In both 2015 and 2017, The Vatican allegedly received a note that Gustavo Zanchetta, an Argentine bishop close to Pope Francis, had taken nude selfies, exhibited “obscene” behavior and had been accused of misconduct with seminarians. This news, however, goes against the claims made by The Vatican that they received the cringeworthy information just a few months ago.
Former vicar of Zanchetta’s, the Rev. Juan Jose Manzano, revealed to AP on Sunday, January 20: “In 2015, we just sent a ‘digital support’ with selfie photos of the previous bishop in obscene or out of place behavior that seemed inappropriate and dangerous. It was an alarm that we made to the Holy See via some friendly bishops. The nunciature didn’t intervene directly, but the Holy Father summoned Zanchetta and he justified himself saying that his cellphone had been hacked, and that there were people who were out to damage the image of the pope.”
Manzano said he sent a complaint to the Vatican’s embassy in Buenos Aires in May or June of 2017 “when the situation was much more serious, not just because there had been a question about sexual abuses, but because the diocese was increasingly heading into the abyss.”
In August 2017, Pope Francis accepted Zanchetta’s resignation after priests in the northern Argentine diocese of Oran complained about his authoritarian rule. On top of that, a former vicar, seminary rector and another prelate accused him of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior.
However, The National ENQUIRER readers can’t help but wonder if Pope Francis’ decision to let him quietly resign and then promote him to the No. 2 position in one of the Vatican’s offices was a result of him turning a blind eye to the accusations.
But Manzano said he was just a victim of Zanchetta’s “manipulation.” He said, “There was never any intent to hide anything. There was never any intent of the Holy Father to defend him against anything,” he shared.
Contrary to Manzano’s claims, on January 3, Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti shared in a statement that the abuse allegations against Zanchetta emerged at the end of 2018, which was after Zanchetta’s resignation and nearly a year after the December 2017 announcement that Pope Francis named him “assessor” in APSA.
When he resigned, Zanchetta told Francis it was because he had difficult relations with its priests and was “unable to govern the clergy,” Gisotti said in a statement that Francis has stood by.
Zanchetta has not spoken out on these claims against him.
