Italian newspapers report that Indonesian prelate may have wife and children
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Indonesian cardinal-designate Paskalis Bruno Syukur's decision not to be made a cardinal has sparked reports that the prelate pulled out owing to allegations of clerical sex abuse cover-up, and that he may even have a wife and children.
On Tuesday, the Vatican revealed that Pope Francis had accepted the request of Bp. Syukur, OFM, not to be made a cardinal at the consistory in December.
The bishop's plea to the Holy Father "was motivated by his desire to continue growing in priestly life and in service to the Church and the people of God," a brief message from the Holy See Press Office said.
The 62-year-old prelate, who in February 2014 was consecrated bishop of Bogor, a diocese just south of Indonesia's capital city of Jakarta, is known for regularly participating in interfaith dialogues with Muslims.
However, Syukur's decision to withdraw his papal nomination to the cardinalate could be linked to the cover-up of the clerical sex abuse of minors in his diocese, pro-Francis Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported on Wednesday.
The prelate is suspected of having protected priests of the diocese of Bogor who sexually abused minors.
Indonesian media mentioned that there were concerns about his management as bishop, especially regarding a case involving Br. Angelo Ngalngola, a friar who was convicted in 2022 of sexual abuse against boys at an orphanage in the diocese.
On Oct. 2, an Indonesian court sentenced 27-year-old Engelbertus Lowa Sada to 12 years in prison for sexually abusing minors at the St. John Berchmans Mataloko Minor Seminary on the predominantly Catholic island of Flores.
Judge Theodora Usfunan, at the Bajawa District Court in Ngada Regency, also imposed a fine of 500 million rupiah (US$30,000), with any inability to pay resulting in an additional six months in prison for Sada. The ex-seminarian was further ordered to pay 24.8 million rupiah as restitution to the minor victims.
Sada abused his victims while on deputation doing a one-year pastoral orientation teaching minor seminarians at the seminary. The court order said he molested the victims while conducting their medical examinations at the seminary's polyclinic.
In 2021, Syharil Marbun, a Church official at St. Herkulanus Parish, Bogor Diocese, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for molesting altar boys. The court was told the abuse began in 2002 and ended only in March 2020, when the case came to light.
A parent of one of the victims discovered what was going on and reported it to Church officials, including the bishops' Commission for Justice, Peace and Migrant-Itinerant People.
Meanwhile, Italian daily Il Messaggero reported that Syukur could have a wife and children. Multiple other Italian news media also reported the possibility of the bishop's clandestine family.
In June, Fr. Agustinus Iwanti was suspended from pastoral ministry, weeks after he was caught in the room of a married female parishioner on the Catholic-majority island of Flores. The priest, it was discovered, had been having an adulterous affair with the woman.
The parishioner's husband, Valentinus Abur, tried to hack Fr. Iwanti with a machete, but the priest escaped in his car.
Meanwhile, the president of the Bishops' Conference of Indonesia, Bp. Antonius Subianto Bunjamin, said he was surprised at the cardinal-designate's withdrawal.
"The news was shocking. Although the request not to be appointed as a cardinal had happened, the decision of Bishop Paskalis was still surprising," said Subianto Bunjamin, who was in Rome attending the Synod on Synodality with Bp. Adrianus Sunarko of Pangkalpinang.
"We respect the decision of Bishop Paskalis. Bishop Paskalis certainly knows what is best for himself, for his diocese, and for the Church in general. Let us pray," he added, in an official statement from the Indonesian Embassy in the Vatican, on Wednesday
"This news is very surprising. There may be a fundamental reason given by Bishop Paskalis so that the Pope granted his request. We are concerned," Fr. Agustinus Purnama Sastrawijaya, the Indonesian superior general of the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Holy Family, said in Rome.
In 2022, Luc Van Looy, bishop emeritus of Ghent, Belgium, submitted a similar appeal to Pope Francis, asking to be dispensed from his nomination as a cardinal.
According to the Belgian Bishops' Conference, the June 16, 2022 announcement "provoked many positive reactions, but also criticism of the fact that, while bishop of Ghent (2004-2020), he didn't always react forcefully enough to abuses within pastoral relationships."
In order to prevent "victims of such abuses from being hurt again as a result of his becoming a cardinal, Bishop Van Looy has asked the Pope to dispense him from the acceptance of this appointment. Pope Francis has accepted his request," the bishops said.
Dr. Jules Gomes, (BA, BD, MTh, PhD), has a doctorate in biblical studies from the University of Cambridge. Currently a Vatican-accredited journalist based in Rome, he is the author of five books and several academic articles. Gomes lectured at Catholic and Protestant seminaries and universities and was canon theologian and artistic director at Liverpool Cathedral.
Oh no, he was a perfect candidate. How could his vetting be so wrong. IT WASN'T.