Gustavo Óscar Zanchetta (born 28 February 1964) is an Argentine prelate of the Catholic Church who served as Bishop of Orán from 2013 to 2017, when Pope Francis demanded his resignation because of his failure as a leader of his priests.
Assigned to an administrative position in the Roman Curia, Zanchetta was charged in 2019 with the sexual assault of two adult seminarians while bishop of Orán.
[6] Both the resignation and its acceptance were described as "precipitous", and Zanchetta's announcement of his departure cited health issues that prevented him from serving properly as bishop.
[7] Pope Francis later said he had asked for his resignation after formal complaints had been filed against him,[8] which were described as "his troubles handling the relationships with the diocesan clergy" and "accusations of authoritarianism".
[10] On 19 December 2017, Zanchetta was named to a post as councilor (assessore) in the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See (APSA), the Vatican's central bank,[11] a position that had not existed until his appointment.
[8][c] On 4 January 2019, Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti announced that Zanchetta had been suspended from his Curial position because of accusations of abuse, which he left unspecified.
[14] On 28 May 2019, Pope Francis told an interviewer that he had read Sánchez' report, had determined a full trial by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was warranted, and said it would start soon.
[16] On 7 November 2019, police raided the offices of the Diocese of Orán seeking evidence against Zanchetta for defrauding the state by misusing government funds.
[20] His successor in Orán, Bishop Luis Antonio Scozzina apologized to the victims and called for reconciliation "to heal the wounds caused by gestures and attitudes of authoritarianism and abuse of power".
[23] In July 2022, the Orán trial court granted Zanchetta's request that, because of his health, he be allowed to serve his sentence under house arrest in a residence for retired priests.
[25] Despite his criminal conviction, Zanchetta has faced no known disciplinary measures from Church authorities raising criticism from local Catholics and drawing international attention because of Pope Francis’ personal involvement in the case.