Argentine Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta, the former Bishop of Orán (2013-2017) and assessor of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (2017-2021), was sentenced to four and a half years in prison in March for sexually abusing seminarians.

The 58-year-old prelate has left prison to receive treatment for hypertension and kidney disease. His attorney has requested that he permanently leave prison and be placed under “house arrest” at a monastery.

An Argentine newspaper reported that the monastery, located in Orán, is a monastery of Franciscan nuns (the Madres Comcepcionistas), who have converted part of their property into a retirement home for priests. A former Orán seminarian told the newspaper that Bishop Zanchetta’s successor, Bishop Luis Scozzina, has authorized the proposed “house arrest,” and that he believes the bishop has done so at the behest of Pope Francis.