Upon appeal from the prosecution, the October 2021 acquittal of Father Gabriele Martinelli, who was accused of abusing another student from 2007 to 2012 when he studied at the St. Pius X Pre-Seminary, was overturned by the Vatican’s appeals court.
Martinelli, initially acquitted due to a lack of evidence, was this week found guilty of “corrupting a minor” for sexual abuse committed between 2008-2009, and sentenced to two years and six months in prison.
The St. Pius X seminary, previously located inside a palazzo within the Vatican gardens, houses boys aged 12 to 18 years old, who serve as altar boys at papal Masses inside St. Peter’s Basilica. It was established by Pope Pius XII in 1956 to house young men and boys from Italian dioceses who felt a potential call to the priesthood.
Abuse scandals involving the pre-seminary erupted in 2017 when former altar boys went public with allegations…
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