“No Mercy for Sex Abuse Victims” & related articles

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The Remnant

02 January 2016

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“And peace to the children, on this special day on which God became a child, above all those deprived of the joys of childhood because of hunger, wars or the selfishness of adults.”  – Pope Francis’ Christmas Urbi et Orbi Message 2016

Indeed, Pope Francis. The joys of childhood are deprived to the victims of clergy sexual abuse by the selfishness of adults. Despite his global popularity, the reality is that Francis is all talk, and no action when dealing with clerical child sex abuse. Not surprisingly, as the novelist, V.S. Naipaul observed about Argentines, “it is the Argentine attitude to suppress and ignore.”

Notwithstanding his incessant chatter about mercy and human trafficking, this Argentine Pope continues to suppress and ignore the ongoing clerical child sexual abuse. The latest case of papal inertia and deafness is especially heinous since it involves the sexual abuse of hundreds of disabled deaf and mute children in Italy and Argentina by several priests, giving tragic magnification to the oft used term, voiceless victims. This coverup lies squarely on Bergoglio’s watch.

During the 3 1/2 years of the Francis Papacy, the self-appointed Merciful One is not so merciful when it comes to the victims of clergy sex abuse. As Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Bergoglio left a record of abysmal apathy and inaction to root out clergy sex abuse. This pattern lives on behind the Vatican walls.

Who could forget the now familiar Francis fury raging at the faithful Catholics of Osorno Chile who pleaded with the Pope not to elevate a bishop who had allegedly protected a serial child predator? Francis ignored and suppressed their concerns as “stupid.” Who could forget the Pope’s personal appointment to the Synod on the Family of Cardinal Danneels, the renowned Belgian prelate who protected predator clerics? Don’t forget child abuse victim Peter Saunders, who served on the papal child protection commission and was forced to take a leave of absence for criticizing the Pope’s decisions on clerical sex abusers.

Wake up, Francis fawners, his mercy meme rings as hollow and empty, as hope and change.

It’s difficult to imagine a worse scenario for victim children then the latest case to cross Francis’ desk involving Fr. Nicholas Corradi. Fr. Corradi worked in the famous Provolo Institute for deaf and mute children in Italy for many years. Fr. Corradi was one of several priests who allegedly abused disabled children at the Provolo Institute.

The victims’ families argue that the Vatican knew about Fr. Corradi since at least 2009, when he was publicly accused of abusing deaf and mute students at the Provolo Institute in Verona, Italy. The Italian Provolo students went public with tales of shocking abuse against the most vulnerable of children and named several priest perps. While the Vatican sanctioned four accused priests, Corradi apparently was not punished for his alleged crimes in Italy and shockingly, Corradi left Italy and relocated to the South America at an Argentine school for deaf and mute students in Mendoza Argentina.

Despite allegations of sexual abuse by Corradi from Italian students, the Vatican apparently made no effort to immediately notify the Argentines, and recall Corradi to Italy. Additionally, the Argentine Conference of Bishops, then headed by Cardinal Bergoglio made no inquiries into the sudden arrival of Fr. Corradi at the school for deaf children in Mendoza Argentina. They should have been on high alert since modern Church history are full of predatory priests relocating to other countries and continents to avoid prosecution for child predation. Vetting Fr. Corradi for the sake of vulnerable deaf children would have been a simple precaution for their protection. Try Google for starters.

Tragically, and not surprisingly, the same clerical sex abuse scandal unfolded at the Argentine Provolo Institute for hearing impaired children. Like the dozens of children similarly abused in Italy, victims stepped forward to allege rape and sexual abuse by Fr. Corradi and another priest and staff members. And the Vatican knew about the Rev. Nicola Corradi since at least 2009.

Papal Deafness

In 2014, the Italian victims wrote directly to Pope Francis branding Corradi as a paedophile and flagged that he was living in Francis’ native Argentina. Where is the infamous Francis mercy and sense of urgency for disabled Argentine children? Pope Francis did nothing and would not open an independent investigation into Fr. Corradi’s alleged sexual abuse of these high risk children in Argentina. One would think that Argentine deaf and mute children at risk of sexual abuse by a Catholic priest would garner top priority from the Argentine pontiff!

The letter to Pope Francis details the heartbreakingly brutal and painful journey and treatment of abuse victims by the Vatican:

We are a group of former students of the Antonio Provolo Institute for the Deaf and Dumb of Verona (Italy) who told the press about the abuses committed by paedophile priests at the Institute. This was done only after three years of fruitless contacts with the Curia of Verona and in order to prevent what happened to us from happening to other children.The Bishop of Verona, who had been aware of what was going on, immediately accused us of being slanderers.

On May 9, 2014, the Provolo victims of Italy sent the Pope Francis a video message (knowing his preference for videos) on May 9, 2014. The eight deaf mutes pleaded for justice and asked the Pope for safety measure for the protection of children. Still no action by the Pope Francis while Fr. Corradi was teaching deaf and mute children in Argentina.

Since the Congregation for the Defense of the Faith had determined in 2012 (during Benedict’s papacy) that Corradi had sexually abused deaf and mute children in Italy, the Vatican was on notice that this priest had relocated to an Argentine school for deaf and mute children. Hasn’t the Vatican learned that predators relocate and pick up where they left off, by abusing children? Wasn’t the Vatican concerned that disabled Argentine children were at high risk with Fr. Corradi? How many Agentine children were abused because of the Vatican inaction and silence?

Finally, after ongoing publicity and personal pleas, in 2015 Provolo Victims’ Association met with Francis and personally asked him for an independent investigation of the clerical abuse of deaf and mute children. They waited and waited for a response from the loquacious pontiff to their urgent request for an independent investigation. Nothing, but silence.

Finally, after repeated requests to the Vatican press office. An answer came dated February 2016 in which the Vatican press office stated that the Pope forwarded the victims’ request to the Italian Bishop’s Conference, saying it was up to the Italian Bishop’s Conference to investigate the allegations. What happened to the much touted Papal Commission on the Protection of Minors? After a massive clerical sex abuse scandal involving the most vulnerable children on two continents, the Vatican passively and callously pitches the problem to the Italian Bishop’s Conference?

That, folks, is nothing more than a dodge, a pontifical punt into oblivion from this Pope who incessantly prattles on about zero tolerance for clergy sex abuse and poses as the champion of human trafficking victims, while his own Argentine disabled children were allegedly sexually abused by his indifference and inaction. Some mercy!

Yet, Swift Papal Action for Ecclesial Rivals

Contrast Francis’ inaction over the rape of innocent children, with his recent sudden action to appoint an independent commission to investigate the Knights of Malta, whose Cardinal Patronus happens to be Francis’ arch rival, Cardinal Raymond Burke. Within a week of learning that the Grand Chancellor of the Knights of Malta was suspended for continuing to distribute condoms, Francis quickly assembled a high powered commission to investigate that suspension, and presumably Burke, and to report back promptly to the Pope.

When Francis wants to wield political and ecclesial power, he does so with dispatch and authority. Papal politics, not child sexual abuse victims, garner his speedy attention.   If Pope Francis has an opportunity to take a political shot at his clerical political rivals, he seemingly moves with all deliberate speed. Yet when mute and deaf child victims of clergy abuse beg for an independent investigation, Francis drags his feet, slow walking his answer, and does nothing for years, causing more children to be raped and sexually abused.

Police Arrest Predator Priest Ignored by Francis

In late November 2016, Argentine Police arrested 82-year old priest Rev. Nicola Corradi, 55-year-old priest Horacio Corbacho, and three other men. They are accused of sexual and physical child abuse at the Antonio Provolo Institute in northwestern Mendoza province.One of the priests Nicolás Corradi, who had been given a previous conviction for child abuse in Italy before being transferred to Argentina, gave orders that none of the children’s relatives were allowed to enter the school. Parents now believe this was part of the cover up.When the police raided the school in Argentina’s Mendoza province and they found pornography and about $34,000 in Rev. Corradi’s room.

Now at least 60 students of the Provolo institute in Argentina have now come forward seeking justice for the abuse they say they suffered at the hands of Fr. Corradi, another priest, the Rev. Horacio Corbacho, and three other men. According to FOX News Latino, the alleged victims of Rev. Nicola Corradi said they wrote a letter to the Pope Francis in 2014 warning him that the purported sexual predator had been reassigned to Argentina, the Pope’s home country.

Fr. Corradi, named by both Italian and Argentine victims as the sexual predator who raped deaf and mute children. Pope Francis could have stopped the horrendous abuse, but chose to ignore and suppress the cries for help. Victims understand that predators never stop abusing children and will travel across international borders to seek out more vulnerable children.

The victims are now speaking out saying that nothing was done then or later in 2014, when they told Pope Francis in a letter that Corradi was living in his native Argentina.”From the pope down … all of the Catholic Church hierarchy is the same. They all knew,” one of the victims told The Associated Press through a sign language interpreter.

Place this scandal squarely at the throne of Pope Francis or perhaps, even earlier at the feet of Cardinal Bergoglio.

Protecting children is not rocket or even climate science. It’s really very simple, but you must care about children. Priests, Bishops, Cardinals, Pope Francis, pay attention. Pick up the phone, call the Police, and report that ‘a crime may have been committed against a child and it needs to be investigated by law enforcement.’

Francis and his telephone

Since becoming pontiff, Francis is famous for his frequent calls to Argentina. The world gushed when it learned that the newly elected Pope telephoned his Buenos Aires newspaper delivery man to cancel his subscription. Everyone swooned over such humility and simplicity. Recently Francis cold called an Argentine Journalist to chat. Then there was the much publicized call to the Italian woman he comforted after she said she was pressured to have an abortion. The world was told that the Pope personally called an Argentine woman whom he reportedly instructed to take Holy Communion, despite the fact that her husband had been divorced from his first wife. According to Vatican Radio, Francis personally telephones troubled youth in Buenos Aires prison every two weeks. Oh, how merciful and humble!

Yet, the chatty Pope can’t be bothered to pick up the telephone and call the Mendoza Argentine Policia about an alleged serial child sexual predator teaching highly vulnerable deaf and mute children. Bergoglio loves to call Argentina, but apparently, not to warn disabled children about a sexual predator in their midst.

After billions spent on abuse settlements, countless clergy abuse commissions and grand jury reports, endless mea culpas, the Vatican still ignores the pleas of innocent children and their families who have been exploited by perp priests. Why is an alleged serial predator priest allowed to prey on impaired children on two continents?

The now infamous ‘save the earth’ endangered animals laser show on the facade of St. Peter’s epitomizes the Bergoglio papacy. The Vatican proudly touted the slick, high tech, multi media propaganda production of animal images and grunts, funded by the World Bank. The show was an homage to the fake globalist climate change movement, yet not one child was visible in the hour long extravaganza flooding the walls of St. Peter’s. Sacramentalizing climate change may land the Pope on the cover of Vanity Fair and Time magazine, but exposing predator priests saves lives and souls of the earth’s most precious resource, children.

This Christmas, Francis, the Global Merciful delivered a Christmas message that struck the Provolo abuse victims as highly insensitive and, even, mocking. Seeking to demonstrate his popularity, hipness, and relevance to the modern world, the trendy globalist Pontiff found time to tape his 2016 Christmas message to the world on YouTube in…..sign language.

Too bad, Bergoglio couldn’t find time to protect deaf and mute children from predator priests. The child victims should have complained about global warming, not their rape by clerics.

Maybe then, Francis would have paid attention.

UPDATE: File Under the Height of Hubris and Hypocrisy:

On December 28th, the Feast of the Holy Innocents, Pope Francis sent a letter to bishops around the world that the Church hears the “cries of pain of her children” and weeps because “she recognizes the sins of some of her members: the sufferings, the experiences and the pain of minors who were sexually abused by priests.” In a classic example of projection and blame shifting, Francis condemns the sin “of failing to help” of “covering up and denial” and the sin of “abuse of power” that happened in many cases.

Yes, Francis, covering up and denial of the sexual abuse of mute and deaf children is a grievous sin. In between your tyrannical tirades and globalist gushing, you might want to read Romans 2:3. “Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God?”

 

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Priests at Argentinian school for deaf youngsters ‘would choose their victims to sexually abuse knowing other children would not hear them scream’ 

Daily Mail Online (UK)

  • Catholic priests are accused of sexually abusing children at a school for the deaf
  • 24 students from the Antonio Provolo Institute have come forward with claims 
  • They say the rapes took place in the bathrooms, dorms, garden and a basement
  • Suspects are being held at a jail and have not spoken publicly since their arrest

A child sex abuse scandal is unfolding at a school in Argentina where tormentors would allegedly chose their victims knowing the other children wouldn’t hear the screams as they were deaf.

Two Roman Catholic priests are accused of repeatedly raping pupils at the Antonio Provolo Institute for hearing impaired children in Mendoza province.

At least 24 students at the school have come forward seeking the justice against Reverend Nicola Corradi, 82, the Reverend Horacio Cobacho, 55 and four other men.

 Handcuffed to a wheelchair, priest Nicola Corradi and the Rev. Horacio Corbacho, left, are escorted to a courtroom in Argentina. They are accused of sexually abusing children at a school for deaf youngsters 

 Handcuffed to a wheelchair, priest Nicola Corradi and the Rev. Horacio Corbacho, left, are escorted to a courtroom in Argentina. They are accused of sexually abusing children at a school for deaf youngsters 

Victims and prosecutors say the rapes by the priests took place in the bathrooms, dorms, garden and a basement at the school.

The five were arrested in late November by police who raided the school and found magazines featuring naked women and about $34,000 in Corradi’s room.

All the suspects are being held at a jail in Mendoza and have not spoken publicly since their arrest.

It comes after claims the Vatican knew about Corradi since at least 2009, when pupils at a similar school in Italy went public with tales of shocking abuse against the most vulnerable of children.

In 2014, the Italian victims wrote directly to Pope Francis branding Corradi as a paedophile and flagged that he was living in Francis’ native Argentina. Yet apparently, nothing was done.

 The two Roman Catholic priests are accused of repeatedly raping pupils at the Antonio Provolo Institute, pictured,  for hearing impaired children in Mendoza province

 The two Roman Catholic priests are accused of repeatedly raping pupils at the Antonio Provolo Institute, pictured,  for hearing impaired children in Mendoza province

One of the Mendoza victims said: ‘From the pope down … all of the Catholic Church hierarchy is the same. They all knew.

While another victim said the priests would rape again if released adding: ‘This happened in Italy … it happened again here, and it must end. Enough!’

Prosecutor Fabrizio Sidoti says he is expecting more than 20 other people to provide testimony and more victims to come forward.

Meanwhile, Pope Francis has not spoken publicly about the case and the Vatican declined to comment.

Victims and prosecutors say the rapes by the priests took place in the bathrooms, dorms, garden and a basement at the school (file picture)  

Victims and prosecutors say the rapes by the priests took place in the bathrooms, dorms, garden and a basement at the school (file picture)

Advocates of sex abuse victims by priests question how Francis could have been unaware of Corradi’s misdeeds, given he was publicly named by the Italy victims.

Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability, an online resource about clerical abuse, said: ‘No other pope has spoken as passionately about the evil of child sex abuse as Francis. No other pope has invoked ‘zero tolerance’ as often. No other pope has promised accountability of church superiors.

‘In light of the crimes against the helpless children in Mendoza, the Pope’s assurances seem empty indeed.’

Earlier this month, the Pontiff appeared in a video using sign language to wish deaf people worldwide a Merry Christmas — a gesture that fell particularly flat in Argentina as Catholics struggle with the enormity of the scandal.

The Provolo case first exploded in Italy in 2009, when the Italian victims went public with stories of abuse after what they said were three useless years of negotiations with the diocese of Verona, where the institute has its Italy headquarters.

The 67 victims alleged sexual abuse, paedophilia and corporal punishment at the hands of priests, brothers and lay religious from the 1950s to the 1980s.

At the time, 14 of the victims wrote sworn statements and videotaped their testimony detailing the abuse they suffered. They named 24 priests, lay religious and religious brothers in a list that was published online.

Corradi was one of those included in the list, which specified he was in Argentina at that time.

In 2010, the Vatican ordered the Verona diocese to investigate the claims. One of the victims named Corradi during the inquiry. But he apparently was never sanctioned. Five other accused were.

However, unlike the Verona case, the alleged crimes in Mendoza have not expired due to the statute of limitations and could lead to up to 50-year jail sentences for a conviction.

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Argentina probes sex abuse at deaf school, what Vatican knew

FOX News   World

  • Handcuffed to a wheelchair, priest Nicola Corradi and the Rev. Horacio Corbacho, left, are escorted to a courtroom in Mendoza, Argentina, Thursday, Dec. 22, 2016. In late November, police arrested Corradi and Corbacho, after several students came forward with shocking childhood tales of the sexual abuse suffered over years at a school for hearing impaired children, in remote northwestern Argentina. (AP Photo/Emmanuel Rodriguez Villegas)

    Handcuffed to a wheelchair, priest Nicola Corradi and the Rev. Horacio Corbacho, left, are escorted to a courtroom in Mendoza, Argentina, Thursday, Dec. 22, 2016. In late November, police arrested Corradi and Corbacho, after several students came forward with shocking childhood tales of the sexual abuse suffered over years at a school for hearing impaired children, in remote northwestern Argentina. (AP Photo/Emmanuel Rodriguez Villegas)  (The Associated Press)

The children said they wailed as the two Roman Catholic priests repeatedly raped them inside the small school chapel in remote northwestern Argentina. Only their tormenters would have heard their cries since the other children at the school were deaf.

The clerical sex abuse scandal unfolding at the Antonio Provolo Institute for hearing impaired children in Mendoza province would be shocking enough on its own. Except that dozens of students in the Provolo Institute’s school in Italy were similarly abused for decades, allegedly by the same priest who now stands accused of raping and molesting young deaf Argentines.

And the Vatican knew about him since at least 2009, when the Italy victims went public with tales of shocking abuse against the most vulnerable of children and named names. In 2014, the Italian victims wrote directly to Pope Francis again naming the Rev. Nicola Corradi as a pedophile and flagged that he was living in Francis’ native Argentina. Yet apparently, nothing was done.

At least 24 students of the Provolo institute in Argentina have now come forward seeking justice for the abuse they say they suffered at the hands of Corradi, 82, another priest, the Rev. Horacio Corbacho, 55, and three other men. The five were arrested in late November by police who raided the school and found magazines featuring naked women and about $34,000 in Corradi’s room.

All the suspects are being held at a jail in Mendoza and have not spoken publicly since their arrest.

“From the pope down … all of the Catholic Church hierarchy is the same. They all knew,” one of the Mendoza victims told The Associated Press through a sign language interpreter.

Another victim said the priests would rape again if released.

“This happened in Italy … it happened again here, and it must end,” the victim said, insisting on speaking anonymously. “Enough!”

Victims and prosecutors say the anal and vaginal rapes, fondling and oral sex by the priests took place in the bathrooms, dorms, garden and a basement at the school in Lujan de Cuyo, a city about 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) northwest of Buenos Aires.

The school has “a little chapel with an image of the Virgin and some chairs where the kids would get confession and receive the communion. That’s where some of the acts were happening,” Fabrizio Sidoti, the prosecutor who has been leading the investigation since the scandal broke, told the AP.

Children from other regions of Argentina who lived at the dorms were especially vulnerable and often targeted by the abusers. The tales are harrowing: One of the victims told the AP she witnessed how a girl was raped by one priest while the other one forced her to give him oral sex.

The prosecutor is expecting more than 20 other people to provide testimony and more victims to come forward.

Pope Francis has not spoken publicly about the case and the Vatican declined to comment.

Advocates of sex abuse victims by priests question how Francis could have been unaware of Corradi’s misdeeds, given he was publicly named by the Italy victims.

“No other pope has spoken as passionately about the evil of child sex abuse as Francis. No other pope has invoked ‘zero tolerance’ as often. No other pope has promised accountability of church superiors,” said Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability, an online resource about clerical abuse. “In light of the crimes against the helpless children in Mendoza, the Pope’s assurances seem empty indeed.”

On Dec. 11, the pope appeared in a video using sign language to wish deaf people worldwide a merry Christmas — a gesture that fell particularly flat in Argentina as Catholics struggle with the enormity of the scandal.

“Either he lives outside of reality or this is enormously cynical … it’s a mockery,” said Carlos Lombardi, an attorney who specializes in canon law.

The Provolo case first exploded in Italy in 2009, when the Italian victims went public with stories of abuse after what they said were three useless years of negotiations with the diocese of Verona, where the institute has its Italy headquarters.

The 67 victims alleged sexual abuse, pedophilia and corporal punishment at the hands of priests, brothers and lay religious from the 1950s to the 1980s. At the time, 14 of the victims wrote sworn statements and videotaped their testimony detailing the abuse they suffered. They named 24 priests, lay religious and religious brothers in a list that was published online.

Corradi was one of those included in the list, which specified he was in Argentina at that time.

In 2010, the Vatican ordered the Verona diocese to investigate the claims. One of the victims named Corradi during the inquiry.

But he apparently was never sanctioned. Five other accused were.

The Italian victims didn’t stop.

On Dec. 31, 2013, they wrote to the pope asking him to institute an independent commission of inquiry to investigate clerical sex abuse in Italy.

On Oct. 20, 2014, they wrote Francis and the Verona bishop naming 14 priests and lay religious from the institute who were still alive and in ministry who allegedly had sexually abused them. They named Corradi, and noted that he and three others were in Argentina.

“We must point out that the behavior of the church is not in the least bit in line with the ‘zero tolerance’ stance of Pope Francis,” they wrote, listing the 14 priests and their current locations. “Such behavior makes us think that the church has no interest in the suffering provoked by priests who sexually abused deaf children, priests who continue to live their lives normally, priests who never apologized to victims, priests who never asked forgiveness and for whom the church itself attempts to let the time pass in hopes that everything is forgotten.”

No response was immediately received.

More than two years later, the Vatican’s No. 3 official, Monsignor Angelo Becciu, acknowledged receipt of the letters. In a Feb. 5, 2016, response, he said that as far as the Provolo victims’ request for a commission of inquiry was concerned, he had forwarded the proposal to the Italian Bishops’ Conference.

The Italian Bishops’ Conference didn’t respond to an email seeking comment on whether such a commission was under consideration.

“I’m convinced that some hierarchy covered this up. They sent the wolf to take care of the sheep,” said Alejandro Gulle, the chief prosecutor in Mendoza.

The Mendoza Archbishopric says it was unaware of the accusations against Corradi. “A religious man comes to a diocese and you trust the legitimate superior,” spokesman Marcelo De Benedectis said.

He said that allegations aired by the case have been “so outrageous,” the Mendoza diocese has taken measures like demanding a sworn statement from religious people stating that they don’t have “backgrounds” under canon or civil law.

The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has been informed about the Mendoza accusations, he added.

Unlike the Verona case, the alleged crimes in Mendoza have not expired due to the statute of limitations and could lead to up to 50-year jail sentences for a conviction.

A prosecutor is also probing accusations by a man who says he was abused at the Provolo Institute in the city of La Plata when Corradi first arrived in Argentina in the 1980s.

“We want justice to be served. We might be able to get long sentences. I hope they’re the maximum,” said Gulle, the Mendoza prosecutor. “But we’ll never compensate the spiritual damage suffered by these children.”

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Associated Press video journalist Paul Byrne and AP writers Luis Andres Henao in Buenos Aires and Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed to this report.

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