ITALY
Daily Mail (UK)
Pervert priests who posed nude for gay websites, sexually harassed parishioners and stealing Communion cash in Italy are set to be investigated by the Pope
Pope Francis has ordered a secret sex inquiry into an Italian bishop who has presided over a diocese of ‘playboy priests’, it has been reported.
An independent investigator has been called in to the Albenga-Imperia diocese in northern Italy, which has been rocked by scandal after scandal.
Priests have variously been caught naked pictures of themselves on Facebook, having affairs with parishioners and moonlighting as barmen.
Others, more seriously, have been investigated or convicted for child abuse.
Pope Francis has sent an apostolic visitor to assess the capability of Bishop Mario Oliveri, who has been in charge for 25 years.
The decision follows a primary investigation by a papal Nuncio sent in after Francis was warned about the wayward diocese, La Repubblica reported.
The bishop is accused of having welcomed aspiring priests into the seminary without discernment, including former models, reality stars, priests with tattoos, bodybuilders and trainees who had been expelled from the seminary, generated a body of ‘weak’ priests, the newspaper reported.
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