Photo: YouTube
Archbishop Luigi Ventura
Italian-born priest. Ordained 14 June 1969.
Served as Apost0lic Nuncio to Canada from September 2001 to September 2009.
2009 – present: Apost0lic Nuncio to France
accused of molesting a young man at Paris city hall on 17 January 2019. Police are investigating. There has also been an allegation that while Nuncio to Canada Ventura inappropriately touched the buttocks of a young man.
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Farewells to Archbishop Luigi Ventura
25 September 2009: Archbishop Terrance Prendergast sj: “Archbishop Ventura to be Nuncio in France”
22 September 2009: Father Thomas Rosica csb: A Tribute to Archbishop Luigi Ventura – Apostolic Nuncio to Canada 2001-2009
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15 June 2019: “More charges of inappropriate touching aimed at Vatican envoy to France” & related articles
11 June 2019: “Sexual assault: Nuncio Ventura accused in Paris and invited to the Vatican” & original French text
28 February 2019: Quebecer complains of sexual misconduct against former Vatican ambassador to Canada” & original French text
27 February 2019: “Vatican embassy confirms sexual misconduct complaint against Canada’s former nuncio” & related article
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The following information is drawn from media (M), Catholic Hierarchy (CH) and 2002 edition of the Canadian Catholic Church Directory (CCCD 2002)
17 January 2018: accused of molesting a man at Paris’s City Hall (M)
September 2009 – : Apostolic Nuncio to France (CH)
September 2001 – 2009: Apostolic Nuncio to CANADA (CH)
July 2002: World Youth Day in Toronto
March 1999 – September 2001: Apostolic Nuncio to Chile (CH)
25 March 1995 – March 1999: Apostolic Nuncio to Niger, Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire (CH)
29 April 1995: Ordained Bishop Titular Bishop of Equilum (CH)
1984-1995: served in various capacities at Holy See’s Secretariat of State (CCCD 2002)
1978- 1984: entered diplomatic service of the Holy See. Served at Nunciatures in Brazil, Bolivia and the United Kingdom (CCCD 2002)
1969-1974: Professor at the seminary of Brescia (CCCD 2002)
14 June 1969: ORDAINED in Brescia, Italy (Ordained Priest by Bishop Luigi Morstabilini. Bishop of Brescia; Principal Consecrator:Angelo Cardinal Sodano, Cardinal-Bishop of Albano’; Principal Co-Consecrators:Archbishop Bruno Foresti, Bishop of Brescia andArchbishop Giovanni Battista Re)
09 December 1944: DOB
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Vatican envoy to France under investigation for sexual assault
Date created : Latest update :
Text by: FRANCE 24
Ludovic Marin, AFP | French President Emmanuel Macron (L) shakes hands with Apostolic Nuncio to France Luigi Ventura during his New Year wishes to the diplomatic corps on January 4, 2018, at the Elysée Palace in Paris.
The Vatican’s envoy to France is being investigated for sexual assault after he was accused of molesting an official at the Paris mayor’s office during a ceremony last month, a judicial source told AFP.
The envoy, Luigi Ventura, has been based in Paris since 2009 and serves as a diplomat for Pope Francis.
He was accused of molesting a man at Paris’s City Hall on January 17 where mayor Anne Hidalgo gave a New Year’s address to diplomats, religious leaders and civil society figures.
“During the ceremony, a city employee was repeatedly groped on the backside, in three instances, once in front of a witness,” a City Hall source told Agence France-Presse.
France 24’s Catherine Norris-Trent: ‘Ventura is the 3d Vatican diplomat to be accused of sexual misconduct’
“It was quickly decided to report the matter to the public prosecutor,” said Patrick Klugman, deputy mayor responsible for international relations.
The complaint was filed by the mayor’s office on January 24 which led to an investigation being opened the day after, the judicial source said.
The victim, a man in his 30s, also works in the City Hall’s international relations’ department.
Le Monde newspaper first reported the investigation and the allegations against Ventura on Friday.
Crowning achievement
Ventura, who was born in northern Italy near the city of Brescia, turned 74 in December. He was ordained a priest in June 1969 and elevated to bishops’ rank in March 1995. He was appointed nuncio to France in September 2009 by Benedict XVI, a position regarded as the crowning achievement of a Vatican diplomatic career.
After serving as nuncio to Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Niger, he then held the position in Chile and Canada before landing the French post.
When he turns 75 in December 2019, he will be required, as all bishops are at that age under Vatican rules, to submit his resignation to Pope Francis, who can either accept it or let him stay on a little longer.
Ventura is the third Vatican diplomat accused of sexual wrongdoing. In June last year, the Vatican tribunal convicted Monsignor Carlo Capella of possession and distribution of child pornography and sentenced him to five years in prison. In 2013, the Vatican charged its then ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Monsignor Jozef Wesolowski, with sexually abusing young boys. Wesolowski was defrocked by the Vatican’s church court, but he died before the Vatican’s criminal trial got under way.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and AP)
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Vatican ambassador under investigation for sexual assault
Catholic News Agency
15 February 2019
.- Bishop Luigi Ventura, apostolic nuncio to France since 2009 and a long-time Vatican diplomat, is under investigation for alleged sexual assault.
The French newspaper Le Monde reported Friday that Ventura, 74, is being investigated by Paris authorities after he was accused late last month of having inappropriately touched a young male staffer of Paris City Hall.
A Vatican statement Feb. 15 said that it was made aware of the French authorities’ investigation of the envoy through the press and is “awaiting the outcome of the investigations.”
The alleged assault is said to have taken place in Paris’ City Hall Jan. 17, during a reception for the annual New Year address of Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo. The address is usually given to diplomats, religious leaders, and civil society members, with a role by the apostolic nuncio.
The claim against Ventura was brought to French authorities by Paris City Hall six days after it allegedly took place. The alleged victim has not been identified.
Ventura, who comes from the northern Italian region of Lombardy, was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Brescia in 1969.
He entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1978 and was stationed in Brazil, Bolivia, and the UK. From 1984 to 1995 he was appointed to serve at the Secretariat of State in the Section for Relations with States.
After his episcopal ordination in 1995, Ventura served as nuncio to the Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chile, and Canada. He was appointed apostolic nuncio to France by Benedict XVI in September 2009.
The allegation comes just days before a special summit convened by Pope Francis at the Vatican to discuss the sexual abuse crisis facing the Church worldwide.
While organizers of that meeting, which will include the heads of the world’s bishops’ conferences, have stressed that the agenda will focus on the specific issue of the sexual abuse of minors, some bishops and commentators have suggested it should also treat allegations of sexual misconduct or abuse of adults by clerics.
The investigation against Ventura also comes amid expectations that the Vatican is soon to announce a decision in the canonical process handling the case of Archbishop Theodore McCarrick. McCarrick is accused of sexually abusing a number of minors and adults, including seminarians, over a period of decades.
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Vatican’s envoy to France facing ‘sexual aggression’ probe
The Toronto Star
Fri., Feb. 15, 2019
By
PARIS – The Paris prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into alleged “sexual aggression” by Catholic archbishop Luigi Ventura, the Vatican’s envoy to France, according to French officials.
Confirming a report published by Le Monde newspaper on Friday, a judicial official and a spokesman at the Paris mayor’s office said the police investigation targeting the apostolic nuncio came after a young male city employee claimed he was sexually molested inside the French capital’s town hall.
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Vatican envoy accused of sexually assaulting Paris official
Archbishop Luigi Ventura suspected of molesting male staffer during mayor’s address
The Irish Times
15 February 2019
French authorities are investigating allegations that the Vatican’s ambassador to France molested a junior official in Paris’s City Hall, a City Hall official said on Friday.
The official told Reuters that Archbishop Luigi Ventura (74), who has held the ambassador post in Paris for the past decade, was suspected of having touched the buttocks of the male junior staffer during mayor Anne Hidalgo’s New Year address.
The archbishop “caressed in an insistent and repeated manner the young man’s buttocks during the ceremony”, the City Hall official said.
“He put his hands on his buttocks several times.”
A judicial source confirmed a preliminary investigation against the envoy was under way.
The Vatican learned about the investigation from the media, spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said.
“The Holy See is waiting for [the] investigation’s conclusion,” he added.
The Paris City Hall official said the allegations against the archbishop involved a male employee from the mayor’s international relations team. He had been tasked with looking after Ventura during the ceremony.
City Hall filed a complaint against the envoy to Paris prosecutor Rémy Heitz’s office on January 23rd, six days after the alleged molestation. – Reuters
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Vatican envoy faces inquiry into sexual assault claims
Paris police to look into allegations Luigi Ventura molested city hall employee
Luigi Ventura shakes hands with the French interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, at the inauguration of Notre-Dame of Creteil Cathedral in 2015. Photograph: François Guillot/AFP
The Vatican’s envoy to France is under investigation for sexual assault after being accused of molesting an official at the Paris mayor’s office.
The envoy, 74-year-old Luigi Ventura, has been based in Paris since 2009 and serves as a diplomat for Pope Francis.
He was accused of molesting a man at the Paris city hall on 17 January when the mayor, Anne Hidalgo, gave a new year’s address to diplomats, religious leaders and civil society figures.
“During the ceremony, a city employee was repeatedly groped on the backside, in three instances, once in front of a witness,” a judicial source said.
The complaint was filed by the city hall on 24 January which led to an investigation being opened the day after. Patrick Klugman, deputy mayor responsible for international relations, said it had been quickly decided to report the matter to the public prosecutor.
Italian-born Ventura is a career diplomat at the Vatican.
He previously served in Brazil, Bolivia, and Britain, before being appointed papal nuncio to the Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Niger, Chile and then Canada, according to his website.
France’s Catholic Church has been roiled in recent years by sexual claims against priests which have come to light in the wake of a global move by victims of abuse to come forward with evidence.
Archbishop Luigi Ventura was Nuncio in Canada for 8 years… –
2001 – 2009
!!!
Most major French media reporting today that Archbishop Ventura did not await the lifting of his diplomatic immunity as requested by the French Government and voluntarily was questioned by France’s Central Directorate of the Judicial Police earlier this April.
https://www.bfmtv.com/societe/accuse-d-agressions-sexuelles-le-nonce-apostolique-entendu-par-la-police-1675584.html
Pope Francis recalls Archbishop Luigi Ventura to Rome (where he will be avoiding prosecution in France thanks to his diplomatic immunity):
https://www.liberation.fr/france/2019/06/11/agressions-sexuelles-le-nonce-ventura-accuse-a-paris-et-convie-au-vatican_1733121
Archbishop Ventura claimed under interrogation that these charges against him are part of a conspiracy of Paris City Hall authorities against him:
http://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/suspecte-d-agressions-sexuelles-l-ambassadeur-du-vatican-en-france-denonce-un-complot-de-la-mairie-de-paris-20190607
whats the truth?
and can someone translate this into english… it is clear this Nuncio charged by 2 people is being protected in being recalled to the Vatican…- but what is the truth …
anyone know? He was in Canada for some years also…
You can cut and paste the text and run it through an online translation app.. I`ve translated the main messages of these stories 1) Ventura recalled 2)Ventura conspiracy.
During the month of May Paris police organised what is called in France a confrontation judiciaire between Archbishop Ventura and the plaintifs.
It`s one of the criminal procedures used in France to get to the truth; and it often reveals it. It is similar to voir dire but it`s format is less formal. It can get heated between the police/judiciary and suspects in confrontations judiciaires. They are also designed to confirm the testimony of the plaintifs which were first heard a few month before confrontations. The truth shouldn’t subtantially change. So if their versions of it change unusually during this procedure it could indicate that suspects couldn’t be convicted at trial. Archbishop Ventura denied the allegations against him and that’s his right in a legal system that also upholds the presumption of innocence. He didn`t have to be innocent to avail himself of this right and his immunity as a foreign diplomat shielded him from this complaint. So Archbishop Ventura should have told the police in Paris to go take a hike… which is now what the Holy See is saying… in latin. His being recalled inside the legal jurisdiction of Vatican City and his conspiracy theory defence are over-compensating: for guilt to be transferable from a suspect to witnesses, plaintifs and third parties, guilt has to be present in the first place.
Here are the articles with goggle translations.
11 June 2019: “Sexual assault: Nuncio Ventura accused in Paris and invited to the Vatican” & original French text
The google translation of the article from Liberation is terrible, but I think we get the message that despite the allegations against him the archbishop has disappeared, and that he was invited to a meeting of Nuncios in Naples (scheduled to begin today? and run to Saturday.)
The Le Figaro article is available in full to subscribers only. The scant 13% available to us is posted with google translation . There is very brief mention there of “a plot” along with the fact that he was confronted by his accusers in May.
Unfortunately I can’t find any coverage of this in English language papers.
Honestly, I don’t follow what this is about bc. What did the French police do or not do which would justify Ventura – and the Holy See – telling them to ‘take a hike’?
Because of his diplomatic immunity Sylvia, Ventura didn`t even need to deny the charges and/or invent a conspiracy theory by the Paris City authorities against him. He could have just told the police to buzz off… because of jurisdictional immunity from prosecution. The Holy See recalling Ventura is it’s polite way to tell the Paris police that they have no jurisdiction over Ventura. It is asserting the immunity of certain categories of clerical abusers; effectively Pope Francis does tolerate clerical abuse in certain cases closer to him personally.
Ooops! Apologies. I didn’t post the link to the articles referenced above. I have just done so. Here it is again:
11 June 2019: “Sexual assault: Nuncio Ventura accused in Paris and invited to the Vatican” & original French text
BC: thanks for an amazingly clear explanation of this matter. Thanks for taking the time.
It is still not clear what the truth is …
More allegations against Holy See diplomat to France.
https://cruxnow.com/church-in-europe/2019/06/15/more-charges-of-inappropriate-touching-aimed-at-vatican-envoy-to-france/
The poor nuncio – he’s so lonely. I guess groping makes him feel better. Mike.
French plaintif makes case in Vatican City.
https://cruxnow.com/church-in-europe/2019/07/03/frenchman-accusing-vatican-diplomat-takes-case-to-rome/
Holy See lifts diplomatic immunity of Archbishop Ventura:
https://www.france24.com/en/20190708-vatican-france-archbishop-immunity-groping-inquiry-catholic
Archbishop Ventura is now back in Rome in a luxurious Church owned residence just a few meters from Vatican City. According to Libération several high-ranking Church officials in France were aware of Archbishop Ventura`s behavior.
https://www.liberation.fr/france/2019/10/20/accuse-d-agressions-sexuelles-le-nonce-ventura-reste-en-retrait-a-rome_1758664
Although the Holy See had lifted Archbishop Ventura`s diplomatic immunity so that he should face charges in France; there is no extradition treaty between France, Italy and/or Rome.
Archbishop Ventura will stand trial in Paris on Nov. 10 on charges of alleged “sexual aggression” against four men.
https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2020/07/23/vatican-sexual-misconduct-trial-france-pope-francis
French court finds former nuncio guilty of sexual assault:
https://www.catholicregister.org/home/international/item/32511-french-court-finds-former-nuncio-guilty-of-sexual-assault