Rev. Robert Geisinger, an American priest named by Pope Francis as the Vatican's sex crimes prosecutor in September, was among church officials who failed to report an abusive priest to law enforcement before the now-jailed and defrocked man committed other acts of sexual abuse, The Boston Globe reported.
Documents reviewed by the Globe says Geisinger was the second-highest-ranking leader of the Chicago Jesuits in the 1990s and knew as early as 1995 about abuse complaints against the Rev. Donald McGuire and did nothing.
The documents included lawsuit records against McGuire during the time of the complaints, according to the Globe. Court documents also show that abuse complaints against McGuire date back to the 1960s, but the Jesuits failed for years to tell police.
In a statement, Rev. Federico Lombardi, director of the press office, said that Geisinger had "voiced concerns regarding McGuire's conduct" while working with the Chicago Jesuits, and he credited Geisinger with presenting the case for McGuire's expulsion from the priesthood in 2008, the Globe reported.
McGuire is now 84 and in federal prison serving a 25-year sentence, according to the Globe. He is a former adviser to Mother Theresa and once commanded a worldwide following as a gifted teacher and philosopher.
McGuire is one of the top influential people convicted of sexual abuse since the scandal begun, the Globe reported.
A Wisconsin jury convicted McGuire of five counts of indecent behavior with a child in 2006, three years after two men came forward to report they were abused by McGuire during trips to Fontana, Wisconsin, in 1967 and 1968, according to the Globe. He was sentenced to seven years in prison.
During that time, McGuire also taught the boys at the Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Illinois, the Globe reported. Federal authorities alleged in court documents that McGuire sexually molested boys in their teens and men in their early 20s throughout the 1990s and up until 2003.
Church abuse victims and advocates for survivors of clergy abuse are saying the Vatican should either explain or reconsider Geisinger's appointment, according to the Globe.
