Bishop Zanchetta's lawyer is Pope's delegate in conflict between Carmelites and Archbishop

From September 2022

Father Javier Belda Iniesta, canon lawyer of Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta, convicted of sexual abuse in Argentina and now under house arrest, is also Papal Delegate in the conflict between the Carmelites of the San Bernardo monastery and the Archbishop of Salta who have now signed an agreement.

Monsignor Gustavo Zanchetta, Bishop Emeritus of Oran, was found guilty of sexual abuse against two former seminarians and was sentenced in March this year to four and a half years in prison.

The Argentine bishop, citing health reasons, requested house arrest, which was granted in July.

According to a Vatican communiqué on Saturday 3 September, the agreement reached between the nuns and the Archbishop of Salta, Mario Antonio Cargnello, "is the fruit of the spirit of conciliation that the parties have shown in responding to the appeal made by the Holy Father Francis through Dr Javier Belda Iniesta".

The Spanish priest, according to the Vatican text, was "appointed by Pope Francis as his Delegate to help re-establish fraternal dialogue between the two institutions, always respecting the autonomy of the secular world and the competences proper to the Bishop, the competent Dicastery and the Prioress of the Community".

In the agreement signed on 27 August, the parties "designate and accept the Delegate as Guarantor of the decisions adopted, a figure ratified by the Holy See, entrusting him with the supervision of the implementation, development and fulfilment of what has been agreed".

Vatican intervenes in conflict between Archbishop of Salta and Discalced Carmelites

The Guarantor of the agreement must report to the Vatican on 1 April 2023 on "the effective fulfilment of the signed agreements".

In May 2021 the Catholic University of Murcia (UCAM) dismissed Father Javier Belda Iniesta from all his posts.

The reason for the dismissal, according to Spanish media, was that the priest was unable to prove some of the qualifications he claimed to have on his CV.

The priest was since 2017 Dean of the Faculty of Human, Canonical and Religious Sciences at UCAM, a centre affiliated to the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome.

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