Alleged Paedophile Priest Warned Victim He'd "Go to Hell

The Local
June 15, 2016

http://www.thelocal.it/20160615/alleged-paedophile-italian-priest-told-victim-he-would-go-to-hell

An Italian priest, arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of sexually abusing a minor, allegedly told his victim that he would go to hell if he spoke out about the abuse.

The 55-year-old, from Corna di Darfo parish near the Lombardy city of Brescia, allegedly abused the boy, of foreign origin, from when he was aged 12 until he reached 14.

The priest, who has been suspended from the parish, is alleged to have said to the child that if he told anyone about the abuse then he would go to hell.

The boy, who attended the parish in order to be baptized, eventually confided in a priest in Milan, who told him to tell police.

Some 850 priests have been defrocked for child abuse over the last decade, but according to research conducted earlier this year by L’Abuso, an Italian association for the victims of paedophilia by priests, many have not been brought to justice.

In May, an Italian priest awaiting a criminal trial for sex abuse of minors, due to begin this month, agreed to pay ˆ125,000 in compensation to the families of five of his alleged victims.

Mauro Inzoli, 66, was defrocked in 2012 after he was first accused of paedophilia but that decision was reversed in 2014, when Pope Francis ordered him to stay away from minors and retire to "a life of prayer and humble discretion."

An outcry over Inzoli's treatment led to criminal proceedings being initiated against him in the northern Italian town of Cremona but the Church has reportedly refused to hand over details of its own investigation.