Balenciaga Child Abuse Grooming Scandal | CancelBalenciaga

In sex-abuse scandal, Catholic Church saw failure at the top

In sex-abuse scandal, Catholic Church saw failure at the top



KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Bishop Robert Finn wasn’t going anywhere.

He never alerted authorities about photos of young girls’ genitals stashed on a pastor’s laptop. He kept parishioners in the dark, letting the priest mingle with children and families. Even after a judge found the bishop guilty of failing to report the priest’s suspected child abuse — and after 200,000 people petitioned for his ouster — he refused to go.

“I got this job from John Paul II. There’s his signature right there,” Finn had told a prospective deacon shortly after the priest’s arrest in 2011, pointing to the late pontiff’s photo. “And that’s who I answer to.”

Sixteen years after the clergy sexual abuse crisis exploded in Boston, the American Catholic Church is again mired in scandal. This time, the controversy is propelled not so much by priests in the rectories as by the leadership, bishops across the country who like Finn have enabled sexual misconduct or in some cases committed it themselves.

Read the full story at BostonGlobe.com.

Ex-Vatican Diplomat Found Guilty of Child-Pornography Charges

St. Peter's Basilica (Pixabay)

VATICAN | JUN. 25, 2018

Msgr. Carlo Alberto Capella, who admitted guilt, was given a five-year prison sentence and fine of 5,000 euro at the close of his two-day trial.

Elise Harris/CNA/EWTN News


VATICAN CITY — At the close of his civil trial in the Vatican, former Holy See diplomat Msgr. Carlo Alberto Capella was found guilty of possessing and distributing child pornography and given a five-year prison sentence.

The priest was also asked to pay a fine of 5,000 euro. The penitentiary where he will serve his prison term is unknown.

Capella, 51, a former Vatican diplomat, was recalled from the U.S. nunciature in Washington, D.C., last September, after the U.S. State Department notified the Vatican of a “possible violation of laws relating to child pornography images” by a diplomat.

His June 23 sentence came after the priest admitted his guilt in the trial’s opening session the day before, saying he committed his crimes during a period of “personal crisis” and weakness after being transferred to Washington, D.C.

During the trial, Capella admitted to opening an account on Tumblr, where he obtained and exchanged lewd images and videos of children online. Some 40 to 55 images were found downloaded onto his cellphone, computer and a cloud storage device.

The images were divided into two primary categories, one for images from Japanese comics and the other for images of children aged 14 to 17. At least one video showed a child depicted in an explicit sex act with an adult.

At the start of Saturday’s hearing, Vatican Promoter of Justice Gian Piero Milano asked that Capella be jailed for five years and nine months, paying a fine of 10,000 euro since he “knowingly and willingly” acquired “huge quantities” of pornographic images involving children, shared them and downloaded them to his devices.

The images of the comics, Milano said, were worse than other images found, since they were hand drawn and thought out with intent and creativity.


However, Capella’s lawyer asked that the sentence be reduced to the minimum, arguing that the priest was psychologically unstable due to a personal crisis at the time his crimes began and that Vatican law does not specify what the term “huge quantities” means.

The final sentence of five years and a fine of 5,000 euro brought the two-day trial to a close.

In his closing remarks before receiving the sentence, Capella said what he did is “evident” and happened in the context of a “period of fragility.”

“I am very sorry,” he said, “because my weakness has shamed the Church, my diocese, the Holy See and my family.”

Capella said he viewed his crime as “a bump in the road of my priestly life” and voiced hope that his case would help others in the future.

Originally from Capri, Capella was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Milan and in 1993 was asked by Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini to enter the diplomatic service of the Holy See.

In 2004, after studying at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, he was sent to the apostolic nunciature in India, and three years later, in 2007, he was transferred to the nunciature in Hong Kong. He was then transferred back to the Vatican in 2011 and worked in the Secretariat of State’s Office for Relations With the States.

In June 2016, he was asked to move to Washington, D.C., and was upset by the decision, but said nothing. Capella began using Tumblr shortly after his arrival to the U.S. in July 2016 to look at memes, and he eventually started viewing pornography and child pornography.

The U.S. State Department flagged Capella’s activity and informed the Vatican of a possible violation Aug. 21, 2017.

In September of that year, Canada issued a nationwide arrest warrant for the priest, who was then recalled to the Vatican. Police in Ontario said he had accessed, possessed and distributed child pornography while visiting Windsor over the 2016 Christmas holiday.

Before his trial, Capella had been held in a Vatican jail cell since April 9, 2018, and was indicted by the Holy See June 9.

Source

Vatican Arrests Former Diplomat After Child Pornography Probe

April 7, 2018, at 9:47 a.m.

FILE PHOTO - A general view of Saint Peter's Square and the city of Rome is seen from the cupola of Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican March 14, 2013. REUTERS/Paul HannaReuters


By Philip Pullella


VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican said on Saturday its police had arrested a monsignor who worked as a diplomat at its embassy in Washington and is suspected of possessing child pornography in the United States and Canada.

A statement identified the accused as Msgr. Carlo Alberto Capella and said he was arrested earlier on Saturday in the Vatican after a warrant was issued by the Holy See's chief magistrate at the end of an investigation.

The Vatican statement said Capella, who was recalled from the Vatican embassy in Washington last August, was arrested according to articles of a 2013 law signed by Pope Francis. The articles cited by the statement related to child pornography.

If indicted, the monsignor will have to stand trial in the Vatican and faces up to 12 years in jail.

The scandal is the latest blow to the Catholic Church as it struggles to overcome repeated sex abuse cases among its clergy.

Francis has declared zero tolerance over abuse scandals that have beset the Church for decades, but critics say he has not done enough, particularly to hold bishops responsible for mishandling or covering up abuse.

The State Department notified the Holy See in August of a possible violation of laws relating to child pornography images by a member of the diplomatic corps of the Holy See accredited to Washington, the Vatican said in September.