Vatican Begins Its First Clergy Sex Abuse Trial [VIDEO]

ABC News reports:

For the first time, a clergy sex abuse trial opened Wednesday in the Vatican’s criminal tribunal, with one priest accused of molesting an altar boy in the Vatican’s youth seminary and another priest accused of covering it up. The case concerns the closed world of the St. Pius X youth seminary, a palazzo inside the Vatican walls just across the street from where Pope Francis lives and the criminal tribunal itself.

According to the indictment read aloud Wednesday, the Rev. Gabriele Martinelli, 28, is accused of abusing his authority as a more senior seminarian to force a younger seminarian into “carnal acts” of sodomy and masturbation, using violence and threats, from 2007-2012. The scandal is particularly grave because the abuse allegedly occurred within Vatican City itself, and the allegations were known since at least 2012 but were covered up by the Vatican.

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Two priests accused in Vatican’s first sexual abuse trial https://t.co/UepT7XZQrR

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