Vatican upholds sex abuse conviction of Guam archbishop

VATICAN CITY: A Vatican tribunal has confirmed the child abuse conviction of former Guam archbishop Anthony Sablan Apuron, the Vatican said on Thursday.

The canonical trial appeal confirmed Apuron’s guilt for "delicts against the sixth commandment with minors" and sentence of removal from office and a ban on living in the US Pacific territory, a statement said.

The ruling handed down on February 7 confirmed a March, 2018 judgement. Some child abuse victims object to the canonical legal system’s definition of sexual abuse as breaking the Bible’s sixth commandment which forbids adultery. He had been accused of molesting altar boys when he was a parish priest during the 1970s. The allegations emerged in 2016.

The Holy See said Apuron had been found guilty of some of the accusations against him. Apuron’s replacement Michael Byrnes last year expressed his gratitude "to the courageous individuals and their families who came forward to share their agonising stories of being abused by then Father Tony Apuron in years past".

Apuron is still facing civil cases in a federal court lodged by former altar boys Roy Quintanilla, Walter Denton, Roland Paul Sondia and the late Joseph "Sonny" Quinata represented by his mother Doris Concepcion. She alleged Apuron molested them in the 1970s.