LA PLATA, Argentina (AP) — Archbishop Victor Manuel Fernández, chosen by Pope Francis to move the Vatican workplace that ensures doctrinal orthodoxy, conceded Sunday he made errors in dealing with a 2019 case of a priest accused of sexual abuse of minors.

The case has drawn allegations by critics that Fernández tried to guard the priest, a cost that he has denied.

“Today I would certainly act very differently and certainly my performance was insufficient,” he advised The Associated Press throughout an interview after celebrating Mass in La Plata, about 70 kilometers (40 miles) south of Buenos Aires.

Pope Francis appointed Fernández on July 1 to move the Holy See’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, which ensures doctrinal orthodoxy and one among whose areas includes dealing with sexual abuse allegations introduced towards clergy. He was additionally named a cardinal Sunday together with about two dozen spiritual.

BishopAccountability.org, a U.S. group that maintains a web-based archive on abuse within the Roman Catholic Church, has questioned the archbishop’s appointment as head of the dicastery. It mentioned Fernández refused to consider allegations by minors who accused Eduardo Lorenzo, a priest within the archdiocese of La Plata, of abusing them.

At the tip of 2019, hours after studying that an Argentine decide had ordered his arrest for the alleged sexual abuse of 5 youngsters, Lorenzo was discovered lifeless in what was dominated a suicide.

In response to the U.S. group’s criticism, Fernández advised AP in a press release Monday that he had by no means mentioned he didn't consider the allegations and that he took steps to distance the priest from the alleged victims.

On Sunday, although, he was extra self-critical of his actions, which he attributed to arriving in 2018 as archbishop of La Plata “without any experience in another diocese.” He mentioned church procedures for coping with allegations of abuse dedicated by clerics “were less clear” at the moment.

“I cannot say that I have committed a crime or something against what was established at that time, but that I could have been a much better father, much better pastor and much more efficient. That, of course, I recognize,” he advised AP.

“With everything I say it is clear that I did not act in the best way,” he mentioned.

Fernández mentioned he ought to have “treated the victims more closely” and acted “a little earlier” in eradicating Lorenzo from his duties as a priest whereas he was being investigated.

“I was waiting to see how justice acted, what the prosecutor did, what objective elements came to us,” he mentioned.

Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, expressed disbelief on the archbishop’s phrases.

“He declares himself bewildered, but he is a sophisticated and educated man,” she mentioned, including that “claims of ignorance are not credible.”

Barrett Doyle mentioned Fernández “repeatedly” demonstrated assist for the priest.

“If Archbishop Fernández finally regretted his handling of this case, why did he never reach out to Lorenzo’s victims?” she mentioned.

An in depth adviser to the Argentine-born pontiff, Fernández has been nicknamed the “pope’s theologian″ as a result of he's broadly believed to have helped writer a few of Francis’ most vital paperwork. Francis named him to move the La Plata archdiocese in 2018.

Fernández mentioned he had spoken to the pope concerning the criticism obtained about Lorenzo’s case and was advised: “You explain reality as it was.”

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