Pope Francis today accepted the resignation of a 57-year-old Honduran auxiliary bishop, Juan José Pineda Fasquelle, who is alleged to have sexually abused seminarians.
Bishop Pineda had been until now auxiliary of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, where the archbishop is Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga. Cardinal Rodriguez Maradiaga is a member of Pope Francis’s “C9” Council of Cardinal Advisers – in fact the coordinator of the Council – and has himself been accused of financial malfeasance, along with his former auxiliary. Cardinal Maradiaga denies the allegations. Bishop Pineda has not commented on them.
