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The Latest: Controversy follows Pope to Peru
LIMA, Peru (AP) — The Latest on Pope Francis' visit to Peru (all times local):
9:45 a.m.
The controversy over Pope Francis' accusations of slander against victims of Chile's most notorious pedophile priest has followed him to Peru.
A banner hanging from a building near the Lima church where Francis prayed on Sunday read "Francis, here there is proof" and featured a photo of the disgraced founder of a Peru-based Catholic lay movement, Sodalitium Christianae Vitae.
The Vatican last week took over the movement after Peruvian prosecutors announced they wanted to arrest the founder, Luis Figari. An independent investigation found Figari sodomized recruits and forced them to fondle him and one another, liked to watch them "experience pain, discomfort and fear," and humiliated them in front of others.
In Chile, Francis accused victims of the country's most notorious sexual abuser, the Rev. Fernando Karadima, of slandering another bishop by saying he knew of Karadima's abuse but did nothing. Francis said there was "not one shred of proof" implicating the bishop and that the accusations against him were "calumny."
The comments caused such an outcry that Francis' top sexual abuse adviser issued a highly unusual public rebuke of the pope.
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9:30 a.m.
Pope Francis has had a special group of visitors call on him at the Vatican's residence in Peru: four prisoners who were released for a brief spell to greet him.
Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said the three men and one woman came from prisons in Arequipa, Ayacucho, Cuzco and Castro.
The greeting took place before Francis presided over a morning prayer Sunday with hundreds of contemplative and cloistered nuns at the Lord of Miracles sanctuary, which features an icon of Christ that survived a devastating earthquake in 1655 and is revered by many Peruvians.
Francis urged them to dedicate their prayers to those who are "thrown away" by society, including prisoners, migrants and drug addicts.
He told them: "By your prayers you can heal the wounds of many."
Francis frequently meets with prisoners during his foreign trips and visited a women's prison in Santiago, Chile on his seven-day trip to that country and Peru. He uses the meetings to encourage those deprived of their freedom to not lose hope.
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