A post-script to that sexual abuse incident at the Vatican pre-seminary that is one of the stories in Gianluigi Nuzzi's latest (4th) Vatican expose:
Embarrassment in the Vatican
by Domenico Agasso Jr.
VATICAN CITY, Nov. 19, 2017 - The Vatican, having taken note of 'new elements' in the case, is re-opening the investigation of alleged sexual abuses among "the Pope's altar boys".
The story involves a former pupil of the San Pio X Preseminary - where the young boys who serve as acolytes at St. Peter's Basilica, study, at Palazzo San Carlo, a few meters from Casa Santa Marta, Bergoglio’s residence. The seminarian accused of
sexual harassment then became a priest.
[Not 'sexual harassment', but forcing sex acts in nightly visits to a boy's dorm room in the presence of the victim's roommate, a Pole who disclosed this in a letter to Pope Francis, apparently sent in 2013.]
The scandal broke out after Gianluigi Nuzzi's recent investigations included in his book,
Original Sin (Chiarelettere), and the in the TV show
Le Iene The Hyenas).
Thus yesterday, the Holy See, in a note, explained that, following some reports, "from 2013 onwards, some investigations were carried out". They were led by the "superiors of the preseminary", but also by the Bishop of Como, because "the community of educators" at the Collegio (the pre-seminary), a group called l’Opera Don Giovanni Folci, belongs to his diocese...
The story seems to clear up some pertinent facts missing from the original report I saw in Il Fatto Quotidiano. The abuser was an older boy in the dorm who, the whistleblower claims, appeared to carry a lot of clout with the school officials, and so was able to coerce his victim with plausible threats. It would seem he then went on to real seminary and was later ordained a priest.
While it's all very well that a new investigation is looking into this case, why does someone not speak up, if only pro forma, for the pre-seminary, where, presumably, the education and lodging of these boys continue? And let the Vatican also investigate the schif ool itself to make sure it is a safe environment for children and minors.
And BTW, the Polish whistleblower claimed that the CDF wrote him in Sept. 2014 to say the complaint had been forwarded to the CDF, from the pope's office one assumes, but the CDF passed it on to the Congregation for the Clergy because the alleged abuse did not fall under the competence of the CDF. True, insofar as all it knew about the accused was that he was another pupil at the pre-seminary, but if it also knew that the accused had since then become a priest, what might it have done?
One wonders, with dread and horror, how many such stories are going on daily in the Catholic world.
From the profane to the sublime:
Fr. Stravinskas celebrated Mass again today at the Church of the Holy Innocents in Manhattan and finished up his homily on the Four Last Things that he began last Sunday, when he focused on the first three of the novissimi - death, judgment, and hell.
Today, it was about heaven, or better yet, how to get to heaven, quoting among the few that he did, St. Therese of Lisieux ("If you want to be a saint, start now, don't wait till tomorrow") and Benedict XVI's opening statements in the letter by which he decreed the Year of Faith (about the door to heaven being open once you are in the Church, but "The journey lasts a lifetime").
He listed seven aids to daily holiness which range from Jesus in the Eucharist, Mary Mediatrix, and practical things like simplicity, working at every task including the most humdrum and routine the best way you can, and a sense of humor that allows one to truly experience the joy of the Gospel even in the most trying circumstances. I came home from Mass at noon fully expecting to find the homily already posted in Catholic World Report, but it's not there yet.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 19/11/2017 21:25]