World
Pope Leo visit draws 43 Opus Dei abuse complainants
The Hindu·
Pope Leo’s planned Argentina visit, initially set for November 8-11, has drawn fresh focus to clergy abuse cases. Survivors want priests convicted in criminal courts defrocked. In Córdoba, priest Alejandro Nicola faces child-abuse allegations at a kindergarten, mostly in 2025. A group of 43 women allege forced labour at Opus Dei centres and hope to meet him.
Prism
What It Means For You
- Survivors are asking the Vatican to announce canonical outcomes after criminal convictions.
- Families in Córdoba say Nicola celebrated Mass at the cathedral in July despite the allegations.
- Opus Dei complainants want a public apology and Vatican action on a 2021 formal complaint.
What's Happening
- More than a dozen Córdoba families have filed complaints. Prosecutors and the local church have opened inquiries.
- Prosecutors have asked that Opus Dei defendants be summoned for questioning. The judge has not ordered it.
- In Mendoza, a court in September sentenced former nun Kumiko Kosaka to 20 years for abusing five students.
Cases Survivors Keep Raising
- At the Antonio Próvolo Institute, priests Horacio Corbacho and Nicola Corradi received 45-year and 42-year sentences in 2019.
- Survivors also seek removal of clerical status for Christian Von Wernich, Julio Grassi and former Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta.
- Von Wernich received a life sentence in 2007 for murders, kidnappings and torture under the 1976-1983 dictatorship.
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