He had come under criticism in the later part of his life for allegedly covering up sexual abuse by Legionaries of Christ founder Marcial Maciel, former U.S. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, and others.
Juan Carlos Cruz, a clerical sex abuse survivor from Chile and member of the Vatican’s Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, wrote on Twitter on May 28, that Cardinal Sodano “did so much harm to so many people and covered up years of abuse in Chile and the world.”
Sodano was nuncio to Chile from 1977 to 1988. He also served in the nunciatures in Ecuador and Uruguay, and was secretary of the Council for the Public Affairs of the Church.
At the same time as reports were coming out about Sodano’s actions on abuse in 2019, Pope Francis accepted his resignation as dean of the College of Cardinals, citing old age. The pope also established a five-year term limit for cardinal deans, previously a life position.
Sodano was born in Isola d’Asti, in Italy’s north-western Piedmont region, the second of six children.
He was ordained a priest in 1950, and spent almost 10 years teaching dogmatic theology in the diocesan seminary before being called to serve in the Vatican’s diplomatic corps.
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