The Pope had appointed him as councilor of Apsa. Then, charged to the prelate, he started a canonical process at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
VATICAN CITY. The pastor emeritus of the diocese of Oran was found guilty of pedophilia. In Argentina, the court sentenced Monsignor Gustavo Zanchetta, in the past with a role in the Vatican – where he is now under canonical trial at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – to four and a half years in prison for aggravated sexual abuse of two former seminarians . This was reported by the Argentine state agency Telàm.
The sentence accepts the requests of the prosecution, advanced yesterday, with arguments based on the psychological and psychiatric reports made to the former bishop. During the trial Zanchetta testified and denied all charges against him, while the two victims reiterated their allegations.
Zanchetta resigned as bishop of Oran on July 31, 2017, due to health problems, he left Argentina and settled in Spain. Pope Francis, when the allegations of sexual abuse had not yet emerged, had then called him Oltretevere, appointing him as assessor of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (Apsa), until 2021. But then the Pontiff started a trial in charged by Zanchetta to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
The newspaper La Nación reports that the prelate will remain in detention for the moment in a police station in Oran until a cell in the city prison is released. It is not known for now whether Zanchetta’s defender, Enzo Giannotti, who had asked for acquittal, will appeal.
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