ITALY
RT
An Italian Catholic priest – who is at the center of a scandal alleging he staged orgies, had up to 30 lovers and produced home porn videos – will most likely lose his job regardless of an investigation’s findings, the Bishop of Padua said.
The scandal involving Father Andrea Contin, a 48-year-old priest at the church of San Lazzaro in Padua, broke in December 2016. Since then media have released some very unholy details of his clerical life.
“I am incredulous and pained by the accusations [against Contin],” Padua’s bishop, Claudio Cipolla, said at a press conference on Thursday, as cited by the Local. He added that his position was like “a father of a son who has fallen into disgrace.”
“Even if, at the end of this affair, there are no legal consequences, we have a duty by canon law to take disciplinary action,” he said, adding that Pope Francis has been informed about the affair.
The Bishop has been traveling to diocesan missions in Latin America, but had to return earlier than initially planned “since the widening of the Paduan events, to address more directly the situation,” according to Italian media. In early January it was reported that the priest had been suspended from his clerical duties pending the investigation.
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