© Alessandro Bianchi / Reuters
The case of Rev. Mauro Inzoli, an Italian priest who received church clemency but was later convicted for abusing children, has turned the spotlight back on the sins of the Catholic Church. The report has revealed that Inzoli is now facing a second church trial after new evidence emerged against him.
Inzoli was found guilty of abusing young boys by a 2012 Vatican investigation and was ordered to be defrocked.
He appealed his punishment and, in 2014, Pope Francis overruled the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and granted clemency, reducing the priest's penalty to a lifetime of prayer.
He was also prohibited from celebrating Mass in public or being near children, was banished from his diocese and ordered to undergo five years of psychotherapy.
However, in June 2016, Inzoli was convicted by an Italian criminal court of sexually abusing five children between the ages of 12 and 16 and was sentenced to four years, nine months in prison.
Greg Burke, the Vatican spokesman, has defended Pope Francis' proclivity towards mercy in such cases, stating that"even those who are guilty of heinous crimes," can expect clemency from the Holy Father, according to AP.
"The Holy Father understands that many victims and survivors can find any sign of mercy in this area difficult," Burke added.
Canon lawyers and church officials argue that keeping abusive priests under the authority of the church is the best way to protect children.
In sharp contrast, Pope Benedict XVI launched a major campaign to stamp out pedophilia in the Catholic church during his brief tenure as Pope between 2005 and 2013. At least 400 priests found guilty of sex crimes against children were defrocked.
Reader Comments
What is so strange about having relations with a woman? Isn't that what life is about on this world it's about life procreation.
The blending of one into another to create. It's a divine process that takes place on this world every day, and also the function of the universe to create and bring forth it's labor, we see this in the Christian celebration of the harvest festival, all gone by the wayside in this day and age of PC.
Seems strange to me, the universe is filled with images representing creation and propagation and yet a so called spiritual ideology that has existed for centuries preaches denial of sexuality and procreation
It's an ideology that is against life (celibacy). That being said, pedophilia is an act against creation. It is to deny a voice to a child and to deny the life process of the child, in essence to deny and crush his/her spirit.
As for mercy, should there be any, for defiling the life and spirit of a child?
"Canon lawyers and church officials argue that keeping abusive priests under the authority of the church is the best way to protect children."....hmmmmm, doesn't really work...a bit like giving an alcoholic a job as a pub landlord.