After media reports suggesting that Spanish Cardinal Luis Ladaria’s withdrawal from the upcoming Synod of Bishops on Synodality was tied to his handling of the case of a prominent Jesuit artist accused of abuse, the Vatican called those claims “pure fantasy.”
“Regarding some media articles relating to the reasons for why Cardinal Ladaria Ferrer will not participate in the coming synodal assembly, in agreement with His Eminence, it is specified that these reconstructions have no foundation and are the fruit of pure fantasy,” a Sept 23 Vatican statement said.
“The truth of the facts is that having completed his mandate as prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Ladaria, close to 80 years of age, asked not to participate in the synod exclusively due to accumulated tiredness and his desire for a bit of rest,” the statement said.