The pedophile priests scandal shredding the Catholic Church's reputation worldwide has been especially savage in Latin America, where half the religion's faithful live. Ecclesiastical authorities from the region have either been begging for forgiveness as they tried to reassure their nervous flock -- or echoing the Holy See's line that the Church was being persecuted by mysterious forces.
Colombian Cardinal Dario Castrillon, for instance, Thursday said he would "never" regret his support for a French bishop who did not denounce a pederast priest, and claimed Freemasonry was behind a smear campaign. "I'm not afraid to say that in some cases there are, within the Masons, enemies united against the Church," said the cardinal, who was appointed by the late pope John Paul II. "It is a shame there are such idiots working up this type of persecution."
But a Peruvian cardinal who is also Lima's archbishop, Juan Luis Cipriani, also stepped up to defend the Church's claim to victimhood in the scandal. "This is the work of the devil, even if that makes journalists laugh," said Cipriani, who is also a high-ranking Opus Dei figure in Latin America.
But also see: The Order of Malta in Peru
