The 40-year-old priest was arrested on Monday, the same day that the Vatican published rules requiring Catholic dioceses to report suspected child sexual abuse by priests to police.
The priest appeared in a local court to face formal charges over the abuse which is alleged to have occurred last Christmas. He was then returned to Teramo prison, where he remains in custody. “The priest is accused of sexual violence, which in this case means taking the victim’s hand and guiding it close to his private parts,” Bruno Auriemma, the prosecutor, told Adnkronos International (AKI) in a telephone interview.
But the priest’s defence lawyer, Giovanni Gebbia, said widespread allegations of sexual abuse sweeping the Catholic Church had soured the environment for his client who had “briefly placed the child’s hand on his genital area during a moment of weakness”.
Gebbia told AKI on Tuesday the arrest and imprisonment of his client was “a very serious move”. The priest speaks very little Italian and had difficulty communicating in court, Gebbia said. “He is demoralised. He feels like he is completely alone,” Gebbia said. “He is very depressed, he is crying constantly and praying continually.”
Gebbia said his client would remain in prison for the next few days and then may be given house arrest in a convent or another location. The Catholic Diocese of Teramo was not available for comment on Tuesday. The Vatican has come under fire in the media for allegedly transferring paedophile priests in order to shield the Catholic Church, which is facing hundreds of sex abuse claims in the US, Ireland, Germany, and most recently Malta. “It’s a very difficult moment for these kinds of issues,” said Gebbia.
The priest had already been suspended from pastoral duties at the time of his arrest. His lawyer said he has been studying at a Catholic college in Rome for two years and visiting the region of Abruzzo at weekends to celebrate Mass.
In a TV interview, the Bishop of Teramo on Monday said the incident had left the Catholic Church with a sense of humiliation and shame and expressed its solidarity with the alleged victim and her family.
“We were the first to insist that this case be revealed and resolved according to church and civil law because we are in a state where laws must be respected,” Bishop Michele Seccia said.
The unnamed priest comes from southern India, said his lawyer, and had just returned to Italy from a visit home where he was visiting his ailing mother. “It’s a mystery why he returned,” said Gebbia.
By arrangement with AKI