Edgardo Gabriel Storni

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Edgardo Gabriel Storni (born 6 April 1936 in Santa Fe) is the Archbishop Emeritus of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe de la Vera Cruz, Argentina.

Storni was ordered a priest on 23 December 1961, and was appointed Titular Bishop of Croae and Auxiliary Bishop of Santa Fe in 1977. On 28 August 1984 he was promoted to Titular Bishop of Santa Fe, after the death of Vicente Faustino Zazpe, and took charge of the diocese on 30 September. He resigned his post on 1 October 2002, after a scandal involving accusations of sexual abuse.

[edit] The scandal

In 1994 Storni was subject to an investigation ordered by the Vatican, led by Monsignor José María Arancibia, after allegations of sexual abuse on 47 young seminarists, who were questioned, together with some of their family members, by Arancibia and a psychologist, at the home of Monsignor Estanislao Karlic in Paraná. Soon after the scandal broke out, in February 1995 Storni employed his contacts with then-Apostolic Nuncio Ubaldo Calabressi to arrange a trip to the Vatican. There he was received and ratified in his post by Pope John Paul II. The investigation was set aside.

In 2002 the book Our Holy Mother, by the renowned Misiones-born journalist Olga Wornat, was presented at the Santa Fe Book Fair. The book recounted the history of the accusations against Storni, and mentions an episode of threats against a priest, José Guntern, who had written a letter to the Archbishop asking for him to resign on account of his misconduct (sexual activity with a seminarist). According to Guntern, he was taken practically by force to Storni's house and forced to recant and stay silent.

The political climate had changed. While Storni has close relations with members of the local élite, the Catholic Church had been shaken by the wave of abuse allegations in the United States. Storni travelled to Rome on 28 August, where he met the Pope and several other Argentine bishops.

Storni resigned his post on 1 October, stating that this did not signify guilt. He returned to Argentina and went to live at Los Leones, a large farm and horse ranch owned by Eduardo González Kess near Llambí Campbell, 60 km away from Santa Fe's capital. He then moved to a secluded ecclesiastic residence in La Falda, Córdoba; since he is formally still a bishop, he receives a pension paid by the state, as per the financial support of the Church mandated by the Argentine Constitution.