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	Official for Italian Bishops' Group Says Church Can't Be Blamed for Priests' Wrongdoing in Sex Abuse Cases Associated Press, carried in International Herald Tribune May 22, 2007 http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/05/22/europe/EU-GEN-Italy-Church-Sex-Abuse.php ROME: The Catholic Church cannot be considered guilty if individual priests commit sexual abuse, a senior official of the influential Italian bishops conference said Tuesday. In sharp contrast to the Catholic Church in the United States, the Italian Church has been largely unscathed by sex abuse scandals, although there have been some isolated allegations. "The Church cannot be guilty of a crime committed by an individual," Monsignor Giuseppe Betori, secretary-general of the Italian bishops conference, told reporters during a meeting of the nation's bishops in Rome. "It's not the diocese who reimburses the victim, it is the priest who pays damages for an act," the bishops conference news agency SIR quoted Betori as saying. A priest in Sicily was recently sentenced in a plea bargain to 2 1/2 years in prison for sexual abuse of a young former seminarian, according to Italian media. The local diocese paid damages to the young man, but terms of the settlement were kept secret as part of an agreement between both sides, the Italian media said. Originally, the diocese in Sicily had sought damages from the victim for allegedly damaging the local church's image and prestige, the Italian news agency AGI reported. Betori insisted, however, that the Church "isn't distant from victims and their families, and does not stand still in terms of prevention of such grave crimes." In the United States, several parishes and dioceses for years tried to distance themselves from priests who allegedly abused boys or girls in their pastoral care, but victims' groups pressed for accountability, and many dioceses eventually reached settlements with victims. Sex abuse cases nationwide have cost the U.S. Catholic Church about $1.5 billion (ˆ1.1 billion) since 1950, according to figures from studies by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
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