Francisco Javier Errázuriz Ossa was born in Santiago, Chile, on 5 September 1933 and ordained a Schönstatt Father in Fribourg on 16 July 1961, rising to Superior General of the Schönstatt Fathers (elected 1974, re-elected twice). Appointed titular Archbishop of Hólar and Secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life in December 1990 (consecrated by John Paul II on 6 January 1991), he became Bishop of Valparaíso in 1996 and Archbishop of Santiago on 24 April 1998, serving until 15 December 2010. He presided over CELAM (2003–07) and the Fifth General Conference of the Latin American bishops at Aparecida (2007).
John Paul II created him a cardinal on 21 February 2001, with the title of Santa Maria della Pace; from 2013 to 2018 he sat on Pope Francis's Council of Cardinals. His archiepiscopate is defined by his handling of Fr. Fernando Karadima, later found a serial abuser: a 2009 email, made public in 2018, shows Errázuriz closed the investigation — “that's how I chose to protect them” — and he later admitted, “I made a mistake: I asked and overvalued the opinion of a person very close to the accused and the accuser.” He left the Council of Cardinals in 2018. His motto is Ut vitam habeant — “that they may have life.”
Consequential Quotes
I made a mistake: I asked and overvalued the opinion of a person very close to the accused and the accuser.
Major Works & Initiatives
Archbishop of Santiago
Twelve years in Chile's capital see.
President of CELAM
And president of the Aparecida conference.
Superior General of Schönstatt
Three terms leading the Schönstatt Fathers.
Controversies
The Karadima cover-up
As Archbishop of Santiago, Errázuriz refused to meet abuse claimants against Fr. Fernando Karadima. A 2009 email made public in 2018 shows he closed the investigation — “that's how I chose to protect them, conscious that the way I acted, if the accusers at some point brought the case to the media, it would turn against me.” He was named “leader of the coverup” in a 2018 complaint by three victims and left Francis's Council of Cardinals that year.
The blocked survivor and the settlement money
In 2015 documents showed Errázuriz and Cardinal Ezzati tried to block abuse survivor Juan Carlos Cruz's nomination to the Vatican's Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors; in 2020 an email surfaced showing he delivered settlement money to accused priest Diego Ossa. In April 2019 testimony to a Chilean prosecutor he often replied “I don't remember.”