Pope defends embattled Cardinal Maradiaga

December 26, 2017

Pope Francis has strongly supported Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga against charges of financial improprieties, suggesting that the charges are an unjust attack on the Honduran prelate.

“I’m sorry for all the evil they have done against you, but do not you worry,” the Pope said in a message to Cardinal Maradiaga, made public on the Vatican News web site.

Cardinal Maradiaga—who chairs the Council of Cardinals advising Pope Francis on Vatican reforms—said that the charges against him were really “an attack on the Holy Father,” prompted by “those who do not want the Curia reformed.”

The Honduran cardinal said that the reporter who wrote the story about a Vatican investigation into his financial affairs was lacking in “professional ethics” and had no real credibility.

Sandro Magister of L’Espresso, who broke the story that Cardinal Maradiaga had received large payments from a Catholic university in Honduras, is a veteran Vatican journalist who, although often controversial, has an established track record of accuracy. And the Vatican has confirmed an investigation into financial affairs of the Church in Honduras, although not necessarily a focus on Cardinal Maradiaga.

Church spokesman in Honduras have said that the large sums relayed from the University of Tegucigalpa were used for the general needs of the archdiocese. The National Catholic Register has reported that figures for the Archdiocese of Tegucigalpa show “spending running into the millions, but with no particulars.”

 

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Further information:

• Pope to Card. Maradiaga: I'm sorry for the evil they have done against you (Vatican News)
• Cardinal Maradiaga Denies Financial Allegations, But Questions Remain Unanswered (National Catholic Register)