Cardinal shelters fugitive child abuse priest in Honduras

A CARDINAL mentioned as a candidate to be the next Pope sent a fugitive priest accused of molesting an altar boy in Costa Rica to work in two remote parishes in Honduras, it was reported yesterday.

The Dallas Morning News, which has conducted a year-long investigation of runaway Catholic priests, said Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez put the Rev Enrique Vasquez to work in the parishes from last year until March, when Vasquez fled the village of Guinope days ahead of police.

Cardinal Rodriguez, head of the Honduran Archdiocese of Tegucigalpa, did not respond to written questions from the newspaper. The Rev Juan Lopez, a top adviser to Cardinal Rodriguez, told the newspaper the cardinal was too busy to be interviewed.