.- Vatican Cardinal Jorge Medina recently reminded Catholics that priests are not immune from the devil's works.
“Any informed Christian knows we are prone to weakness because of our human fragility. The devil gets in where he can.
“Priests are not immune from his snares,” the cardinal said in an interview with the magazine Caras. He made his statement in reaction to a sexual abuse case involving a prominent Chilean priest.
Cardinal Medina then defended the Vatican-imposed sanctions on Fr. Fernando Karadima. “Canon Law allows for leniency, especially when the person in question is elderly or recognized for his merits.”
Fr. Karadima was found guilty of sexual abuse by the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith last February. After the investigation, he was ordered to retire to life of prayer and penance.
“Forbidding him to publicly celebrate the sacraments, from having contact with his former parish, and confining him to a quiet place is no small matter,” the cardinal said. “The only worse sanction would be to canonically expel him from the priesthood,” he added.
