Several seminarians have accused him of sexual assault and abuse of power
Marie Malzac
Argentina March 22, 2019
Gustavo Zanchetta, former Bishop of Orán (Argentina), Aug. 26, 2016. (Photo by Javier Corbalan/AP)
Accused of sexual assault and abuse of power by several seminarians, Gustavo Zanchetta, former bishop of Orán in Argentina, is now under investigation by the Vatican.
According to Il Tribuno, a daily newspaper in the Argentine region of Salta that first reported the case at the end of 2018, Archbishop Alberto Sánchez of Tucumán has been sent by the pope to interview the alleged victims.
Archbishop Tucumán and two assistants arrived in Orán on March 20, the paper said.
Accommodated in a religious home, he "immediately set about the task given to him by the Vatican" — that is, to gather the testimonies of the seminarians and also those of three priests who stated that, in 2015, they had alerted the Apostolic Nunciature in Buenos Aires, with supporting visual evidence.
One of them, Father Juan José Manzano, the former vicar general of Orán, said Pope Francis then summoned Bishop Zanchetta, a fellow collaborator with the pope in the episcopal conference of Argentina. Zanchetta told Francis that his telephone had been hacked and then returned to his diocese.
Archbishop Sánchez must gather all information relevant to the accusations made against Bishop Zanchetta.
An open civil investigation
Civil justice has also taken on the case. In February, the complaints against the former bishop were received by the Special Criminal Court responsible for cases of family and gender violence in Orán.
Bishop Zanchetta, appointed in July 2013 to head the Diocese of Orán in northern Argentina, resigned suddenly in the summer of 2017, at only 54, citing "health reasons."
Pope Francis, who had named him as bishop a few months after his election to the pontificate, accepted Zanchetta's resignation within three days.
A few months later, in December 2017, Bishop Zanchetta – who had left his diocese precipitously without celebrating a farewell Mass - resurfaced in Rome. He was named as an assessor in the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, the office that manages the Vatican's real estate property. This post was specially created by the pope himself.
The contradictory position of the Holy See
Very embarrassed, the Holy See has adopted – since the matter was blown up thanks to the Argentine press – a position that is contradictory, to say the least.
At the beginning of January, Alessandro Gisotti, interim director of the Holy See Press Office, said in a press release: "The reason for (Zanchetta's) resignation was related to his difficulties in managing relationships with the clergy of the diocese."
This was an acknowledgement that the "health reasons" cited previously were untrue.
But the spokesman said the Vatican knew about the accusations of sexual assault "only this autumn". As for Zanchetta's appointment to the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, Gisotti said he was given this post due to his "competence in administrative management."
Currently suspended from his duties at the Vatican department, the former bishop is still in Rome. Moreover, he participated with the rest of the Roman Curia in the pope's Lenten spiritual exercises at a retreat house in Ariccia outside the city.
Archbishop Tucumán and two assistants arrived in Orán on March 20, the paper said.
Accommodated in a religious home, he "immediately set about the task given to him by the Vatican" — that is, to gather the testimonies of the seminarians and also those of three priests who stated that, in 2015, they had alerted the Apostolic Nunciature in Buenos Aires, with supporting visual evidence.
One of them, Father Juan José Manzano, the former vicar general of Orán, said Pope Francis then summoned Bishop Zanchetta, a fellow collaborator with the pope in the episcopal conference of Argentina. Zanchetta told Francis that his telephone had been hacked and then returned to his diocese.
Archbishop Sánchez must gather all information relevant to the accusations made against Bishop Zanchetta.
An open civil investigation
Civil justice has also taken on the case. In February, the complaints against the former bishop were received by the Special Criminal Court responsible for cases of family and gender violence in Orán.
Bishop Zanchetta, appointed in July 2013 to head the Diocese of Orán in northern Argentina, resigned suddenly in the summer of 2017, at only 54, citing "health reasons."
Pope Francis, who had named him as bishop a few months after his election to the pontificate, accepted Zanchetta's resignation within three days.
A few months later, in December 2017, Bishop Zanchetta – who had left his diocese precipitously without celebrating a farewell Mass - resurfaced in Rome. He was named as an assessor in the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, the office that manages the Vatican's real estate property. This post was specially created by the pope himself.
The contradictory position of the Holy See
Very embarrassed, the Holy See has adopted – since the matter was blown up thanks to the Argentine press – a position that is contradictory, to say the least.
At the beginning of January, Alessandro Gisotti, interim director of the Holy See Press Office, said in a press release: "The reason for (Zanchetta's) resignation was related to his difficulties in managing relationships with the clergy of the diocese."
This was an acknowledgement that the "health reasons" cited previously were untrue.
But the spokesman said the Vatican knew about the accusations of sexual assault "only this autumn". As for Zanchetta's appointment to the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, Gisotti said he was given this post due to his "competence in administrative management."
Currently suspended from his duties at the Vatican department, the former bishop is still in Rome. Moreover, he participated with the rest of the Roman Curia in the pope's Lenten spiritual exercises at a retreat house in Ariccia outside the city.
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