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Pope Francis Caught Lying About Catholic Church Sexual Abuse By Priests In Chile, Covered It Up

Pope Francis received a victim’s letter in 2015 that graphically detailed how a priest sexually abused him and how other Chilean clergy ignored it, contradicting the pope’s recent insistence that no victims had come forward to denounce the cover-up.

Published

7 years ago

February 5, 2018

Geoffrey Grider

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Pope Francis received a victim’s letter in 2015 that graphically detailed how a priest sexually abused him and how other Chilean clergy ignored it, contradicting the pope’s recent insistence that no victims had come forward to denounce the cover-up, the letter’s author and members of Francis’ own sex- abuse commission have told The Associated Press.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Pope Francis came in to “clean up” the Catholic Church, promising “zero tolerance” for priests who sexually abused thier followers. But sadly, this has not been the case. In the most explosive revelations to date, Pope Francis has been caught lying about widespread sexual abuse by Catholic priests in Chile, and about the letter hand-delivered to him written by Juan Carlos Cruz exposing it all.

The fact that Pope Francis received the eight-page letter, obtained by the AP, challenges his insistence that he has “zero tolerance” for sex abuse and cover-ups. It also calls into question his stated empathy with abuse survivors, compounding the most serious crisis of his five-year papacy.

“And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.” Revelation 17:5,6 (KJV)

The scandal exploded last month when Francis’ trip to South America was marred by protests over his vigorous defense of Bishop Juan Barros, who is accused by victims of covering up the abuse by the Rev. Fernando Karadima. During the trip, Francis callously dismissed accusations against Barros as “slander,” seemingly unaware that victims had placed him at the scene of Karadima’s crimes.

On the plane home, confronted by an AP reporter, the pope said: “You, in all good will, tell me that there are victims, but I haven’t seen any, because they haven’t come forward.”

But members of the pope’s Commission for the Protection of Minors say that in April 2015, they sent a delegation to Rome specifically to hand-deliver a letter to the pope about Barros. The letter from Juan Carlos Cruz detailed the abuse, kissing and fondling he says he suffered at Karadima’s hands, which he said Barros and others witnessed and ignored.

Four members of the commission met with Francis’ top abuse adviser, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, explained their objections to Francis’ recent appointment of Barros as a bishop in southern Chile, and gave him the letter to deliver to Francis.

“When we gave him (O’Malley) the letter for the pope, he assured us he would give it to the pope and speak of the concerns,” then-commission member Marie Collins told the AP. “And at a later date, he assured us that that had been done.”

Cruz, who now lives and works in Philadelphia, heard the same later that year.

“Cardinal O’Malley called me after the pope’s visit here in Philadelphia and he told me, among other things, that he had given the letter to the pope — in his hands,” he said in an interview at his home Sunday.

Neither the Vatican nor O’Malley responded to multiple requests for comment.

While the 2015 summit of Francis’ commission was known and publicized at the time, the contents of Cruz’s letter — and a photograph of Collins handing it to O’Malley — were not disclosed by members. Cruz provided the letter, and Collins provided the photo, after reading an AP story that reported Francis had claimed to have never heard from any Karadima victims about Barros’ behavior.

The Barros affair first caused shockwaves in January 2015 when Francis appointed him bishop of Osorno, Chile, over the objections of the leadership of Chile’s bishops’ conference and many local priests and laity. They accepted as credible the testimony against Karadima, a prominent Chilean cleric who was sanctioned by the Vatican in 2011 for abusing minors. Barros was a Karadima protege, and according to Cruz and other victims, he witnessed the abuse and did nothing.

“Holy Father, I write you this letter because I’m tired of fighting, of crying and suffering,” Cruz wrote in Francis’ native Spanish. “Our story is well known and there’s no need to repeat it, except to tell you of the horror of having lived this abuse and how I wanted to kill myself.”

Cruz and other survivors had for years denounced the cover-up of Karadima’s crimes, but were dismissed as liars by the Chilean church hierarchy and the Vatican’s own ambassador in Santiago, who refused their repeated requests to meet before and after Barros was appointed.

After Francis’ comments backing the Chilean hierarchy caused such an outcry in Chile, he was forced last week to do an about-face: The Vatican announced it was sending in its most respected sex-crimes investigator to take testimony from Cruz and others about Barros.

In the letter to the pope, Cruz begs for Francis to listen to him and make good on his pledge of “zero tolerance.”

“Holy Father, it’s bad enough that we suffered such tremendous pain and anguish from the sexual and psychological abuse, but the terrible mistreatment we received from our pastors is almost worse,” he wrote.

Cruz goes on to detail in explicit terms the homo-eroticized nature of the circle of priests and young boys around Karadima, the charismatic preacher whose El Bosque community in the well-to-do Santiago neighborhood of Providencia produced dozens of priestly vocations and five bishops, including Barros.

He described how Karadima would kiss Barros and fondle his genitals, and do the same with younger priests and teens, and how young priests and seminarians would fight to sit next to Karadima at the table to receive his affections.

“More difficult and tough was when we were in Karadima’s room and Juan Barros — if he wasn’t kissing Karadima — would watch when Karadima would touch us — the minors — and make us kiss him, saying: ‘Put your mouth near mine and stick out your tongue.’ He would stick his out and kiss us with his tongue,” Cruz told the pope. “Juan Barros was a witness to all this innumerable times, not just with me but with others as well.”

“Juan Barros covered up everything that I have told you,” he added.

Barros has repeatedly denied witnessing any abuse or covering it up. “I never knew anything about, nor ever imagined, the serious abuses which that priest committed against the victims,” he told the AP recently. “I have never approved of nor participated in such serious, dishonest acts, and I have never been convicted by any tribunal of such things.”

For the Osorno faithful who have opposed Barros as their bishop, the issue isn’t so much a legal matter requiring proof or evidence, as Barros was a young priest at the time and not in a position of authority over Karadima. It’s more that if Barros didn’t “see” what was happening around him and doesn’t find it problematic for a priest to kiss and fondle young boys, he shouldn’t be in charge of a diocese where he is responsible for detecting inappropriate sexual behavior, reporting it to police and protecting children from pedophiles like his mentor.

Cruz had arrived at Karadima’s community in 1980 as a vulnerable teenager, distraught after the recent death of his father. He has said Karadima told him he would be like a spiritual father to him, but instead sexually abused him.

Based on testimony from Cruz and other former members of the parish, the Vatican in 2011 removed Karadima from ministry and sentenced him to a lifetime of “penance and prayer” for his crimes. Now 87, he lives in a home for elderly priests in Santiago; he hasn’t commented on the scandal and the home has declined to accept calls or visits from the news media.

The victims also testified to Chilean prosecutors, who opened an investigation into Karadima after they went public with their accusations in 2010. Chilean prosecutors had to drop charges because too much time had passed, but the judge running the case stressed that it wasn’t for lack of proof.

While the victims’ testimony was deemed credible by both Vatican and Chilean prosecutors, the local church hierarchy clearly didn’t believe them, which might have influenced Francis’ view. Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz has acknowledged he didn’t believe the victims initially and shelved an investigation. He was forced to reopen it after the victims went public.

He is now one of the Argentine pope’s key cardinal advisers.

By the time he finally got his letter into the pope’s hands in 2015, Cruz had already sent versions to many other people, and had tried for months to get an appointment with the Vatican ambassador. The embassy’s Dec. 15, 2014, email to Cruz — a month before Barros was appointed — was short and to the point:

“The apostolic nunciature has received the message you emailed Dec. 7 to the apostolic nuncio,” it read, “and at the same time communicates that your request has been met with an unfavorable response.”

One could argue that Francis didn’t pay attention to Cruz’s letter, since he receives thousands of letters every day from faithful around the world. He can’t possibly read them all, much less remember the contents years later. He might have been tired and confused after a weeklong trip to South America when he told an airborne press conference that victims never came forward to accuse Barros of cover-up.

But this was not an ordinary letter, nor were the circumstances under which it arrived in the Vatican.

Francis had named O’Malley, the archbishop of Boston, to head his Commission for the Protection of Minors based on his credibility in having helped clean up the mess in Boston after the U.S. sex abuse scandal exploded there in 2002. The commission gathered outside experts to advise the church on protecting children from pedophiles and educating church personnel about preventing abuse and cover-ups.

The four commission members who were on a special subcommittee dedicated to survivors had flown to Rome specifically to speak with O’Malley about the Barros appointment and to deliver Cruz’s letter. A press release issued after the April 12, 2015, meeting read: “Cardinal O’Malley agreed to present the concerns of the subcommittee to the Holy Father.”

Commission member Catherine Bonnet, a French child psychiatrist who took the photo of Collins handing the letter to O’Malley, said the commission members had decided to descend on Rome specifically when O’Malley and other members of the pope’s group of nine cardinal advisers were meeting, so that O’Malley could put it directly into the pope’s hands.

“Cardinal O’Malley promised us when Marie gave to him the letter of Juan Carlos that he will give to Pope Francis,” she said.

O’Malley’s spokesman in Boston referred requests for comment to the Vatican. Neither the Vatican press office, nor officials at the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, responded to calls and emails seeking comment.

But O’Malley’s remarkable response to Francis’ defense of Barros and to his dismissal of the victims while he was in Chile, is perhaps now better understood.

In a rare rebuke of a pope by a cardinal, O’Malley issued a statement Jan. 20 in which he said the pope’s words were “a source of great pain for survivors of sexual abuse,” and that such expressions had the effect of abandoning victims and relegating them to “discredited exile.”

A day later, Francis apologized for having demanded “proof” of wrongdoing by Barros, saying he meant merely that he wanted to see “evidence.” But he continued to describe the accusations against Barros as “calumny” and insisted he had never heard from any victims.

Even when told in his airborne press conference Jan. 21 that Karadima’s victims had indeed placed Barros at the scene of Karadima’s abuse, Francis said: “No one has come forward. They haven’t provided any evidence for a judgment. This is all a bit vague. It’s something that can’t be accepted.”

He stood by Barros, saying: “I’m certain he’s innocent,” even while saying that he considered the testimony of victims to be “evidence” in a cover-up investigation.

“If anyone can give me evidence, I’ll be the first to listen,” he said.

Cruz said he felt like he had been slapped when he heard those words. “I was upset,” he said, “and at the same time I couldn’t believe that someone so high up like the pope himself could lie about this.” source

Related Topics:Catholic Church chile Pope Francis

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NTEB SUNDAY SERVICE: There Is A God In Israel

Published

12 hours ago

March 30, 2025

Geoffrey Grider

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David stood strong against the giant Goliath to bring him the message that “there is a God in Israel!”, and that’s a great message for here today at the end of the Church Age

We live in a day and age where the saints, people who are born again by the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross, are being pushed to the breaking point and wearing out. The nightly news delivers nothing to us but wars and rumours of wars, and it appears that the wicked who compass us on every side are actually winning (they’re not). But let me remind you of what David said to the massive and towering giant named Goliath as he looked down upon him. David said “that all the world may know there is a God in Israel”. Today I bring you a message on fighting the good fight, finishing your course and keeping the faith because there is a God in Israel!

“This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.” 1 Samuel 17:46 (KJB)

YOU ARE INVITED: If you are in the Saint Augustine area, we invite you to come worship with us at Bethany Baptist Church. Bible study Wednesday night at 7PM, and Sunday Service from 10AM – 12:30PM.

ONWARD, CHRISTIAN SOLDIER, IT’S TIME TO FIGHT ON. CLICK TO ORDER!!!

SUNDAY SERVICE STUDY NOTES: There Is A God In Israel

There Is a God in Israel

“Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.” 1 Samuel 17:45,46 (KJB)

“Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me.” Isaiah 45:21 (KJB)

“It was round about eighteen thousand measures: and the name of the city from that day shall be, The LORD is there.” Ezekiel 48:35 (KJB)

“But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19 (KJB)

“For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts.” Haggai 2:6-8 (KJB)

“Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:14-16 (KJB)

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page

When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.

But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORT…TO THE FIGHT!!!

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

Free Bible Program

Substance Abuse Counsellor At Heard County Jail In Franklin Georgia Asking For Bibles To Give To The Inmates They Work With On A Daily Basis

Published

2 days ago

March 28, 2025

Geoffrey Grider

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Jesus started His earthly ministry talking about setting the captives free from prison and at Bibles Behind Bars that’s the main thing we are focused on.

I think just about everyone reading this article has in their family a minimum of at least one person who struggles with substance abuse on some level, in fact, I’m sure of it. Additionally, many people also have a loved one the penal system and incarcerated at some level. We gets phone calls and emails about this on a near daily basis from our readers. Now imagine a situation where the person is battling substance abuse at the same time they’re locked up. That’s a pretty rough row to hoe, and the King James Bible is just the tool needed to work in that hard, tough field.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,” Luke 4:18 (KJB)

A substance abuse counselor at the Heard County Jail just emailed me a little while ago, telling me about the situation there and the need for Bibles and books. Think about the people to whom those Bibles will go, imagine if it was your loved one, it’s someone’s loved one for sure. I think Bibles Behind Bars, the sending of King James Bibles to people bound and captive in the prison house, is just about the most vital ministry we have here at NTEB, and I believe in it with all my heart. So much so that I tithe my entire paycheck that I receive as pastor of Bethany Baptist Church, around $10,000 per year, and let it all go to Bibles for inmates. I am all in, with both feet, how about you? Come join us, we need your help, as we are also looking to send Bibles and books to the Sweetwater County Detention Center in Wyoming and the Maine Correctional Center in Windham.

HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page

If God has prospered you, please take a moment to click on the donate button to help us in this monumental task of providing King James Bibles, New Testaments, scripture portions, gospel tracts as well as Spanish Bibles to inmates in jails and prisons from Florida to Alaska, and every state in between. We need your prayers, we need your generous financial support, and we need you to stand with us in the closing days of the Church Age. Thank you so very much, TO THE FIGHT!!!

NOTE: If you need a 501 C3 Letter of Donation for tax purposes, please send your donation to:

NTEB Ministries
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Ste. 1272-129
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Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

Conspiracy Theory

Think The Nazis Were Defeated In WWII? They Went On To Run NASA, The EU Commission, NATO And The United Nations So You Tell Me Who Won The War

Published

3 days ago

March 28, 2025

Geoffrey Grider

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The Allies may have defeated Hitler in WWII, but one thing that was not defeated was Nazi ideology which found its way into NASA, the EU Commission, NATO and the United Nations

How many times have you watched documentaries, movies and newsreels showing the great Allied victory over Nazi Germany and the Axis powers? Probably a lot, and you swell with pride watching the landing on the beaches on D-Day and all the other heroic things done and sacrificed to beat back the Nazis. Case closed, right? Wrong. After WWII, high-ranking and powerful Nazis went on to do things like creating NASA in America, heading up the EU Commission in Europe, being in charge of NATO, and running the United Nations in New York City.

“Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you.” Habakkuk 1:5 (KJB)

WERNHER VON BRAUN: For years dismissed as a conspiracy theory, Operation Paperclip eventually came to light and proved all the conspiracy theorists correct once again. The moon landing, whether you think it really happened or think it never happened, was created by a team of 1,600 Nazi scientists from Nazi Germany who were led by Wernher von Braun, Kurt Debus and Arthur Rudolph. All 3 of these men did work in Adolf Hitler’s concentration camps on thousands of victims who were the human fodder for their fiendish experiments. Not only did they never pay for their crimes, they were brought to America where they lived a nice, cushy lifestyle. Von Braun ran the V-2 assembly plant, called the Mittelwerk, that was in central Germany near Nordhausen, and it utilized enslaved labor from the attached Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp. Yet amazingly, NASA built a statue in his honor that remains to this day. Oy vey.

ONE OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS EVER HAVING TO DO WITH THE JEWS AND THE HOLOCAUST DURING THE TIME OF NAZIS, CLICK TO ORDER!!

WALTER HALLSTEIN: He was man who was the first president of the European Commission, the unelected executive body of Europe. Hallstein held this post between 1958 and 1967 and is described on the Brussels EU website as a “visionary leader” and a “diplomatic force” who propelled European integration. However, no mention whatsoever is given by the Brussels EU to the fact that before and during World War Two Hallstein was a member of official Nazi organizations. The Association of National Socialist German lawyers was founded in 1933, immediately after the Nazis had seized power. In 1936 it was converted into the notorious Nazi Association of Law Protectors. Membership of this second organization was restricted to those individuals showing uncompromising support for, and participation in, the implementation of Nazi ideology. In a memorandum sent by Hallstein to the representative of the Nazi government at the university of Rostock in Germany in 1935, Hallstein stated he was a member of both these organizations.

DON’T KNOW THE REAL CONNECTION BETWEEN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC JESUITS AND THE NAZIS? CLICK TO ORDER AND YOU WILL!!

ADOLF HEUSINGER: Heusinger played a key role in planning the Nazi occupation of Austria and, at the outbreak of World War II, in the Nazi invasion of Poland, Denmark, Norway, France, and the Netherlands. During the course of the war, Heusinger was appointed Brigadier General and later Major General. Heusinger was appointed Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, serving from 1961 to 1964 in Washington, D.C. In this capacity, he was the highest-ranking military officer in NATO, overseeing strategic military planning during a tense period of the Cold War.

KURT WALDHEIM: He was drafted into the German Wehrmacht in 1941. He served as an intelligence officer in the Balkans, primarily in Yugoslavia and Greece, as part of Army Group E. His unit was involved in brutal anti-partisan operations, including deportations of Jews and reprisals against civilians. None of that stopped Waldheim from becoming the Secretary General of the United Nations General Assembly.

The Nazi Party was taken down from power at the end of WWII, Adolf Hitler died ‘came to his end with none to help him’ as Daniel 11:45 alludes to, and the Allies won the battle. Yay! But the war started by the Nazis continues to be waged through the organizations the Nazis went on to create. These men were not heros, they were unrepentant Nazis who found fame and fortune doing for themselves what they had done for Hitler. There is no better example of covert Nazism in the 21st-century than the United Nations, sitting like a coiled serpent and waiting to strike again.