25. sept. 2014
Inés San Martín, Crux, skriver bl.a
ROME — Pope Francis has fired a bishop in Paraguay who sheltered a priest accused of sexual abuse of minors in the United States, though to what extent the abuse charges figured in the bishop’s ouster isn’t yet clear.
The Vatican announced Wednesday that Pope Francis has removed Bishop Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano as the bishop of the small diocese of Ciudad del Este in Paraguay, citing “serious pastoral reasons” and “the greater good of preserving the unity of the local church.”
Livieres Plano is associated with the abuse scandals because of his decision to welcome Fr. Carlos Urrutigoity, a fellow Argentine, into his diocese in 2003 after he left the Scranton, Pennsylvania diocese facing abuse charges.
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Born in Argentina and a member of Opus Dei, a Catholic group with a profile for being fairly conservative, Livieres Plano was also under Vatican investigation for alleged misappropriation of funds, for frayed relations with his fellow bishops in Paraguay, and for changes he decreed in the formation process for future priests.
Among other things, Livieres Plano had been at odds with fellow Paraguayan bishops for opposing the presidential candidacy of former bishop Fernando Lugo, a leftist close to the liberation theology movement in Latin America.
The disagreement between Livieres Plano and other bishops burst into public view when Archbishop Pastor Cuquejo of Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay, requested a Vatican investigation during an interview with a local radio station.
In a subsequent interview, Livieres Plano opposed bluntly, suggesting Cuquejo should “mind his own business” and openly accused Cuquejo of being homosexual.
Last July, Pope Francis sent Spanish Cardinal Santos Abril y Castelló and the Uruguayan Archbishop Milton Luis Tróccoli to Paraguay to investigate the diocese of Ciudad del Este.
As a precautionary measure, Livieres Plano removed Urrutigoity from his job as the diocese’s No. 2 official days before the intervention conducted by Albril y Castelló started.
In what was perceived as an unprecedented measure, days after the investigation was over, the Vatican suspended the ordination of new priests from the seminary of Ciudad del Este, opened by Livieres Plano.
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Wikipedia: Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano