VATICAN CITY – The Vatican team of investigators that uncovered wide-scale priestly sexual abuse and cover-up in Chile is going back to the country on a pastoral mission to the diocese of Osorno.
Spokesman Greg Burke said Thursday that the visit to Osorno by Archbishop Charles Scicluna and Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu was not investigative in nature but pastoral.
Since 2015, Osorno has been headed by Bishop Juan Barros, the focus of the Chilean abuse scandal. Barros had been a top lieutenant of Chile's most famous predator priest, and was accused by victims of having witnessed and ignored their abuse.
Barros has denied the charge, but he was one of 31 Chilean bishops who recently submitted their resignations.
Barros' appointment sharply divided Osorno's Catholics, with many refusing to accept him as bishop.
Fox News' "Antisemitism Exposed" newsletter brings you stories on the rising anti-Jewish prejudice across the U.S. and the world.