Vatican City, Jan 22, 2019 / 08:36 am
In a statement Tuesday the Vatican again denied having prior knowledge of sexual abuse allegations against Argentine Bishop Gustavo Oscar Zanchetta before his December 2017 appointment to a Vatican office.
In a Jan. 22 statement, interim director of the Vatican Press Office Alessandro Gisotti "resolutely" repeated a Jan. 4 Vatican statement that said no sexual abuse charges had yet emerged against the bishop at the time Pope Francis appointed Zanchetta to the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA) in December 2017. Gisotti said the charges only emerged in the fall of 2018.
The Vatican's latest statement came in response to recent articles on the Zanchetta allegations carried by several news outlets. Gisotti said it was necessary to correct "some misleading reconstructions." He also confirmed that Zanchetta's case is being studied and that "information will be forthcoming regarding the results" of that process.
Bishop Zanchetta, 54, was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Quilmes in 1991. He remained there until his 2013 appointment by Pope Francis as Bishop of Orán. In July 2017, he announced his resignation as bishop, citing health problems and "an incapacity to govern the clergy."