New cardinal in Bolivia denies having wife, children
An 81-year-old Bolivian bishop recently named a cardinal by Pope Francis angrily denied Wednesday allegations that he had a secret wife and children.
Toribio Ticona, among 14 new cardinals named by Francis on May 20, said the reports “do not correspond to the truth.”
Spanish Catholic website Adelante la Fe on Monday described Ticona’s elevation as a “scandal” alleging that the bishop “maintains a married life with a woman.”
“If these accusations persist I will have no problem in beginning a judicial case for slander against those who promote or propagate it,” Ticona said in the letter carried by Lima-based Catholic news agency ACI.
He added that the allegations came from “sources known for their hostility to the Holy Father.”
Bolivia’s leftist President Evo Morales jumped to the defense of the cardinal-elect late Wednesday, decrying it as “another lie” of the right.
“When there are personalities with programs for the most abandoned, there are all kinds of accusations,” the president said.
Morales said Monday he would attend the June 29 consistory at the Vatican in which Ticona will become the first Bolivian of indigenous origin to be made a cardinal.
