From: http://popebenedictandclergyabuse.blogspot.com/
The Charges
- Vatican waited years to defrock Arizona priest by Matt Sedensky (Associated Press) April 2, 2010.
Additional Material on the Tucson Abuse Cases
- Bishop Kicanas’ response to Star’s questions Complete written response from the Most Rev. Gerald f. Kicanas, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson, to questions from Arizona Daily Star reporter Patty Machelor (3/31/10).
- Moreno struggled to defrock 2 priests Patty Machelor Arizona Daily Star April 1, 2010.
- Moreno-Ratzinger letters on the Teta case (Arizona Daily Star)
- New story trying to implicate Pope Benedict is ‘misleading,’ says the Vatican Catholic News Agency. April 3, 2010:
The Vatican Press Office Director observes that “beginning in 2001, all pending appeals have been handled promptly, and the Teta appeal was one of the first to be handled. This took time, because there was a particularly large volume of documentation. In any case, the decision of the trial court was confirmed in toto (in full,) and Teta was defrocked in 2004.”
Fr. Lombardi concluded: “It must not be forgotten that even when appeals are pending and the sentence is suspended, precautionary measures are imposed by the bishop on the accused. Indeed, Teta had been suspended from the exercise of priestly ministry in 1990.”The original AP breaking news story did not mention the fact that Fr. Teta was suspended in 1990. The same AP story also missed the fact that it was Tucson Bishop Manuel D. Moreno who failed to notify police about allegations against Teta and another Tucson abusive priest, Robert Trupia until 2000, when the U.S. bishops adopted mandatory reporting policies.
- Statement of Fr Federico Lombardi on the case of Rev. Michael Teta of the Diocese of Tucson Arizona. Vatican Radio. April 3, 2010.
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