"There is no doubt that the clergy did not feel well treated by him" when he was Bishop of Orán, he stated. Francis explained that after receiving complaints about mistreatment by Zanchetta from some clergy, communicated through the nuncio, he asked for Zanchetta's resignation as Bishop of Orán.
According to The Tribune, three of Zanchetta's vicars general and two monsignors made a formal internal complaint before the Argentine nunciature in 2016, alleging inappropriate behavior with seminarians, such as encouraging them to drink alcohol and favoring the more "graceful" (attractive) among them.
When Zanchetta resigned in 2017 he claimed it was for health reasons. The Vatican did not open an investigation at that time.
Pope Francis said he sent the Argentine prelate to Spain for a psychiatric test, not "a holiday in Spain" as he said some media reported, and "the test result was normal, they recommended a therapy once a month." This is why, the pope stated, he did not go back to Argentina -- because he had to go to Madrid for two days of therapy every month.
The pope said he shared all of this background information to answer the "impatient people" who say that "they did nothing."
"The Pope should not publish what he is doing every day, but from the first moment of this case, I did not stand by and watch," he defended.
To the journalist's statement that "I think it was important to tell all this, don't you think?" he said: "I told it now. But I can't do it every moment, but I never stopped."
Hannah Brockhaus is Catholic News Agency's senior Rome correspondent. She grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and has a degree in English from Truman State University in Missouri.