By Sarah Mac Donald

Dublin, Aug 9, 2022: Cardinal Oswald Gracias, one of Pope Francis’ closest advisers, has denied reports that he sought to intervene in the case of an Indian bishop accused of secretly fathering a child.

In a video posted online August 7, Cardinal Gracias, who is the head of the Catholic Church in India, rebutted allegations he had arranged for Bishop Kannikadass Antony William of Mysore to take a paternity test at a Catholic hospital in order to control the outcome of the test results.

Cardinal Gracias said an audio clip from a two-year-old conversation with Bishop William, which has attracted attention among Indian Catholics in recent weeks, had been “mischievously edited to give the impression that there was collusion between Bishop William and myself for a cover-up.”

In the clip of the leaked phone call, which was promoted by the rightwing website Church Militant, the cardinal could apparently be heard telling Bishop William that Gracias would arrange for the paternity test to be conducted at a Catholic hospital “so we can control the media, control the doctors, control the publicity given to the whole thing.”

However, in his statement on August 7, Cardinal Gracias said he “categorically, emphatically and totally” denied that he had said or suggested that they could control the outcome of the test.

“At no time in the conversation or otherwise have I suggested any action that would be illegal or bring disrepute to the church,” said the cardinal, who has led the Bombay Archdiocese since 2006 and has served as a member of Pope Francis’ influential Council of Cardinals since the group’s creation in 2013.

In response to an inquiry from National Catholic Reporter, the Bombay Archdiocese has made available an unedited version of the recording of the phone call between Cardinal Gracias and Bishop William. In the fuller version of the conversation, which lasts about 15 minutes, the cardinal presses the bishop several times to take a paternity test.

The cardinal also tells Antony on the recording that should the bishop come out “completely clear” from the test, “we can then publicize and you will come out like a hero and a martyr … who suffered something unfairly.”

In his August 7 statement, the cardinal said the unedited version of the recording shows that he suggested a specific Catholic hospital because “it is an institution of credibility.”

“I did have a conversation with Bishop William in August 2020,” said the cardinal. “During that conversation I urged Bishop William that it would be advisable for him to do a paternity test. I impressed on him that several people I know had been disturbed with the rumors going around. This was not good for the church and the best way to end the controversy was this test. I said so then two years back and I still think so.”

It is unclear if Bishop William has ever taken the paternity test.

To allay the bishop’s fears of publicity, Cardinal Gracias said he had assured Bishop William that the hospital “could have the requisite controls in place to ensure that there will not be any media leakage or manipulation.”

Bishop William has been accused by some of his own priests of fathering a child and of intimidating a survivor of sexual harassment. A Vatican investigation of him is ongoing.

The three-member commission leading the Vatican investigation is headed by Archbishop Leo Cornelio of Bhopal. The commission has been examining evidence against Bishop William since March 2021. It was set up after 37 priests from Mysore diocese wrote to Pope Francis in July 2019 demanding that Bishop William resign and alleging he had fathered a child.

Bishop William has denied the allegations and suggested that a group of priests opposed to his administrative reforms in Mysore are behind the allegations. In May 2020, he announced the 37 priest complainants were being transferred out of their parishes and other priestly assignments.

Some in Mysore diocese have organized a group called the “Save Mysore Diocese Action Committee,” which has written to Vatican officials several times about the case against the bishop.

This July, the group sent a letter to Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli, the papal nuncio to India; Cardinal Luis Tagle, head of the Vatican’s evangelization office; and Cardinal Gracias. The letter called for Bishop William to be “immediately divested of all powers to operate diocesan accounts.” It also referred to a reported August 2020 order from Cardinal Tagle that Bishop William take a paternity test.

A former high-ranking Indian justice office has also gotten involved in the case. Michael Francis Saldanha, a former justice of the Bombay High Court, in an August 1 letter called for both Cardinal Gracias and Bishop William to step down from their positions. Saldanha said any paternity test should be conducted by Indian health authorities.

“The Supreme Court has very clearly mandated that there is only one authority i.e. the National Forensic Institute at Hyderabad which is designated to conduct paternity tests and there are fool proof guidelines regarding the drawing of the samples from the father and the offspring which has to be done under Court and Police supervision as otherwise, the test becomes meaningless,” Saldanha wrote.

Cardinal Tagle, who leads the Vatican office responsible for the Indian Church, did not immediately respond to an NCR request for comment about Bishop William’s case. Bishop William has not responded to a request for comment.

Vincent Doyle, founder of Coping International, a support group for the children of Catholic priests, told NCR that he has been unable to obtain information about the source of the alleged audio of Cardinal Gracias and Bishop William’s conversation. The sources for the audio, he said, remain “unnamed and without a face.”

Doyle said he was concerned about how the publicity of the case may be affecting the child at the center of the controversy.

“The alleged child of the bishop … has been used as a ‘battering ram’ to remove from office both bishops,” said Doyle. “Using a child for an adult-centered end is categorically what Coping is against.”

(Sarah Mac Donald is a freelance journalist based in Dublin.)

Source: https://www.ncronline.org/news/accountability/indias-cardinal-gracias-denies-reports-he-intervened-accused-bishops-case