Pope asked to dismiss Maltese priest convicted of sexually abusing a boy

By Matthew Roscoe
EuroWeekly News
November 23, 2020

https://www.euroweeklynews.com/2020/11/23/pope-asked-to-dismiss-maltese-priest-convicted-of-sexually-abusing-a-boy/

POPE Francis has been asked to dismiss the Maltese priest convicted of sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy.

50-year-old Fr Donald Bellizzi was convicted on appeal of sexually abusing the then-teenage boy who had been entrusted into his care and the pope was given the recommendation by the Rome-based Conventual Franciscans Order, of which Bellizzi still belongs while in prison, to dismiss him.

Bellizzi, who was jailed for three-years, abused the poor boy from 2010, when he attended meetings to find out if he had the vocation to become a priest, in abuse that lasted until he was 16-years-old, when he was eventually able the stand up to the priest and report the abuse.

The Secretary-General of the Conventual Franciscans, Tomasz Szymczak, told Times of Malta when contacted that the matter was investigated and that the pope had been asked to dismiss the guilty friar.

“The General Curia is now presenting a request to the Holy Father to dismiss Friar Donald from the clerical state and from the religious order, in accordance with the regulations in force,” Szymczak said.