Monday, August 27, 2018


(photo credit: CNS/Paul Haring)
According to the National Catholic Reporter yesterday, Pope Francis refused to discuss the allegations made against him by Archbishop Vigano when talking to reporters on the flight back to Rome from Ireland.  During the same flight, however, the Pope could not help to discuss the case of Archbishop Anthony Apuron:
"I took it upon myself and I made a commission of canonists to help me..It is a complicated case on one hand, but also not difficult because the evidence is very clear.  But I cannot prejudge, I'll wait for the information, and then I will judge."


  1. Does anybody know if they serve liquor on those papal flights? Thought the whole appeal thing was supposed to be secret.

    1. Once again,an appeal in that court is only considered as one, when the Head of the congregation accept said appeal. So far, it has not been accepted. Ergo, there is NO appeal per se.
      The original ruling therefore stands.

      That being said. It does not mean that the matter is far from over.
      Since the publication of the findings of the tribunal, several more complaints, (two of them which found their way into the civil system)
      have been forwarded through official channels by the Archdiocese to the Vatican, and added to the Apuron dossier.

      This is why further restrictions on Apuron could be added by the Vatican in the months to come.
      Of course that does not sit well with the Neos, as these latest cases are more recent, and took place while he was already Archbishop, proving that the never changed his perverted ways, and that the Neos knew full well what was going on.
      Not only did they know what was going on, but they helped in the cover up.

    2. Hello anon at 4.43. The situation is taking a new twist at every turn.I went back to the whole airplane interview of Francis with the Press corp.
      The mention of Apuron came into play, while he was answering a question which took in consideration the declarations of one of the former member of the Papal commission for the protection of minor.
      It addressed the issue of a permanent tribunal for Bishops.
      Francis answered that he was not for it, but that he had privileged to have different juries for each case.
      This is when he mentioned the case of Apuron.
      He revealed that the appeal had not been handled by the congregation and the tribunal which heard it first. (that in itself explain their total silence on the subject)
      Then he revealed that he was handling the appeal himself. This is a huge news, because it is unprecedented. He also revealed that he was expecting the canon lawyers that do the footwork for him to come up with their recommendation in a month time frame.
      This also is a huge revelation.
      It could be very good news, or totally bad. No middle.
      I guess we shall have to wait another month.

  2. Janet B - MangilaoAugust 27, 2018 at 6:32 PM

    For one time in his life, Pope Francis speaks clear and direct...the evidence is very clear.

    Did you hear that Jackie the Trained Attorney?

    LOL. Apurun, enjoy life anywhere but GUam, please. Even your relatives don't want you back. Especially all your nephews!

  3. La Stampa reports that in the same conversation, which was an answer to a question about the appropriate kind of jury to use for bishops, the Pope said that he'd have the commission's report on the Apuron appeal within a month at most.

    1. That is correct.
      One of the issue, which rose to the fore, with the Mc Carrick revelations, has been the way to handle the cases of Bishops in the future.
      Apuron, was the first time Rome actually used a new tribunal to go through accusations against an Archbishop.
      The fact that the Pope mentioned an appeal is big news, because so far, the congregation had not even revealed that it had accepted said appeal.
      The interesting twist here, is that Apuron Canon lawyers come from O'Malley stable.
      There is a twist at every turn.

  4. The world wants to hear his response to the cover-up allegations made against him, and instead he talks about the Apuron case.

    1. You are right anon at 7.16, what we are witnessing is a full blown out war of communication, with several parties trying to pull the wool over people's eyes.
      Francis is here under the gun. He is accused of cover up. His answer is there is no cover fact look on how we handled the case of Apuron.
      It makes sense in a way.
      But the story has taken a huge dimension with new revelations appearing everyday.
      Francis will find himself caught in between a rock and a hard place, because some of those who expected to defend him (the liberal wing) are doing a lot of back stabbing, while the conservative are smelling blood and releasing damaging evidence they had been keeping in their back pocket.
      No wonder Benedict quit.
      To make matter worse, several parties (including but not limited to the Neos)have started pushing for their straw men to come to the front.
      This is unprecedented.

  5. Frenchie at 12.11, the itinerants told us in my locality some years ago that there was going to be an expansion into Guam.

    I sat quiet and so did a frail old lady, and lots of others, when our neighbour was emotionally and verbally abused - "nicely" of course - under our noses.

    After (far fewer than) 28 years, one is numb and passive.

    This is why the NCW fits the RCC like a glove.


  6. Pope Francis now has the opportunity to redeem himself after he allowed the Apuron verdict to wallow in confusion and mud. The fact that he has taken on the appeal himself hopefully means he will not only come down hard on Apuron, but will use his decree as a basis to issue an unequivocal message that our Church will be cleansed of all those who were complicit in covering up abuses, even if he himself has to resign. It will be a pivotal point for our Church if he does issue a decree to that effect, and soon.

  7. "The evidence is very clear." Evidence of what? That apuron was guilty of mishandling child sex abuse cases brought to his attention?
    Or, that apuron was guilty of child sex abuse, himself? or both?
    To me, apuron is guilty on both counts, but what will the Pope tell the world?

  8. I remember Archbishop McCarrick telling us seminarians at the Redemptoris Mater in Newark in '89 ( I was one of the first 12 theologian studying at Seton Hall) telling us 12 that he will not ordain us until he gets to know us personally. I thought he was just fatherly to us being our bishop. But now I cringe when i read the papers. Good ting I got out.

    1. Well Anon at 1.23, I can safely say that we are all glad you escaped that toxic environment. I hope you did not loosed your faith over this.
      I have advocated for a long while, that Gennarini has been using the sins of his protector, to facilitate access to more sins, and get a better control over them.
      Like the Legionnaires of Christ, in fact in many ways in much worse ways, they do not give a damn if people that follow them get destroyed in the process.

  9. It appears that Filoni is hard at work. A very possible scenario is that the CDF has refused to hear Apuron's appeal, and since Francis can over rule the CDF, has agreed to hear Apuron's appeal personally. I am quite sure that all this was set up before the Vigano letter, which now places Francis in a pickle. He might have been all set to let Apuron get off, but now that would look really bad. One thing for sure: there were a lot more accusations against Apuron than what we know about.

    1. Filoni has been hard at work on the Apuron case from the get go, he tried everything to stop this to ever happen, even sending us his number 2 to stiffle dissent.
      Unfortunately Hon still had a conscience, and clashed with his instructions.
      Then he tried to silence Archbishop Krebs and his predecessors long dossier on Apuron.
      When finally the sexual abuse showed up, he tried to influence Francis on whom to put on the tribunal, but Mueller would have none of it.
      Don't forget Filoni is not only the Head of his congregation, he also sits on several others, including the congregation for the propagation of faith.
      He labored hard to have Mueller removed.
      When that happened he tried very hard to have Ferrer declare a vote by the whole congregation,( he thought he had the votes) once they received the findings. Ferrer did not relent, and Francis got pissed.
      Yet he was still able to plant a seed of the unknown in the published verdict.
      Now to the best of our knowledge, and since the congregation had not accepted to hear the appeal, he has been able to convinced the Pope to hear it.
      My take on this, is that he was expecting to influence Francis to come up with a half measure.
      Stroke of luck for us, the Vigano dossier will probably render that possibility very difficult.
      The pressure is on Francis to look decisive against sexual abuse by Bishops and coverup as well.
      You can see that the attempt to silence Vigano have failed. This story will not be swept under the rug now.
      But lets never underestimate Filoni, he is as relentless as he is corrupt.
      A good thing is also the fact that Parolin who like him was a protege of Becciu, is now his sworn enemy. They have been both implicated by Vigano in the Mc Carrick affair, which looks like it is the gift that keeps on giving.
      keep posted

  10. Pope Francis must make his decision soon. Come November this year Apuron will turn 75 years old and retire and keep his title.