch founder charged with sex crimesSpeed Read Robert Morris, former spiritual adviser to President Donald Trump, is accused of sexually abusing a child
-
Pope Francis suffers setback with respiratory episodesSpeed Read The 88-year-old pope continues to battle pneumonia
-
US Christianity's long decline has halted, Pew findsSpeed Read 62% of Americans call themselves Christian, a population that has been 'relatively stable' for the past five years
