Chilean Church to pay damages to abuse victims

(ANSA) - Santiago, March 27 - A Santiago appeals court on Wednesday ordered the Chilean catholic Church to pay damages of 150,000 dollars each to three sex-abuse victims of predator priest Fernando Karadima.
    The three are James Hamilton, Juan Carlos Cruz and José Andrés Murillo.
    On September 28 Pope Francis defrocked Karadima.
    In February 2011, after several years of a Catholic canonical investigation, the Vatican found Karadima guilty of sexually abusing minors and psychological abuse in Chile.
    The case sparked a wider child-sex-abuse scandal that the Chilean Church has yet to fully recover from.
    Many of the local faithful are still furious over a 2015 decision by Pope Francis to appoint Osorno Bishop Juan Barros, who had been one of Karadima's proteges.
    Francis caused an outcry during his visit to Chile in January last year when he defended Barros, who is accused of protecting Karadima despite having witnessed the abuse, saying there was no proof.
    The pope subsequently admitted to making "serious mistakes" over child sex abuse by members of the clergy in Chile and accepted Barros's resignation in June.