ITALY
Independent (UK)
ROSE TROUP BUCHANAN Friday 24 October 2014
A scandal-ridden Italian diocese where priests posted naked photographs of themselves on gay websites, sexually harassed parishioners and raided the church’s coffer will be investigated by Pope Francis’s special envoy.
Albenga-Imperia, in the north of Italy, will receive an “apostolic administrator” to assess the allegations laid against “the most gossiped about diocese in Italy” according to local news reports.
The Pope will reportedly send the administrator to determine the truth of charges – including hosting a string of ‘playboy priests’ moonlighting as barmen, stealing the church’s funds and getting tattooed, under the watchful eye of Bishop Mario Oliveri, 70, who has run the diocese for the last 25 years.
Although the bishop, a fervent traditionalists who once held a three-hour mass in Latin, is not accused of any wrongdoing, local newspaper Il Secolo XIX has reported the aging Bishop is expected to be replaced in the near future.
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