Today, the Pope has accepted the resignation of three Chilean bishops – starting with Bishop Barros, involved in the Karadima scandal – and has appointed three apostolic administrators at the helm of the Dioceses of Osorno, Puerto Montt and Valparaiso, the Holy See Press Office announced today. Indeed, Pope Francis has accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the Archdiocese of Puerto Montt presented by Mgr. Cristián Caro Cordero, and has appointed as apostolic administrator “sede vacante et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis” Fr. Ricardo Basilio Morales Galindo, provincial of the Mercedarians in Chile. The Pope has also accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the Diocese of Valparaíso presented by Mgr. Gonzalo Duarte García de Cortázar, and has appointed as apostolic administrator “sede vacante et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis” Mgr. Pedro Mario Ossandón Buljevic, auxiliary bishop of Santiago de Chile. Finally, Pope Francis has accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the Diocese of Osorno presented by Mgr. Juan de la Cruz Barros Madrid, and has appointed as apostolic administrator “sede vacante et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis” Mgr. Jorge Enrique Concha Cayuqueo, auxiliary bishop of Santiago de Chile. Today’s measure is the first taken by the Pope following the four meetings he had at the Vatican with the 34 Chilean bishops, at the end of which all the prelates offered their resignations to Pope Francis (all but the 3 bishops emeritus) over the sex-abuse scandal that had implicated the local bishops.