How many more reasons are there for sodomites never, ever to be admitted to the priesthood?
Pope was
told of priest arrested in Argentina, victim advocates say
Associated
Press
December 2,
2016
Pope
Francis and Church authorities did not intervene to sanction Nicola Corradi, a
priest accused of sexually abusing deaf children in Italy and then in
Argentina, according to advocates for clerical sex abuse victims. The 82-year
old priest and four others were arrested this week by Argentine police.
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -
Advocates for clerical sex abuse victims expressed outrage Thursday that a
priest accused of sexually abusing deaf children in Italy wasn’t sanctioned by
the Vatican and allegedly went on to abuse children in Pope Francis’s native
Argentina.
Argentine
police arrested the priest, 82-year old Nicola Corradi, this week. Corradi,
priest Horacio Corbacho, 55, and three other men are accused of abusing at
least eight children at a school for youths with hearing disabilities in
northwestern Mendoza province.
BishopAccountability.org,
an online resource about clerical abuse, reported that Italian survivor groups
told the Vatican in 2008 and 2014 about Corradi and others accused of molesting
children at a school for the deaf in Verona.
“Words
fail. It is appalling and heartbreaking that Corradi was not stopped by Pope
Francis or by other Church authorities. Corradi’s presence at the school in
Mendoza was no secret,” said Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of
BishopAccountability.
“Thanks to
the Church’s inaction, Corradi appears to have been able to replicate exactly
the grotesque situation he enjoyed in Verona - a ring of child molesters in
charge of utterly defenseless children who could neither hear nor speak. If the
allegations are true, the Pope must accept responsibility for the unimaginable
suffering of these new victims.”
The
government of Mendoza province temporarily suspended classes at Antonio Provolo
Institute, the school for children with hearing impairment. It also banned
faculty and staff from having any contact with students.
The abuse
allegations surfaced after a complaint by provincial lawmaker Daniela Garcia,
who spoke to a witness through an interpreter.
“It was the
first way so that other witnesses and victims could then come forward and
denounce what was happening,” Garcia said Wednesday.
Authorities
are taking testimony from students as well as parents who suspect their
children were subjected by the accused to oral sex, fondling and sexual
intercourse over the past decade, said Fabricio Sidoti, the investigating
prosecutor.
The Mendoza
archbishop’s office has expressed solidarity with the victims and said it is
cooperating with authorities.
Carlos
Lombardi, an attorney who specializes in canon law, has blamed church officials
in Mendoza province.
Lombardi,
who also advises a group of survivors of clerical sex abuse, told local TV this
week that he suspects Mendoza Archbishop, Carlos Maria Franzini, and his
predecessor, Jose Maria Arancibia, knew that Corradi had been accused of
sexually abusing children in Italy. He also argued they must have been aware of
the abuse that Corradi is accused of committing in Argentina.