The Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, confirmed Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta had resumed work at the APSA patrimony office but said it in no way interferes with the investigations. He said Zanchetta remains at the disposition of Argentine judicial authorities.

The developments came as Francis on June 15 named a new No. 2 at the office, an Italian layman and auditor, Fabio Gasperini. Read more

Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta is accused of sexually abusing two seminarians. The seminarians also say he mismanaged the diocese's finances and abused his power.

The bishop was criminally charged in June and could be imprisoned for three to 10 years if he is convicted.

He has been suspended from his position at the Vatican's central bank where Francis appointed him as an "assessor" in 2017.

Argentinian prosecutors have complained Zanchetta failed to respond to repeated emails and telephone calls about the abuse allegations.

The Vatican's apparent protection of Zanchetta has angered prosecutors.

"Despite being suspended from ministry, the Vatican has argued that Zanchetta's ‘daily work' requires him to be in Rome instead of facing trial in Argentina," says Zach Hiner.

Hiner is the executive director of victims' pressure group SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

"This decision is at best questionable and at worst a Vatican-sponsored opportunity for him to flee from justice," he added.

"If Pope Francis was serious about his "all-out battle" against cases of clergy abuse, he would order Zanchetta to return to Argentina and face the allegations against him."

However, Zanchetta's spokesman is criticising the Argentine prosecutors, saying releasing information about the case hurts his image and his presumption of innocence.

Spokesman Javier Belda says Zanchetta is not rebelling by not responding to calls or messages.

Rather, he says Zanchetta has cooperated with judicial authorities throughout the case.

Zanchetta's situation became public just as Francis made an impassioned speech in Bangkok last week on behalf of victims of sex trafficking.

However, Anne Barrett Doyle, of BishopAccountability.org, says: "It's vital that Pope Francis ensures Zanchetta's full cooperation with Argentine civil authorities."

"To do otherwise would put the Pope in violation of his own decree forbidding conduct by bishops that interferes with civil investigations."

"Francis must begin to set an example - especially because his protectiveness toward Zanchetta to date already raises disturbing questions about his commitment to ending complicity by Church officials."

"Francis should not have given Zanchetta safe harbour in the first place, given the bishop's reported wrongdoing in Argentina."

An Argentinian prosecutor of sexual crimes is asking for international assistance in Zanchetta's arrest.

Source

• Catholic News Agency
• The Telegraph
• AP
• Image: Rome Reports

He has been accused of sexually abusing seminarians.

Francis says he received the results of a preliminary investigation into Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta two weeks ago.

As a result, he ordered the case be handed over for trial by a church tribunal.

Zanchetta resigned suddenly as the bishop of Oran, Argentina in 2017.

Within a few months he was was granted a senior Vatican administration position.

News reports say the Vatican was aware of inappropriate sexual behaviour by Zanchetta two years before he resigned.

However, the Vatican refutes this, insisting Zanchetta's resignation was because he was facing governance problems at the time.

The Vatican says the first accusation of Zanchetta's abuse came in late 2018.

Francis was asked about Zanchetta's track record when he was interviewed on Mexican television earlier this week.

He said in 2015 he asked Zanchetta about the first accusations against him involving nude selfies on his cellphone.

Francis went on to say that he gave Zanchetta the benefit of the doubt about the selfies when he claimed his phone had been hacked.

A year later, Oran's seminary rector was so concerned about Zanchetta's behavior that he made a formal complaint to the Vatican ambassador that "urgent measures" were needed to protect his first-year students, since their introductory classes were held in Zanchetta's residence.

The complaint listed Zanchetta's problematic behaviour with seminarians. This included his tendency to walk by their rooms at night, asking them for massages, going into their rooms to wake them up in the morning and sitting on their beds, inviting them to drink alcohol and having an "obsessive omnipresence" in the seminary that made the young men feel "asphyxiated."

Source

• Los Angeles Times
• Fox News Network
• Image: Catholic Sentinel