Vatican sex abuse investigator hospitalized in Chile
SANTIAGO, Chile — The special envoy sent by Pope Francis to investigate allegations that a bishop had covered up sex abuse underwent gallbladder surgery Wednesday in Chile, church officials said.
Maltese archbishop Charles Scicluna was stable and conscious after the surgery and his hospital recovery will take between 48 and 72 hours, the curia for Scicluna’s archdiocese in Malta said in a brief statement issued by a Chilean hospital.
Scicluna entered the hospital Tuesday after starting his interviews with victims and others opposed to the appointment of a bishop accused of covering up for the country’s most notorious pedophile priest.
The spokesman for the Chilean Catholic bishop’s conference, Jaime Coiro, said Scicluna had been suffering abdominal pain since last week. Coiro said the pope has asked that interviews with witnesses continue Wednesday through Friday as planned. For now, they are to be handled by Jordi Bertomeu, a Spanish priest who has been serving as Scicluna’s translator and notary.