The case of the former Guam Archbishop Anthony Apuron is now closed. Nearly 10 years after allegations of abuse of minors surfaced against the long-serving prelate of the Pacific island archdiocese, a Vatican court has upheld his conviction and confirmed the penal sentence against him.
Apuron is deprived of his office, permanently exiled from the archdiocese and perpetually prohibited from using the insignia of a Catholic bishop.
Compared with other high-profile cases, that punishment appears to be a slap on the wrist. Though the crimes of which he is guilty are some of the same kind as those which saw the former Archbishop of Washington, DC, Theodore McCarrick, expelled from the clerical state, Apuron is still a cleric and still at liberty.
