ORAN, Argentina (AFP) — A retired Argentine bishop seen as close to Catholic Church’s Pope Francis was sentenced on Friday to four and a half years in prison for sexually abusing two seminarians.
A court in the northwestern town of Oran, where Gustavo Oscar Zanchetta was bishop from 2013 to 2017, ordered his immediate detention.
The 57-year-old Zanchetta, who had traveled from the Vatican for the trial, was convicted of “simple, continued and aggravated sexual abuse,” with his offense aggravated by his role as a clergyman.
The charges were brought in 2018 by two seminary students, one of whom claimed the bishop had made multiple approaches towards him and asked for “massages.”
“We have mixed feelings,” said Estela Mari, a relative of one of the seminarians, after the sentence was announced. “We wanted the maximum penalty.”
Nonetheless, she still believes that justice has been served.
“The victims have been believed and the truth has come to light,” she said.
Zanchetta’s relationship with Argentine-born Pope Francis has heightened the case’s profile, as the pontiff still grapples with decades-long accusations of sexual abuse throughout the Catholic Chuch.
Zanchetta was appointed to the Oran diocese, which is about 1,700 kilometers (1,000 miles) north of Buenos Aires, by Pope Francis in 2013, and he has also served as an advisor to the Vatican on property management.
The Vatican has claimed that at the time of Zanchetta’s resignation in 2017, there were no sex abuse allegations made against him.
Zanchetta pleaded not guilty to the charges, and his attorney quickly noted that they will appeal the ruling.
If it is upheld, Zanchetta will have to register as a sex offender after serving his sentence.
The former bishop of Oran also has two other lawsuits open against him in Argentina, one for alleged financial mismanagement and another for abuse of power.
Agence France-Presse