Revelations that the Vatican halted the investigation of a Wisconsin
priest accused of molesting some 200 deaf boys have eerie echoes in Italy, where 67 deaf men and women accused two dozen
Italian Priests of raping and
molesting children for years.
Only now after a year that Italian case became public and open— is the Vatican directing the diocese to interview the victims to hear their testimony about the accusations.
The two cases are the latest in a burgeoning abuse scandal on both sides of the Atlantic that now threatens to tarnish the papacy itself. The office charged with disciplining clergy was long led by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, and a church prosecution in the Wisconsin case was stopped after an appeal to Ratzinger.
The priest had their scandals with these pupils because they can never tell – they are deaf and had difficulty in communicating. And in both, the major priority of church officials grappling with how or whether to discipline accused predators appeared to be protecting the church from scandal.
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