A defrocked priest who was accused of sexually abusing at least 13 children has made a bombshell claim against the new pope.
Robert Prevost, who was named the new head of the Vatican earlier this month, has been accused of turning a blind eye to the Church's sexual abuse scandal in Chicago when he served as the head of the Midwest Province of the Catholic Church's Augustinian order.
Now, former priest James M Ray also claims Prevost signed off on his move to a Hyde Park monastery near a Catholic elementary school - despite the fact that Ray had already been accused of molesting children.
'He's the one who gave me permission to stay there,' Ray recently told the Chicago Sun-Times.
The priest is included on an Archdiocesan list of accused sexual offenders, which claims he was subject to 'limited ministry with restrictions' starting in 1990 following sexual abuse allegations.
