[Update: Corrected headline for accuracy. GP]
Thanks to Twitter and Chris Hayes, we find this amazing story. John also has more coverage of it over at AMERICAblog Gay, including some pointed commentary (and the fact that the Italian press is reporting that the priest is HIV+). God is indeed an ironist:
A [priest in the parish of a] top advisor to Pope Benedict XVI was arrested Friday on pedophilia and drug charges in a drug and sex ring investigation. ... Piercarlo Casassa, a retired priest, in a report by The Daily Telegraph, said of Seppia, “I told the Church about him in 1994 but was ignored. I told them he was not the right person to have around youngsters.”The article then quotes Time and Worldcrunch (emphasis theirs):
“Father Riccardo Seppia, a 51-year-old parish priest in the village of Sastri Ponente, near Genoa, was arrested last Friday, May 13, on pedophilia and drug charges. Investigators say that in tapped mobile-phone conversations, Seppia asked a Moroccan drug dealer to arrange sexual encounters with young and vulnerable boys. “I do not want 16-year-old boys but younger. Fourteen-year-olds are O.K. Look for needy boys who have family issues,” he allegedly said. Genoa Archbishop Angelo Bagnasco, who is the head of the Italian Bishops Conference, had been working with Benedict to establish a tough new worldwide policy, released this week, on how bishops should handle accusations of priestly sex abuse.”Just horrifying. The original article then notes (my emphasis):
In related news, the Vatican released a report last week that many are calling “the ‘blame Woodstock’ explanation.The DOJ? This is not a church, it's a crime family. And the DOJ should be investigating, not funding their PR.
The report, paid for in part by American Bishops, in part by Catholic organizations, and in part by the U.S. DOJ, is ludicrous.” [my emphasis here]
GP
