Pope Francis ‘told about alleged child rapist’ two years before his arrest

VATICAN CITY
Independent (UK)

Prosecutors expect more people to come forward with allegations of abuse

Jon Sharman

Pope Francis was told as early as 2014 that a Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing children in Italy had been reassigned to a school in Argentina, where he has since been arrested on suspicion of child rape.

The Rev Nicola Corradi, 82, was arrested in late November alongside four other men following allegations of abuse at the Antonio Provolo Institute for hearing-impaired children in Mendoza province.

He was named in the scandal that hit the institute’s Verona school in 2009, when 67 students alleged they had been abused. The Verona diocese apologised to students there and the Vatican sanctioned four priests, though not Rev Corradi. In 2014 the students sent the Pope a letter – acknowledged only this year – again naming him as an abuser, living in Argentina.

When Rev Corradi was arrested police reportedly found $34,000 along with magazines featuring naked women in his room.

Two dozen students have said they were attacked by Rev Corradi, the Rev Horacio Corbacho, 55, and three other men at the school in Lujan de Cuyo, a city about 620 miles northwest of Buenos Aires.

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