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Brother Of Notorious Pedophile Priest In Chile Urges Him To Publicly Confess And Apologize

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Joshua Gill Religion Reporter
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The brother of Chile’s most prolific pedophile priest has urged him to publicly confess his crimes and apologize to save his soul before he dies.

Óscar Karadima, younger brother of Father Fernando Karadima, asked Fernando to lay aside his pride and apologize to his victims, his former parish, his family and the church for the sexual abuse of children that he committed through the years and for which he has been found guilty, according to Crux Now. The Vatican found Fernando guilty in 2011 and sentenced him to a life of prayer and penitence. He has most recently been living in a nursing home in Santiago. (RELATED: Chile’s Bishops Resign Over Sex Abuse Scandal, Victims Rejoice)

“Fernando, ask for forgiveness. Not in silence to God, not in your prayers. Make it public, so that people hear you apologize for the hurt that you’ve caused to victims and everyone,” Óscar said when asked what he would tell his brother if he saw him again, according to La Tercera. “Fernando, you are a man who’s going to die. How do you dare to die like this, as a prideful man who doesn’t apologize?”

Óscar said he had not seen Fernando since he and other family members visited him in 2012, a year after he was found guilty. They brought Fernando a photo of their entire family. Fernando spurned it, saying, “Why did you bother? I have many of these already.”

Despite being found guilty, Fernando has never apologized to his victims or his former parish. He has maintained the claim that he is innocent of all the crimes of which he has been accused.

“He has never asked for forgiveness because he says he has not committed any crime,” Santiago Soto, the doctor who cares for Fernando, told La Tercera. “He is not in poor physical condition, he is in poor mental condition. He is in a very great depression and sadness and with anguish, because he believes that it is an unfair question what is happening to him. He has a sense of injustice and there is an excess of punishment over him.”

Óscar said that Fernando has also never apologized to his own family, despite all that they have suffered as a result of his crimes.

“My family’s honor is on the floor. I’ve read in social media ‘The Karadima family, a family of perverts, a family of cover-ups, pedophiles because they cover up for a pedophile.’ With this, I cry. It infuriates me, because we’re not like this,” Óscar said. “We’re a good family, a working family. We’ve never hurt anyone.”

He claimed that his family had no idea about Fernando’s crimes until the media began covering them. Fernando sent his family money, but Óscar said the money “was a way of manipulation, of having us in his hands.”

Óscar met with Pope Francis in May, after the entirety of the Chile’s Bishops Conference tendered their resignations in connection with the Chile’s abuse scandal, and explained his family’s suffering. Francis reportedly asked forgiveness from Óscar and his family and said he empathized with their pain. Besides justice for his family, Óscar said he truly wants his brother’s soul to be saved.

“I still love [him]. He’s my brother,” Óscar said. “But above all, I want for him to save his soul and apologize.”

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