Malta Star
May 24, 2011
http://www.maltastar.com/pages/r1/ms10dart.asp?a=15565
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The Curia Response Team (CRT) that investigates cases of sexual abuse committed by members of the clergy has advised the family of the young alleged victim not to report the case to the Police.
The CRT takes this line of defence in each case according to a source quoted by the daily newspaper L-Orizzont. Thus, this latest case is not yet being investigated by the Police. The gathering of evidence at this stage is crucial.
Other priests who have been responsible for sexual abuse on children have escaped justice because cases were time barred. The abuses at St.Joseph home is just one simple example quoted by the L-Orizzont source.
In this latest case of abuse a Capuchin monk has allegedly abused of a female teenager during a meeting of adolescents in the precincts of the Capuchin convent in Kalkara. To date only the CRT has been looking into this matter.
The Curia had no comments and spokesman Fr Charles Tabone said that the Church does not comment on specific cases while in a letter to the newspaper, he said that the Church is against any form of abuse and wants justice to be served.
Recently the Vatican issued new guidelines for archdioceses dealing with cases of sexual abuse and advised that such cases should be forwarded to the Police for investigation. The line of defence taken by the Maltese Curia in shielding members of the clergy who allegedly are responsible for sexual abuses is unclear.
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