Horacio del Carmen Valenzuela Abarca (born 5 April 1954) is a Chilean prelate of the Catholic Church, who was Bishop of Talca from 1996 to 2018.
[1] He was ordained a priest on 17 August 1985 by Cardinal Juan Francisco Fresno Larraín and filled a variety of pastoral assignments over the next decade.
[2] Valenzuela said he never witnessed inappropriate kissing and that "Regarding the way in which he exercised spiritual direction, one must consider the strong character of Father Fernando which led him to correct it severely in order to educate: my experience is that this was not to exert undue pressure, control and manipulation.
[5] In a farewell message to the people of his diocese, Valenzuela apologized in general terms "for what I did not do or did wrong", without mentioning the sexual abuse crisis or its victims.
[7] In December 2018, the Vatican launched a formal investigation into allegations of clerical abuse of nuns in the Tacla Diocese while Valenzuela was bishop.