The sexual abuse of minors by clergy of the Catholic Church in Chile and the failure of Church officials to respond and take responsibility attracted worldwide attention as a critical failure of Pope Francis and the Church as a whole to address the sexual abuse of minors by priests.
Among a number of cases, that of Father Fernando Karadima , which became public in , raised questions about the responsibility and complicity of several Chilean bishops, including some of the country's highest-ranking Catholic prelates. Karadima was accused as early as of sexually abusing minors.
Reports of abuse were not addressed and an early investigations that found accusations against Karadima credible was ignored. When the Vatican found Karadima guilty of sexually abusing minors and psychological abuse in February , it denied him the right to function as a priest for the rest of his life. Several priests he had mentored had by then become bishops. In , Pope Francis appointed one of them, Juan Barros Madrid , to head the diocese of Osorno , provoking protests, especially from the local Catholic community.
Convinced by the report from that investigation of a widespread failure of the Church hierarchy to recognize and respond to the sexual abuse crisis, Francis called all of Chile's bishops to Rome for consultation, and there all of the country's active bishops offered their resignations. On July 11, , the statute of limitations on reporting sex abuse against children was removed amid the ongoing sex abuse crisis in the Chilean Catholic Church.
Father Fernando Karadima born 6 August was a spiritual leader and father figure for young men from Santiago's social elite. He was based in the "Parroquia El Bosque", which serves some of Santiago's wealthiest and most influential families. His connections extended to officials in the military government of Gen. Karadima was a dynamic leader, described as "Impeccably dressed and with perfectly groomed nails and slicked-back hair", who "cut an aristocratic figure, appealing to both young and old in Chile's elite.
