Juan de la Cruz Barros Madrid (born 15 July 1956) is a Chilean prelate of the Catholic Church.
He took up his position in Osorno amid controversy and protests over his close relationship with Fernando Karadima, whom the Church has found guilty of the sexual abuse of minors.
[1] Beginning in 1983 he served as private secretary to the Archbishop of Santiago, Juan Francisco Fresno, and was later accused while in that position of protecting Karadima from charges of sexual abuse.
In 1984 a group of parishioners reported "improper conduct" by ear Karadima to Juan Francisco Fresno, Archbishop of Santiago de Chile.
Other lay groups found themselves energized to fight what one called their "revictimization" and to campaign for their voices to be heard in the selection of their bishop.
[6] While visiting Chile in from 15 to 18 January 2018, Pope Francis apologized for the "irreparable damage" caused by priests' abuse of minors.
[17][18] On 30 January, in response to continued public outcry, the Vatican announced that Francis was assigning Charles J. Scicluna, Archbishop of Malta to investigate the Barros case anew.
Scicluna had been the Vatican's leading investigator in a number of high-profile sex abuse cases, including that of Marcial Maciel.
In February, assisted by Jordi Bertomeu from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he conducted interviews with victims of sexual abuse and other witnesses, received documents and the results of previous government investigations, and met with a delegation from Osorno who opposed Barros continuing as their bishop.
[24][25][26] When Francis met with 34 Chilean bishops in May, he made them focus on the roots of the sex abuse scandal in elitist attitudes and the Church's loss of missionary spirit.
[28] Pope Francis accepted Barros' resignation on 11 June 2018 over the growing Catholic Church sexual abuse cases in Chile.