VATICAN CITY--Pope Francis is sending the Catholic Church's top sexual abuse investigator to Chile to look into accusations a bishop covered up crimes against minors, just days after the pope defended him.
A Vatican statement on Tuesday said new information had emerged about Bishop Juan Barros and that the investigator, Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, would go to "listen to those who want to submit information in their possession". The statement, which gave no further details, was a U-turn for the pope, who on Jan. 21 told reporters aboard his plane returning from Latin America he was sure Barros was innocent and that the Vatican had received no concrete evidence against him.
It was Scicluna who uncovered evidence of sexual abuse that led to the removal of the late Mexican priest Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legionaries of Christ, in 2005.
Controversy over Barros, bishop of the city of Osorno in Chile's south, dominated Francis' recent trip, with critics accusing the pope of not understanding the depth of the crisis in the South American country. A number of men have accused Barros of protecting his former mentor, the Rev. Fernando Karadima, who was found guilty in a Vatican investigation in 2011 of abusing them and others when they were boys. Karadima always denied the allegations, and Barros said he was unaware of any wrongdoing.
Barros and his main accusers were not available to comment on the latest twist of a long-running saga that has gripped Chile and hurt the Church's prestige there. During the trip, a Chilean reporter managed to get close to the pope at an event and shouted out a question about Barros.
"The day I see proof against Bishop Barros, then I will talk. There is not a single piece of evidence against him. It is all slander. Is that clear?" the pope replied.
His comments were widely criticised by victims, their advocates and newspaper editorials in Chile and the pope's native Argentina. Even Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston, a key papal adviser on how to root out sexual abuse in the Church, distanced himself with a statement saying the pope had caused "great pain".
Speaking to reporters on the plane returning to Rome, Francis apologised to victims, acknowledging that his choice of words and tone of voice had "wounded many".
