Apuron, in a statement issued by his attorney Jacqueline Taitano Terlaje, stated:
"I have been informed of the conclusion of the first instance canonical trial against me. While I am relieved that the tribunal dismissed the majority of the accusations against me, I have appealed the verdict. God is my witness; I am innocent and I look forward to proving my innocence in the appeals process."
"Today, my prayers are with the Church in Guam, which has been suffering greatly. I pray that Santa Marian Kamalen may intercede for the healing of our island."
It is instructive to note that Apuron is making this statement through his civil attorney and not his canonical attorneys. In fact, he has not made any statement through his canonical attorneys but instead always defaults to the "trained lawyer." Now why would that be?
Could it be because his canonical attorneys don't want anything to do with defending Apuron other than what they were assigned to do? Could it be that they know Apuron's case is hopeless and they do not want to violate their consciences as apparently some civil attorneys have no problem doing?
In any event, Apuron is GUILTY, GUILTY GUILTY! A panel of five judges found Apuron GUILTY, GUILTY, GUILTY! And before the sentence could be announced, the whole Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith AND THE POPE had to sign off on it.
You won't find the pope's signature on anything, but nothing like this can happen without his approval. At any time Francis could have stopped the proceedings or even pardoned Apuron. Yet, he did not.
Understand that the verdict of GUILTY is from Francis himself.
In fact, it may well have been Apuron's last two attempts at photo ops with Francis (a la crashing papal receiving lines) is what prompted the timing of yesterday's announcement.
There had been some speculation that the Vatican did not want to influence the civil mediation proceedings and was going to wait till after that had been decided before announcing the verdict.
However, it appears that Francis may have believed that he was used after all of the gushing press Apuron received in La Stampa, and just said the "h-ll with this," and issued the order to announce the verdict.
As for the appeal, well, of course, it's all Apuron and his neocat-handlers have. Don't forget, this is really about saving Kiko's Cult, not Apuron.
However, an appeal can only review the proceedings of the trial. New evidence cannot be introduced. And since this was such a high profile case, the first ever archbishop to be tried, and because it was a trial by his peers, we can bet that the Vatican was super meticulous in its handling of this case and that there is nothing to appeal.
However, an appeal can only review the proceedings of the trial. New evidence cannot be introduced. And since this was such a high profile case, the first ever archbishop to be tried, and because it was a trial by his peers, we can bet that the Vatican was super meticulous in its handling of this case and that there is nothing to appeal.
Also, the Vatican is extremely aware of the entire world watching how they handle this because of how badly sex abuse by clerics has been handled in the past. So, we can super bet that they did not mishandle this case in any way.
And, by the way, Apuron can file an appeal, but that doesn't mean there is one. It will have to meet several conditions first before the Vatican will entertain it, and it will be the same five judges who have already found him GUILTY, GUILTY, GUILTY.
