Bishop confirms 15 inmates at Mexican prison visited by Pope Francis

May 8, 2018 CNA Daily News News Briefs 0 Print

Chihuahua, Mexico, May 8, 2018 / 01:55 pm (ACI Prensa).- Bishop José Guadalupe Torres Campos of Ciudad Juárez, in Chihuahua state, Mexico, conferred the Sacrament of Confirmation on 15 inmates at the prison that Pope Francis visited in 2016.

The May 4 ceremony at the Social Readaptation Center No. 3. was organized by the prison ministry of Ciudad Juarez with the support of the prosecutor’s office.

The prison ministry helps prepare inmates who want to receive the sacraments of Baptism, First Communion and Confirmation.

Relatives were permitted to attend the ceremony. The Attorney General’s Office of the State of Chihuahua assured that the ceremony was conducted “under all necessary security measures and with complete respect for freedom of worship.”

The Attorney General’s Office also stated that “this type of activity” is carried out in accordance with the Law on Prison Sentences, “which provides that every inmate must be treated with dignity by the prison staff.”

During his trip to Mexico in 2016, Pope Francis visited the prison on Feb. 17. The pope said that the inmates “have known the power of suffering and sin,” and urged them to “not forget that you have available to you the power of the resurrection, the power of divine mercy which makes all things new.”

“Now you have to face the toughest, the hardest part, but which possibly may bear the most fruit, fight from within here to work to change the situations the create more exclusion,” he said.

“Work so that this society with uses people and throws them away will not go on claiming victims,” he asked them.

This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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Scicluna meets with alleged victims of abuse by Marist Brothers

February 28, 2018 CNA Daily News 1

Santiago, Chile, Feb 28, 2018 / 01:08 pm (CNA).- A Vatican investigator has met with some alleged victims of sexual abuse perpetrated by Marist Brothers in Chile.

Archbishop Charles Scicluna, the pope’s envoy to Chile who is investigating accusations of negligence against Bishop Juan Barros in other abuse cases, met with alleged victims of abuse by Marist Brothers on Feb. 27, apparently broadening the scope of his mandate in the country.

In August 2017, the Marist Brothers reported that a member of the congregation had admitted to abusing 14 boys in Chile.

Earlier this year, the Marist Brother began a canonical investigation of allegations of sexual abuse in Chile by some of its members.

In a Feb. 26 press release, the congregation invited “those who want to testify or who have information that may contribute to the development of this inquiry” to contact the canonical investigator, Fr. David Albornoz Pavisic.

Pavisic is a professor of canon law at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile in Santiago. In January, he was appointed to lead the canonical investigation of the Marist Brothers accused of abuse at the Alonso de Ercilla Institute and the  Marcelino Champagnat School, located in Santiago.

One of the victims from the Marist case was Isaac Givovich who told the local press that “We are  Catholics and are thankful today for [Scicluna’s] gesture toward us.”

“We believe this is one more step for justice to be done, what’s left for us is to hope that there will be justice and reparation so there can be reconciliation,” he said.

Jaime Concha, who also attended the meeting, said that “this is a day to be happy because new avenues to justice and truth are opening up, I leave happy and satisfied because our struggle represents many others and is bearing fruits of truth and justice.”

This article was originally published by our Spanish-language partner, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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