“Pedophilia, Father Bonifacio Buzzi commits suicide in prison” & related articles

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Sex offender Brazilian priest Father Bonifacio Buzzi cited in “Spotlight” commits suicide in prison

Bambini di Satana

11 August 2016

By Marco Dimitri

A Brazilian priest mentioned in the Catholic clergy sex abuse film Spotlight was found dead in a prison cell after he was arrested again for suspected pedophilia, authorities said on Monday.  Father Bonifacio Buzzi, 57, hanged himself with a sheet in a jail in the state of Minas Gerais where he was taken after his arrest on Friday, the state government said in a statement. A decade ago Buzzi was convicted of abusing a 10-year-old boy in Mariana, Minas Gerais and jailed from 2007 to 2015. He was arrested last week following criminal complaints that he had molested two boys aged 9 and 13.

Father Bonifacio Buzzi spotlight

Buzzi was cited among the pedophilia cases listed at the end of Spotlight, the Oscar-winning 2015 film based on the Boston Globe newspaper’s investigation of sexual abuses by Catholic priests and efforts by the Boston Archdiocese to cover them up.

Allegations against Buzzi first emerged in the 1990s in his home state of Santa Catarina. In 1995 he was convicted of molesting two boys in his parish near Mariana after their parents accused him of performing oral sex on their children.

Buzzi got a reduced sentence and the Catholic Church obtained a court order allowing him to serve it out at the home of the local archbishop.

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Brazilian priest mentioned in ‘Spotlight’ film commits suicide

CNA (Catholic NewsAgency)

10 August 2016

.- Fr. Bonifacio Buzzi, a Brazilian priest convicted of child abuse and who was mentioned in the Oscar-winning film ‘Spotlight,’ committed suicide in his prison cell over the weekend.

According to Reuters, Fr. Buzzi, 57, hung himself with a sheet inside his jail cell in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais Aug. 7 after having been arrested Friday.

In 1995 the priest was found guilty of abusing several youth in a mental hospital, and sentenced to four years of house arrest. In 2004, he was convicted of molesting a 10-year-old boy in Mariana, Minas Gerais and was jailed from 2007-2015 for the crime.

He was arrested Aug. 5 in the southern state of Santa Catarina following criminal complaints that he had molested two more boys, aged 9 and 13, and taken back to Minas Gerais.

The Vatican was in the process of taking action against the priest, but the process had not yet concluded at the time of his death.

Fr. Buzzi was among the cases of pedophilia listed at the end of the 2015 Oscar-winning film “Spotlight.”

The movie covers the Boston Globe’s investigation into sex abuse of minors by Catholic figures in the archdiocese, as well as cover-up by some members of the hierarchy. The film won an Oscar for Best Picture at the Academy Awards on Feb. 28.

“Spotlight” ends with the Boston Globe printing an explosive exposé, before listing all the other cities where sex abuse was later found to be a problem in the Catholic Church, including the parish in Mariana where Fr. Buzzi had served.

In the years following the exposé, the Catholic Church has since established several safety measures in order to prevent abuse, including a “zero tolerance” policy for abusers, safe environment training and oversight, and mandatory background checks for any individual who has contact with minors.

The Vatican has also restructured its proceedings regarding abuse charges. From 2004-2011, there were 3,400 U.S. cases of alleged clergy abuse reported to Rome for review. Of the accused priests, 848 were laicized and 2,572 were permanently removed from ministry.

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Brazilian priest commits suicide in prison after new abuse allegations

The Catholic Herald

Authorities said Fr Bonifacio Buzzi hanged himself with bed sheets in his cell a day after being arrested

A Brazilian priest, Fr Bonifacio Buzzi, accused of molesting children in Minas Gerais state, committed suicide on August 7 in his cell, Brazilian authorities have said.

Local authorities said Fr Buzzi hanged himself with bed sheets in his cell a day after being arrested. In 1995, he was found guilty of abusing several youngsters in a mental hospital and sentenced to four years of house arrest.

In 2004, he was found guilty of molesting an 11-year-old boy but fled before authorities could detain him. He was arrested in 2007 and imprisoned until 2015.

Fr Buzzi, 57, was arrested again in early August in the southern state of Santa Catarina and was taken back to Minas Gerais, where he had been charged with molesting another youth.

The Vatican was taking action against the priest, but the process had not been concluded. In the Oscar-winning film Spotlight, the city of Mariana, where Fr Buzzi worked in the local parish, was included as one of the locations where religious abused youths.

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Brazilian priest cited in ‘Spotlight’ hangs himself in jail

Reuters

08 August 2016

A Brazilian priest mentioned in the Catholic clergy sex abuse film “Spotlight” was found dead in a prison cell after he was arrested again for suspected pedophilia, authorities said on Monday.

Father Bonifacio Buzzi, 57, hanged himself with a sheet in a jail in the state of Minas Gerais where he was taken after his arrest on Friday, the state government said in a statement.

A decade ago Buzzi was convicted of abusing a 10-year-old boy in Mariana, Minas Gerais and jailed from 2007 to 2015. He was arrested last week following criminal complaints that he had molested two boys aged 9 and 13.

Buzzi was cited among the pedophilia cases listed at the end of “Spotlight,” the Oscar-winning 2015 film based on the Boston Globe newspaper’s investigation of sexual abuses by Catholic priests and efforts by the Boston Archdiocese to cover them up.

Allegations against Buzzi first emerged in the 1990s in his home state of Santa Catarina. In 1995 he was convicted of molesting two boys in his parish near Mariana after their parents accused him of performing oral sex on their children.

Buzzi got a reduced sentence and the Catholic Church obtained a court order allowing him to serve it out at the home of the local archbishop.

(Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Paul Simao)

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Brazil’s Church Accused of Protecting a Pedophile
A Convicted Priest Returned to Work – and Molesting, Families Say – after Serving His Time at the Home of an Archbishop[From BishopAccountability website]

By Kevin G. Hall
Philadelphia Inquirer
May 23, 2002 Thursday

Allegations that the Catholic Church has covered up indecent acts by priests have surfaced across the globe, but the story of the Rev. Bonifacio Buzzi is especially shocking for what it says about church complicity.

Not only did church officials in Brazil conspire to keep his past a secret from parishioners, but with government approval they also confined him in the quarters of an archbishop instead of in prison while he served an abbreviated sentence for molesting boys. Then they let him return without treatment to church duties – and spend time alone with young boys who allege that he preyed on them, too.

The accusations against Father Buzzi, 42, are the latest in at least three criminal complaints alleging child sex abuse by priests in Brazil, home to about 150 million Roman Catholics.

“People find this revolting,” said Jesus Antonio de Oliveira Lino, 33, an ex-Catholic who guides tourists around colonial churches in Mariana, where Father Buzzi served his prison sentence in the archbishop’s home.

The sex-abuse controversy hurts the Catholic Church, where a growing number of parishioners are being lured away by mystic sects formed by African descendants and the surging evangelical movement. Census figures released this month show the number of people calling themselves Catholics fell from almost 84 percent in 1991 to under 74 percent in 2000.

The National Conference of Bishops of Brazil remains mum on the issue of sex abuse and the church, even as counterparts in other Latin American predominantly Catholic countries such as Chile and Mexico struggle to address the problem publicly.

Last week, The Inquirer reported that the Rev. Nilo Cezar Martins, a Brazilian priest who pleaded guilty to sexually abusing an altar boy while stationed in Philadelphia in 1985, returned to his homeland after he was paroled and served in parishes there.

The story of Father Buzzi threatens to rival in both shock and impact the revelations in the United States, where more than 55 priests have been removed from duties since January.

Despite Father Buzzi’s past, the church allowed him unsupervised contact with boys. In March and April, the families of two young boys lodged criminal complaints, alleging that Father Buzzi performed oral sex on the boys during fishing outings in a remote region near Mariana in the state of Minas Gerais.

Allegations of sexual abuse by Father Buzzi first emerged in 1992 in his hometown of Joinville in the state of Santa Catarina. During confession, a mother confided to a priest that Father Buzzi molested her 9-year-old son. Because the allegation came during confession, the church handled the matter internally.

Father Buzzi continued his duties as a priest but later became embroiled in similar acts elsewhere in Brazil. He was convicted in 1995 for molesting an 11-year-old boy and a 5-year-old boy in Santa Barbara, near Mariana.

Sentenced to more than 13 years in prison, Father Buzzi had his penalty reduced to nine years for good behavior. In a rare move that Mariana prosecutor Antonio Carlos de Oliveira said underscored the influence of the Catholic Church in Brazil, the court granted Father Buzzi an exception to the rule of serving two-thirds of any prison sentence. He instead was allowed to serve his term in the home of the Rev. Luciano Mendes de Almeida, archbishop of Mariana. The archbishop served as the head of the national bishops’ conference from 1987 to 1995.

“During the time he was at the archbishop’s home, there was no therapy or any psychological treatment, so in a certain way you can say there was a lack of caution by the Catholic Church to correct or reorient this priest,” Oliveira charged. The mother of A. – names of abused children and their parents are not published in Brazil – blamed the archbishop for allowing her son to allegedly fall victim to Father Buzzi.

“The guilty person is [Archbishop Mendes] who brought him here to Mariana,” said Maria Lucia, whose 9-year-old son was allegedly molested by Father Buzzi twice in April.

After publicity surrounding the first allegation, another 9-year-old boy known only as G. stepped forward to allege three similar incidents in March.

Through his lawyer Celso dos Santos, Father Buzzi declined to be interviewed in prison or to respond to written questions from Knight Ridder.

To a judge last month, Father Buzzi called the accusations of both boys “inventions.”

During an interview at her humble farm along a dirt road, interrupted by crowing roosters and snorting pigs, Maria Lucia and her son Nelson, 17, confirmed that the second time Father Buzzi came for A., the boy cried and pleaded with his grandmother to avoid the fishing trip but was forced to go.

“A man who is 42 years old, and who is a priest, the thought never enters your head. No one would think he would do what he did to this boy,” said Maria Lucia, eyes red and welling with tears.

The archbishop did not respond to requests for an interview. Church officials in Mariana accuse the media of crucifying Father Buzzi.

“The church is a mother with two victims. Who is the greater victim? The one imprisoned,” said the Rev. Paulo Barbosa, the priest responsible for the area where the alleged abuses occurred and housemate of Father Buzzi. “The Brazilian press has judged and convicted him. He is the biggest victim here.”

In an interview, Father Barbosa said he confronted Maria Lucia last month. He told her the church, not the courtroom, was where the complaint should have been handled.

Father Barbosa is angry that the abuse controversy has overshadowed the community work that priests do in this poor region of Brazil.

Father Buzzi’s attorney persuaded a Brazilian judge to perform a sanity exam on Father Buzzi, a rarity for pedophilia allegations, according to prosecutor Oliveira.

Church officials want Father Buzzi declared insane so he can avoid prison and receive psychiatric care, perhaps with drugs that lower his sex drive. They hope to see him return to church duties.

A clergyman familiar with Father Buzzi’s predicament conceded the church knew of his past problems, but “we thought he had gotten better.”

4 Responses to “Pedophilia, Father Bonifacio Buzzi commits suicide in prison” & related articles

  1. Sylvia says:

    This is yet another case of read it and weep! He was jailed in 2007. He was a known molester in the 90s. And yet we read that “The Vatican was in the process of taking action against the priest, but the process had not yet concluded at the time of his death.”

    And so, yet another wolf in sheep’s clothing and serial molester died – by his own hand – as priest. He has gone to meet his maker.

    The Church and authorities clearly did him no favour over the years by protecting and coddling him.

  2. Just fed up says:

    When I read cases like this I think that maybe we should be going after those who protect the offenders – it would have more impact. Collaborators are despicable and unfathomable to everyone – everywhere.

  3. Mike Fitzgerald says:

    Couldn’t agree with you more, JFU. I can assure you though, going after the enablers is no task for the faint of heart.
    It astonished me when I got the silent treatment from different bishops. I guess my questions are “pushing buttons”. Mike.

  4. Just Fed Up says:

    Yesterday I came up with the same thought many people have, How many Cardinals, Bishops, Archbishops have protected these offenders? Then I realized that the List of 111 living Cardinals that are eligible to vote in the next Pope is a small enough that it is researchable. So I started at the top and started pairing each Cardinals name with the words pedophile or arrest. I stopped after about 10. The results were interesting. Some were clearly involved in coverups and some appeared to be part of the solution. The names that are in Pink do not have voting rights for the next Pope. It would be interesting to do a full research review of those 111 to see what shakes out of the trees.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_living_cardinals

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