
"Smear campaign": Opus Dei cardinal criticises bishops in his country
Madrid - He was considered the most powerful churchman in Peru: Cardinal Cipriani. He was reprimanded by the Vatican in 2019 for allegations of abuse. However, he believes he has been wrongly accused and is now denouncing his successor and the Peruvian bishops.
Published on 30.01.2025 at 11:50 –The former Archbishop of Lima, Cardinal Luis Cipriani, has protested his innocence following allegations of abuse and at the same time denounced his successor and the Peruvian bishops. In a letter published on Wednesday, the churchman expresses his pain at the injustice of "some unproven facts" about him being believed to be true. He accuses the country's bishops of a "campaign of vilification" against him, which above all attacks his dignity and honour.
The Spanish newspaper "El Pais" had previously reported on an allegation of abuse against the cardinal, who belongs to Opus Dei. The case is said to have occurred in 1983. The Vatican was informed of the allegations in 2018, and a year later, at the age of 75, the churchman offered his regular resignation for reasons of age, which the Pope immediately accepted. The background to the immediate acceptance was the accusation of a 58-year-old man. The man claimed that Cipriani had touched and kissed him as a teenager in 1983.
Cipriani maintains his innocence
According to the newspaper report, Pope Francis asked Cipriani to leave Peru, not to wear cardinal robes and symbols and not to make any public statements after allegations of abuse came to light in 2019. He also prohibited him from taking part in a future papal election. The Vatican confirmed a few days ago that, following the acceptance of his resignation as Archbishop of Lima, the cardinal had been "subject to a penal code with a series of disciplinary measures regarding his public activity, his residence and the use of insignia". This measure had been "signed and accepted" by Cipriani.
However, the 81-year-old cardinal pointed out that he had stated in writing that the accusations levelled against him were false and that he had adhered to these provisions out of "love for the Church and out of loyalty to the Pope" and would continue to do so in future. However, the churchman, who now lives in Madrid, described the publication of information from apparently confidential documents as serious. (mtr)
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