Pope Francis Knew His Protégé Took Nude Selfies, Abused Seminarians; But Promoted Him to Top Vatican Post

ORAN, Argentina (AP) — The Vatican received information in 2015 and 2017 that an Argentine bishop close to Pope Francis had taken naked selfies, exhibited “obscene” behavior and had been accused of misconduct with seminarians, his former vicar general told The Associated Press, undermining Vatican claims that allegations of sexual abuse were only made a few months ago.

Francis accepted Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta’s resignation in August 2017, after priests in the remote northern Argentine diocese of Oran complained about his authoritarian rule and a former vicar, seminary rector and another prelate provided reports to the Vatican alleging abuses of power, inappropriate behavior and sexual harassment of adult seminarians, said the former vicar, the Rev. Juan Jose Manzano.

The scandal over Zanchetta, 54, is the latest to implicate Francis as he and the Catholic hierarchy as a whole face an unprecedented crisis of confidence over their mishandling of cases of clergy sexual abuse of minors and misconduct with adults. Francis has summoned church leaders to a summit next month to chart the course forward for the universal church, but his own actions in individual cases are increasingly in the spotlight.

The pope’s decision to allow Zanchetta to resign quietly, and then promote him to the No. 2 position in one of the Vatican’s most sensitive offices, has raised questions again about whether Francis turned a blind eye to misconduct of his allies and dismissed allegations against them as ideological attacks.

https ://www.breitbart.com/faith/2019/01/20/pope-francis-knew-his-protege-took-nude-selfies-abused-seminarians-but-promoted-him-to-top-vatican-post/

Dems Who Pushed BuzzFeed Report Silent After Special Counsel Statement

Democrats who pushed BuzzFeed’s anonymously-sourced report that President Trump had instructed his former lawyer Michael Cohen to lie to Congress were silent Friday evening after Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office issued a statement disputing the report.

“BuzzFeed’s description of specific statements to the Special Counsel’s Office, and characterization of documents and testimony obtained by this office, regarding Michael Cohen’s Congressional testimony are not accurate,” Special Counsel spokesman Peter Carr said in a statement.

Hours before Mueller’s statement, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) issued a statement, suggesting the president may have committed “subornation of perjury” as well as “obstruction of justice,” and pledging to investigate the allegations.

Schiff was silent on Twitter for hours after the Special Counsel’s statement.

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) tweeted and retweeted tweets on BuzzFeed’s report 15 times, and he went on MSNBC’s Hardball on Friday to discuss the report, just before the Special Counsel released its statement.

After BuzzFeed’s report was published on Thursday, Lieu tweeted in all-caps: “THIS IS OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE.”

He also appeared on Hardball with Lieu, and retweeted a link to his appearance, but was silent Friday night on the BuzzFeed story after the Special Counsel’s statement.

He did, like Lieu, tweet about the shutdown.

Schiff, Lieu, and Swalwell have been leaders in investigating Trump for potential “collusion” with Russians during his campaign.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) also jumped on the report and pledged to investigate.

https: //www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/01/18/dems-who-pushed-buzzfeed-report-silent-after-special-counsel-statement/