ITALIAN PRIEST ABUSE VICTIMS TO HOLD PROTEST RALLY

Tag: italy

(ANSA) - Verona, July 2 - Italian victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests announced on Friday they are preparing the the country's first-ever protest rally in September.

Organisers said hundreds of persons who claim they were abused by priests have already agreed to take part in the rally in the northern city of Verona on September 25.

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Victims' associations from a number of other countries, including the United States, have said they will send representatives to the event.

The promoters of the event urged victims to "find the strength and courage and join other 'survivors' of these experiences, in a spirit of friendship and assistance".

The Catholic Church has this year been rocked by a series of sex abuse scandals and has had to fend off allegations that the Vatican covered up a number of cases.

Paedophile scandals have hit the Church in the United States, Australia, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Germany and Italy.

Top ranking bishops in Ireland, Belgium and Germany have resigned recently over the issue.

Pope Benedict XVI has begged forgiveness for the sexual abuses committed by churchmen and has repeatedly pledged to root it out but some victims groups say they want to see "more concrete" steps.

Earlier this month a US victims group told a news conference near the Vatican that Italian victims are afraid to reveal their identities for fear of repercussions in their private and working lives.

"We contacted several Italian victims of paedophile priests and we invited them to come here today but they are terrified," members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) told reporters.

"They don't feel safe in coming out because, they explained to us, they are afraid of repercussions on their family or professional life," the members said.

But SNAP is ready to help them set up a group in Italy.

"We're going to have private meetings with them and on those occasions we will share our experience and know-how to show them how to create a victims network here too," the members said.

"At that point we are sure Italian victims will find the courage to come out too".

The Vatican recently said there have been some 100 canon trials over the last decade but did not say how many victims or possible cover-ups there had been or whether the paedophiles were reported to authorities.

The Vatican has been responding with increasing openness to the abuse scandals that first emerged in the US in 2002 before spreading to Australia, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Germany and Italy.

Critics have accused the pope of failing to take proper action when he was head of the doctrinal office that deals with paedophilia cases.

The Vatican has said Benedict, on the contrary, made it easier to punish offenders as well as preventing paedophiles from becoming priests.

The pontiff has met with victims of paedophile priests in the US, Australia and, most recently, Malta where he is said to have wept as he prayed with them.

The Vatican recently published the guidelines it has been using since 2003, stressing all cases are reported to the police as soon as possible.

It has also said that Benedict will be able to defrock paedophiles immediately.

Last month Italy's top bishop Angelo Bagnasco admitted there was a "possibility" that some of the canon law abuse trials in Italy may have involved cover-ups.

On May 31 a victim of a paedophile priest in the town of Porto Santa Rufina near Rome accused the local bishop, Msgr Gino Reali, of covering for the priest, Father Ruggero Conti.

The public record of abuse cases in Italy has been emerging slowly.

Last month a priest went on trial in Savona for alleged sexual violence against a 12-year-old girl.

Then a 73-year-old Milan priest, Father Domenico Pezzini, known for his support of gay rights, was arrested for allegedly abusing a 13-year-old boy.

http://www.lifeinitaly.com/news/itali...test-rally