A deep mystery. Last week he had vanished into thin air for two whole days, without reason, causing the worst to be feared, but then the cardinal of Panama, José Luis Lacunza, was fortunately found by a police patrol while he was in his car that had run out of fuel, visibly disoriented. Two days ago, in his first public appearance, he tried to make a joke about what happened without however telling what actually happened. "It was just a stupid joke. The fact is that I didn't make jokes when I was 15 and I start now that I'm about to turn 80.... What a scandal! The older you are, the more stupid you are" said the cardinal, adding his personal apologies to those who have had problems in recent days.
"I know you've had a hard time, some in the diocese have shed abundant tears. I don't deserve them, and I say it sincerely but I appreciate them. I appreciate your prayers very much". The cardinal entrusted this reaction to the Panamanian media without however going into the merits of what prompted him to leave home suddenly and without documents, in a way so unusual as to worry even the Pope.
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The mystery in itself rather bizarre is destined to get even more complicated, so much so that even for the Panamanian police authorities, where the cardinal lives, the question remains a puzzle. To aggravate the situation a further unusual episode: the cardinal's home was visited by thieves who in a blitz took away a computer and other objects. Officials from the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, the National Police and the Directorate of Judicial Investigation of Panama carried out a series of checks in the bishop's palace, in the presence of the cardinal. According to Panamanian media, some valuable works would also have been taken away.
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Lacunza, originally from Pamplona, Spain, had disappeared from home on January 30. The diocese had reported the disappearance to the police and the prosecutor had opened an investigation. The cardinal of Spanish origin is a missionary who arrived in Panama in the seventies, a member of the Order of Augustinian Recollects. He was made bishop by John Paul II in 1985.
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