Just when you thought that things couldn’t get much weirder at the Vatican:
Cardinal Raymond Burke has traveled to Guam, to take testimony in the canonical trial of Archbishop Anthony Apuron of Agana.
Archbishop Apuron, who has been accused of molesting a number of young men, was relieved of his pastoral responsibilities in the Guam archdiocese last June. He has insisted on his innocence and refused to resign. However, in October the Vatican named an American prelate, Archbishop Michael Byrnes, as coadjutor with “special faculties” to take over leadership of the archdiocese.
At his installation, Archbishop Byrnes revealed that the Vatican had begun a canonical trial of Archbishop Apuron on the sex-abuse charges. The Vatican press office has now confirmed this, and disclosed that Cardinal Burke was named as the presiding judge in the case.
Go here to read the rest. PopeWatch guesses that Siberia simply was not an option.
Siberia was not an option because Patriarch Kirill has control of who is exiled there. So Pope Francis used Guam. At least it’s warm.
In a perverse way, this is good because it shows that Pope Francis knows he is wrong.
You seem to think he’ll make it to Guam. It’s a very, very long flight over open water. Not all planes make it…. or come back.
The Guamanians are very welcoming people, though the cardinal may tire of fruit bat soup. I don’t see this as a punishment assignment, rather that Cardinal Burke will insist on a thorough investigation and be a fair and just judge.
Fr. Z seems to think it’s a reasonable thing to do. Burke’s well known integrity makes him a good choice for a (likely high profile) trial involving a bishop. http://wdtprs.com/blog/2017/02/card-burke-goes-to-guam-whats-up-with-that/