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Pope Francis has apologized in person to three priests from Granada acquitted of sex offenses against a minor three-and-a-half years after the pontiff himself telephoned the alleged victim to say sorry for the abuse.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/europeancommunion\/2018\/07\/pope-spain-priests-abuse\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pope Apologizes to Spanish Priests Acquitted of Abuse\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A sobering tale from Spain in the midst of the hysteria in the global Church over clergy sex abuse. Pope Francis has apologized in person to three priests from Granada acquitted of sex offenses against a minor three-and-a-half years after the pontiff himself telephoned the alleged victim to say sorry for the abuse.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/europeancommunion\/2018\/07\/pope-spain-priests-abuse\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"European Communion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-07-30T10:23:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/814\/2018\/07\/151208-F-UE958-096.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cameron Doody\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cameron Doody\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/europeancommunion\/2018\/07\/pope-spain-priests-abuse\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/europeancommunion\/2018\/07\/pope-spain-priests-abuse\/\",\"name\":\"Pope Apologizes to Spanish Priests Acquitted of Abuse\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/europeancommunion\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-07-30T10:23:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-07-30T10:23:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/europeancommunion\/#\/schema\/person\/76f354425d6bf96bf48d43f4c611e73d\"},\"description\":\"A sobering tale from Spain in the midst of the hysteria in the global Church over clergy sex abuse. 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{"id":1672,"date":"2018-07-30T12:23:42","date_gmt":"2018-07-30T10:23:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/europeancommunion\/?p=1672"},"modified":"2018-07-30T12:23:42","modified_gmt":"2018-07-30T10:23:42","slug":"pope-spain-priests-abuse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/europeancommunion\/2018\/07\/pope-spain-priests-abuse\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Apologizes to Spanish Priests Acquitted of Abuse"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/p>\n

A sobering tale from Spain in the midst of the hysteria in the global Church over clergy sex abuse. Pope Francis has apologized in person<\/strong> to three priests from Granada acquitted of sex offenses against a minor three-and-a-half years after the pontiff himself telephoned the alleged victim to say sorry for the abuse and to offer him his full support.<\/p>\n

The Spanish website Vida Nueva<\/em> reported<\/a> last week that the Pope received Fathers Rom\u00e1n, Francisco and Manuel<\/strong> July 12 at his residence in the Vatican, the Casa Santa Marta. In a relaxed meeting that lasted more than an hour-and-a-half, Francis apologized at least three times<\/strong> to the priests. For his personal phone calls to the alleged victim that triggered the police investigation and, at the same time, gave the complaints of abuse an undeniable air of credibility. For the fact, too, that in the midst of their trial, the Church turned its back on the three men, suspending them a divinis<\/em> for three years until justice had run its course.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t imagine how you must have felt\u201d<\/strong>, the Pope allegedly said to Father Rom\u00e1n, who was accused of having been the ringleader of a sex abuse \u201cclan\u201d that at one point in their investigation police thought involved up to ten priests and two laymen. Francis supposedly asked the three priests together to \u201ccarry on, with generosity, like any other priest\u201d<\/strong>. Words the three men took to heart, according to Vida Nueva<\/em>, appreciating the pontiff\u2019s fatherly pastoral concern.<\/p>\n

Though Fathers Rom\u00e1n, Francisco and Manuel have been acquitted of all wrongdoing by both the civil and ecclesiastical courts, life has hardly returned to normal for them<\/strong>. Fathers Francisco and Manuel have both returned to parish ministry, but Father Rom\u00e1n is currently confined to working as a chaplain in a center for disabled people, despite the fact that all he is said to want is to return to being an \u201canonymous\u201d parish priest. A wish that might never materialize<\/strong>, given the way the case has burrowed into the public consciousness. People in Spain still think of Fathers Rom\u00e1n, Francisco and Manuel as something of a sect<\/strong> for the way they were portrayed not only in the media but also by the Archdiocese of Granada, which in a report sent to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome said it had received complaints over the \u201ccliquey\u201d<\/strong> behavior of the three priests.<\/p>\n

Though some Spanish commentators have been quick to blame a media witch-hunt<\/strong> for the lamentable experience the three priests have gone through, it is difficult to know what went wrong in the case, and when. Even though a Granada court criticized<\/a> the complainant\u2019s story for its \u201cinconsistency\u201d and for being full of \u201cserious contradictions\u201d, in their report to Rome local Church authorities said the young\u2019s man story was essentially \u201cbelievable\u201d<\/strong>. Throughout the whole process, too, the Archbishop of Granada, Javier Mart\u00ednez<\/strong>, maintained he was doing nothing more than following to the letter the Church\u2019s policy of \u201czero tolerance\u201d<\/strong> with clergy sex abuse.<\/p>\n

If there is a lesson here for the wider Church, then, perhaps it is in the attitude of Father Rom\u00e1n. A man who, according to his friends, hasn\u2019t even turned to psychological help<\/strong> throughout the ordeal he has been through, such has been his \u201cself-assuredness\u201d and his \u201cconfidence in God\u201d.<\/p>\n

$\"\"$ <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"