Vatican tribunal for Guam archbishop hears more testimony in California

April 17, 2017

A Vatican tribunal investigating charges of sexual abuse against Archbishop Anthony Apuron of Agana, Guam, heard testimony in San Francisco in March, Pacific Daily News has reported.

Cardinal Raymond Burke, who heads the tribunal traveled to Guam earlier in the year to hear testimony. But one of the archbishop’s accusers, Walter Denton, gave his testimony on March 17 in San Francisco. “I have waited a long time to tell people my story,” Denton said. “I just wanted to tell someone who would listen to what happened to me.” Denton, who now lives in the US, says that he was molested by Archbishop Apuron in 1977, when he was an adolescent.

Denton said that he was told the Vatican tribunal was likely to conclude its work this summer. Archbishop Apuron was relieved of all pastoral responsibilities last June, after several young men complained that he had molested them. The archbishop, who denies the charges, is now undergoing a canonical trial. Meanwhile the Vatican has appointed an American prelate, Archbishop Michael Byrnes, as coadjutor archbishop “with special faculties” to lead the Guam archdiocese.

 

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Further information:

• Apuron accusers meet with Vatican tribunal (Pacific Daily News)
• Cardinal Burke leaves Guam after taking testimony in abuse trial (CWN, 2/27)