ARGENTINA
San Francisco Chronicle
ALMUDENA CALATRAVA, ASSOCIATED PRESS
December 22, 2016
LUJAN DE CUYO, Argentina (AP) — The children said they wailed as the two Roman Catholic priests repeatedly raped them inside the small school chapel in remote northwestern Argentina. Only their tormenters would have heard their cries since the other children at the school were deaf.
The clerical sex abuse scandal unfolding at the Antonio Provolo Institute for hearing impaired children in Mendoza province would be shocking enough on its own. Except that dozens of students in the Provolo Institute’s school in Italy were similarly abused for decades, allegedly by the same priest who now stands accused of raping and molesting young deaf Argentines.
And the Vatican knew about him since at least 2009, when the Italy victims went public with tales of shocking abuse against the most vulnerable of children and named names. In 2014, the Italian victims wrote directly to Pope Francis again naming the Rev. Nicola Corradi as a pedophile and flagged that he was living in Francis’ native Argentina. Yet apparently, nothing was done.
At least 24 students of the Provolo institute in Argentina have now come forward seeking justice for the abuse they say they suffered at the hands of Corradi, 82, another priest, the Rev. Horacio Corbacho, 55, and three other men. The five were arrested in late November by police who raided the school and found magazines featuring naked women and about $34,000 in Corradi’s room.
All the suspects are being held at a jail in Mendoza and have not spoken publicly since their arrest.
“From the pope down … all of the Catholic Church hierarchy is the same. They all knew,” one of the Mendoza victims told The Associated Press through a sign language interpreter.
Another victim said the priests would rape again if released.
“This happened in Italy … it happened again here, and it must end,” the victim said, insisting on speaking anonymously. “Enough!” …
Advocates of sex abuse victims by priests question how Francis could have been unaware of Corradi’s misdeeds, given he was publicly named by the Italy victims.
“No other pope has spoken as passionately about the evil of child sex abuse as Francis. No other pope has invoked ‘zero tolerance’ as often. No other pope has promised accountability of church superiors,” said Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability, an online resource about clerical abuse. “In light of the crimes against the helpless children in Mendoza, the Pope’s assurances seem empty indeed.”
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