ROME
Catholic News Service
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
ROME (CNS) -- A U.S. priest belonging to the Salvatorian order was arrested in Rome July 16 following a request by the U.S. Justice Department that he be extradited to face child molestation charges in Arizona.
Italian authorities placed Father Joseph J. Henn, 56, under house arrest at the headquarters of the Society of the Divine Savior because he refused to cooperate with the extradition request, said Michele Gentiloni, the priest's Italian lawyer.
Gentiloni told Catholic News Service July 18 that the terms of Father Henn's house arrest -- that he may leave the order's headquarters only to see his lawyer or his doctor -- are the same conditions imposed on him two years ago by his Salvatorian superiors in Rome.
The lawyer said Father Henn has been living at the Salvatorian headquarters near St. Peter's Basilica "for seven or eight years."