Pope Francis has accepted the resignations of three Chilean bishops, including the cleric accused of failing to stop a pedophile priest decades ago.

The Vatican issued a statement Monday saying the pontiff had accepted the resignation of 61-year-old Bishop Juan Barros of Osorno. Barros was appointed bishop by Pope Francis in 2015, despite numerous objections raised by local parishioners over his connection to disgraced Father Fernando Karadima.

The 87-year-old Karadima has been punished to a lifetime of “penance and prayer” for sexually abusing children.

Barros has been accused by victims of witnessing the abuse while Karadima’s top protege, a charge he denies.

Pope Francis had defended his appointment of Barros while on a trip to Chile in January, but now says he had made “grave errors in judgement” after reading a 2,300-page report complied by two Vatican investigators that laid out in detail the true nature of the scandal.

The report prompted Francis to summon all of Chile’s Catholic hierarchy to an unprecedented summit last month, where they all offered their resignations.

The Vatican says the pope has accepted the resignations of the other two bishops for reasons of having reached the age limit of 75.
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