Pope Francis replaced Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati as archbishop of Santiago, Chile, after he was placed under criminal investigation in the country's spiraling church sex abuse and cover-up scandal.
A statement from the Vatican press office did not detail the reasons why the Pope had acted 10 months after Ezzati and others offered to quit. It said he will be temporarily replaced by Bishop Celestino Aos of Copiapo.
"I can say, with my head held high, that all the complaints that have reached the complaints office that I created in 2011 have been investigated, or are being investigated," he told reporters. “It’s not enough to say that I have covered up , you have to prove it.” Asked about the homeless man, Ezzati told a local television station early this month:"I don’t know him.”"Cardinal Ezzati represents everything that we have fought against for years, especially the culture of abuse and cover-up," said Juan Carlos Cruz, James Hamilton and Jose Andres Murrillo in a statement. The three are abuse survivors who have helped lead a campaign pressuring the Vatican to take action.
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