The Latest: Catholic group in Chile seeks answers from pope

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AP Exclusive: 2015 letter belies pope's claim of ignorance

In this frame taken from video, Juan Carlos Cruz speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Philadelphia, Sunday Feb. 4, 2017. Cruz says Pope Francis received a letter he wrote in 2015 detailing the sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of a priest and efforts by the Chilean church to cover it up, contradicting the pope’s recent insistence that no victims had come forward. (AP Photo)

Michel Euler

AP Exclusive: 2015 letter belies pope's claim of ignorance

Catherine Bonnet, French child psychiatrist and a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, gestures as she speaks during an interview with the Associated Press at Charles de Gaulle airport outside Paris, France, Sunday, Feb. 4, 2018. Commission members and a church sex-abuse victim say Pope Francis received a letter from the victim in 2015 that graphically detailed his abuse and a cover-up by Chilean church authorities, contradicting the pope’s recent insistence that no victims had come forward. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Alessandro Di Meo

AP Exclusive: 2015 letter belies pope's claim of ignorance

Pope Francis stands in his private library at the Vatican, Monday, Feb. 5, 2018. Pope Francis received a victim’s letter in 2015 that graphically detailed how a priest sexually abused him and how other Chilean clergy ignored it, contradicting the pope’s recent insistence that no victims had come forward to denounce the cover-up, the letter's author and members of Francis’ own sex- abuse commission have told The Associated Press. (Alessandro Di Meo/Pool photo via AP)

Catherine Bonnet

AP Exclusive: 2015 letter belies pope's claim of ignorance

Marie Collins, a member of the pope's sex-abuse commission, hands a letter to Cardinal Sean O'Malley detailing the abuse of Juan Carlos Cruz and a cover-up by Chilean church authorities, at the Domus Santa Marta on April 12, 2015. Commission members and Cruz say O'Malley later confirmed he gave the letter to a Pope Francis, contradicting the pope’s recent insistence that no victims had come forward. (Catherine Bonnet via AP)

Alessandro Di Meo

AP Exclusive: 2015 letter belies pope's claim of ignorance

Pope Francis walks to his studio at the Vatican, Monday, Feb. 5, 2018. Pope Francis received a victim’s letter in 2015 that graphically detailed how a priest sexually abused him and how other Chilean clergy ignored it, contradicting the pope’s recent insistence that no victims had come forward to denounce the cover-up, the letter's author and members of Francis’ own sex- abuse commission have told The Associated Press. (Alessandro Di Meo/Pool photo via AP)

Yvonne Lee

AP Exclusive: 2015 letter belies pope's claim of ignorance

Juan Carlos Cruz reads from his tablet during an interview with The Associated Press in Philadelphia, Sunday Feb. 4, 2017. Cruz says Pope Francis received a letter he wrote in 2015 detailing the sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of a priest and efforts by the Chilean church to cover it up, contradicting the pope’s recent insistence that no victims had come forward. (AP Photo/Yvonne Lee)

Posted: Monday, February 5, 2018 1:35 pm

The Latest: Catholic group in Chile seeks answers from pope Associated Press |

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Latest on AP revelations that Pope Francis received detailed testimony from a sex abuse survivor in 2015, despite having insisted he never heard from victims (all times local):

8:20 p.m.

A lay Catholic group in southern Chile that has opposed a bishop accused of sex abuse cover-up says revelations by The Associated Press that Pope Francis heard directly from a victim about the problem "brings an end to his 'zero tolerance' rhetoric."

Juan Carlos Claret, a spokesman for Laicos de Osorno, said Monday that the pope and his subordinates must now answer the question of "who decided to constantly discredit the testimony of the victims."

Claret told the AP: "It's not possible to maintain, as some do, that the pope didn't know and that he had slanted information.

"Instead, we're in the presence of a pope who had full knowledge of it all, and still decides to submit a community to unspeakable suffering."

The AP reported Monday that Francis received a letter in 2015 from Chilean survivor Juan Carlos Cruz. The letter detailed his abuse and how the future bishop of Osorno, Juan Barros, allegedly witnessed and ignored it.

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10:05 a.m.

The Associated Press has learned that Pope Francis received a victim's letter in 2015 that graphically detailed his sexual abuse and a cover-up by Chilean church authorities — contradicting the pope's insistence that no victims had come forward.

AP obtained the letter from Chilean survivor Juan Carlos Cruz. Members of the pope's sex-abuse advisory commission say they flew to Rome in 2015 specifically to hand-deliver the letter to a top papal adviser, Cardinal Sean O'Malley. Cruz and commission members say O'Malley assured them he had delivered it to the pope.

Francis recently sparked an outcry by vigorously defending Bishop Juan Barros, who is accused by victims of covering up for Chile's most notorious pedophile priest. Francis said he had never heard from victims about Barros' behavior.