Church Pedophile Victim Says He Told Pope of Abuses in 2015

A pedophile victim says he communicated his abuses at the hands of Chilean priests to Pope Francis in 2015, contradicting the pontiff’s recent claim he had no evidence against them.

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Juan Carlos Cruz, a child victim of sexual abuse at the hands of a prominent Chilean priest told Chilean radio station, ADN, “We have a Pope who is confronting abuses with a very weak hand, and with all the information provided to him by victims he appears to make poor judgements or incorrect judgements regarding the truth of these testimonies.”

Members of the pope’s Commission for the Protection of Minors say that in 2015 the commission hand-delivered an eight-page letter to the pope written by Cruz and other victims of child molestation detailing how Chilean priest Fernando Karadima essentially ran a pedophile ring within a Santiago diocese in the 1990s.

The letter states that current Archbishop of Osorno in southern Chile, Juan Barros, witnessed their repeated molestations but covered up the abuses.

“Holy Father, I write you this letter because I’m tired of fighting, of crying and suffering. ... (I’m writing) to tell you of the horror of having lived this abuse and how I wanted to kill myself,” reads Cruz’s letter released by the Associated Press.

Karadima was found guilty of molestation by the church in 2011 and expelled. Against the suggestion of some Chilean priests, the pope promoted Barros to his current position in Jan. 2015.

According to the AP, Marie Collins, a former member of the pope’s protection commission gave the letter to the head of the commission, Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley in April 2015.

Collins and Cruz say that Cardinal O’Malley confirmed to them that he personally handed the letter to the pope at a Vatican meeting. O’Malley did not respond to AP questions regarding these claims or the letter.

Collins tweeted today, “I was shocked when I heard the Pope had said on the plane the Karadima victims had not come to him and he would listen if they did. I knew they had contacted him directly with this letter three years ago!”

During Francis’s recent visit to Chile, he lashed out at questions regarding the accusations and his possible knowledge of evidence against Barros.

"The day I receive proof against Archbishop Barros, I will speak," the pope snapped at reporters. "There is not one shred of proof against him, it's all slander. Is that clear?"

O'Malley immediately told reporters that the pope's comments were “a source of great pain for survivors of sexual abuse.” 

The pontiff later apologized for his comments and announced Jan. 30 that he was sending the Archbishop of Malta, Charles J. Scicluna, to begin an investigation into Barros and his possible coverup of sexual abuse against the minors.

Cruz, in his radio interview said, “it’s a shame to see the pope fall into the same” efforts to cover up sexual abuse by priests.

Since entering the Vatican Pope Francis has continually claimed a "zero tolerance" stance against child molestation within the church.