UNITED STATES
The Open Tabernacle: Here Comes Everybody
Posted on March 20, 2016 by Betty Clermont
Fr. Alessandro De Rossi, 46, pastor of a parish in Rome, was arrested on Dec. 31, 2014, charged with aggravated sexual abuse. An Argentine judge had issued the international arrest warrant on December 26 and transmitted it to Interpol.
De Rossi, born in Rome and sent to Argentina by Church authorities, was accused specifically with corrupting and sexually abusing minors, and “causing also the practice of group sex,” while he was a missionary in the Province of Salta from 2008 to 2013 working with young drug addicts.
On Dec. 23 and 24, 2014,
Salta police officers carried out several raids to seize computers, photographs and some other information that could be used as evidence of the alleged ties between De Rossi and the sexual abuse cases that had been reported by minors.
Prosecutor Pablo Paz explained to local media that there was enough evidence to charge the priest. Paz explained that he did not only have the depositions from the victims but also e-mails that De Rossi sent to the young man who filed a complaint. According to the prosecutor, De Rossi has to face charges for aggravated sexual abuse.
The Buenos Aires Herald also reported that “Judge Diego Rodríguez Pipino of Salta did not just request that Interpol arrest De Rossi but he also requested the assistance of the Foreign Ministry, the Border Guard, the Federal Police and the Airport Security Police. The Foreign Ministry is expected to play an important role to seek the extradition of the priest.”
The article noted that Italy had recently rejected Argentina’s request for extradition of two men connected to the atrocities committed during that country’s 1976-1983 military dictatorship. One “was charged with the kidnapping and torture of more than 60 people.” He had fled to Italy “trying to take advantage of his dual nationality” and “had taken refuge in a chapel in Genoa.” The other “was said to have witnessed torture in a clandestine detention centre.”
In January 2013, De Rossi had been hospitalized after he said he was attacked by a young man who had asked him for money and food. “I will not return to Italy,” he told a provincial newspaper.
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