VATICAN CITY
Voice of America
[with video]
Jerome Socolovsky
March 11, 2013
VATICAN — Roman Catholic cardinals on Tuesday begin a conclave at the Vatican. One of the issues as they cast ballots for the next pope will be the ongoing controversy over clerical sex abuse. Some victims of that abuse say the church has tried to avoid responsibility, and they’re skeptical that the next pope will make major changes.
“This is a picture of me, right before my abuse. I was around eignt or nine when the abuse started,” says Becky Ianni, who remembers herself as a normal, happy child.
Continuing to refer to the photo she said, “and then this is me, during my abuse. And you can see I cut my hair. He used to touch my hair. He basically – he would rape me with his hands. He at one point in the vestry of the church stood behind me and rubbed his hands up and down my school uniform. And I remember after that point I would start wearing a sweater all the time, and that was my protection.”
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