Father Gabriele Martinelli sentenced to two and a half years for abusing altar boy at youth seminary few yards from Pope Francis’s residence
A Catholic priest has been jailed for sexually abusing an altar boy within the walls of the Vatican in the first legal case of its kind.
In what the Italian media called the “Pope’s choirboys” case, Father Gabriele Martinelli, 31, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison by a Vatican court for sexually abusing a minor when both of them were enrolled in a youth seminary located just a few yards from Pope Francis’s residence.
It was the first Vatican trial involving sexual abuse inside the walls of the Vatican, the world’s smallest sovereign nation.
The St Pius X youth seminary was a residence for boys aged 12 to 18 who served as altar boys at masses led by the Pope in St Peter’s Basilica.
At an initial trial in 2021, Martinelli was acquitted of accusations he had forced his victim, known only by the initials LG, to “undergo carnal acts, acts of sodomy, masturbation on himself and on the boy, at different times and in different places inside Vatican City”.
But his acquittal was overturned on Tuesday by a Vatican appeals court. Martinelli was found guilty of corrupting a minor by forcing him to have sex and fined €1,000 in addition to his jail term.
In the initial court ruling, Father Enrico Radice, 74, the former rector of the seminary, was cleared of covering up the abuse because of the expiration of the statute of limitations.
Victim accused of vendetta
Both Martinelli and Radice have consistently denied wrongdoing and accused the victim of having a personal vendetta against them.
The case came to light when the abuse was reported by another altar boy who shared a room with LG.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/01...choirboys/
A Catholic priest has been jailed for sexually abusing an altar boy within the walls of the Vatican in the first legal case of its kind.
In what the Italian media called the “Pope’s choirboys” case, Father Gabriele Martinelli, 31, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison by a Vatican court for sexually abusing a minor when both of them were enrolled in a youth seminary located just a few yards from Pope Francis’s residence.
It was the first Vatican trial involving sexual abuse inside the walls of the Vatican, the world’s smallest sovereign nation.
The St Pius X youth seminary was a residence for boys aged 12 to 18 who served as altar boys at masses led by the Pope in St Peter’s Basilica.
At an initial trial in 2021, Martinelli was acquitted of accusations he had forced his victim, known only by the initials LG, to “undergo carnal acts, acts of sodomy, masturbation on himself and on the boy, at different times and in different places inside Vatican City”.
But his acquittal was overturned on Tuesday by a Vatican appeals court. Martinelli was found guilty of corrupting a minor by forcing him to have sex and fined €1,000 in addition to his jail term.
In the initial court ruling, Father Enrico Radice, 74, the former rector of the seminary, was cleared of covering up the abuse because of the expiration of the statute of limitations.
Victim accused of vendetta
Both Martinelli and Radice have consistently denied wrongdoing and accused the victim of having a personal vendetta against them.
The case came to light when the abuse was reported by another altar boy who shared a room with LG.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/01...choirboys/
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
