Priest investigated for manslaughter over death of newborn left on church doorstep
Father Antonio Ruccia, a parish priest at the San Giovanni Battista Church in the southern Italian city of Bari, has been named as a suspect despite being absent from the church at the time.
The newborn, believed to be a month old, was found dead on Jan 2 inside the church’s “thermal cradle”, a device set up for unwanted babies to be left anonymously.
The cradle’s alarm and heating system is normally activated as soon as the baby is left there and a notification is supposed to be sent to the priest’s phone.
Father Ruccia had been in Rome for Christmas festivities and initially told local media his mobile phone, which is normally connected to the activation of the cradle, did not ring.
Questions have been raised about claims made on the parish website that said the cradle alarm was directly connected to the neonatal department of the local Policlinico Hospital.
Antonio Sanguedolce, the hospital’s director, told Corriere della Sera that these claims were false. “There has never been an alarm connected with the department, only with the parish priest’s cell phone.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...by-church/
Father Antonio Ruccia, a parish priest at the San Giovanni Battista Church in the southern Italian city of Bari, has been named as a suspect despite being absent from the church at the time.
The newborn, believed to be a month old, was found dead on Jan 2 inside the church’s “thermal cradle”, a device set up for unwanted babies to be left anonymously.
The cradle’s alarm and heating system is normally activated as soon as the baby is left there and a notification is supposed to be sent to the priest’s phone.
Father Ruccia had been in Rome for Christmas festivities and initially told local media his mobile phone, which is normally connected to the activation of the cradle, did not ring.
Questions have been raised about claims made on the parish website that said the cradle alarm was directly connected to the neonatal department of the local Policlinico Hospital.
Antonio Sanguedolce, the hospital’s director, told Corriere della Sera that these claims were false. “There has never been an alarm connected with the department, only with the parish priest’s cell phone.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...by-church/
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"
