(ITALY)
The Tablet [Market Harborough, England]
July 31, 2024
By Bess Twiston Davies
Pope Francis said of Bishop Rosario Gisana: “He is good, this bishop. He was persecuted, slandered, yet he stood firm, always, just, a just man.”
A Sicilian court said a bishop recently praised by the Pope was “knowingly guilty” of covering up the crimes of a sex abuser priest.
Judges said Bishop Rosario Gisana of Piazza Amerina, in central Sicily, had protected Fr Giuseppe Rugolo, who was sentenced in March to four-and-a-half years in prison for sexual abuse of minors.
Antonio Messina told police the priest had abused him while he was a teenager. In 2020, Messina wrote to Pope Francis about the abuse.
After Messina and his family informed Gisana of the abuse between 2009 to 2013, a Church inquiry concluded that it had taken place while Rugolo was a seminarian. However, Messina said the abuse continued after Rugolo’s ordination.
In a telephone conversation recorded by police and presented to the court, Gisana told Rugolo: “This is now not only your problem but also mine because I covered up the affair.”
In November, Pope Francis said of Gisana: “He is good, this bishop. He was persecuted, slandered, yet he stood firm, always, just, a just man.”
Stefano Feltri, who investigated the case, told The Times: “Gisana moved the priest to Ferrara in northern Italy because the boy’s family was complaining and Rugolo continued to have sex with young men in Ferrara diocese.”
Other recordings heard during the trial appeared to reveal Gisana claiming to have papal support because he had done Francis a favour.
Feltri said: “It is possible Francis was in debt to Gisana, who ran a commission for him looking into a Palermo bishop accused of raping nuns and concluded there was sex but no violence.”
Gisana denied covering up for Rugolo, alleging the abuse had occurred before his appointment to the diocese in 2014.
The previous bishop, Mgr Michele Pennisi, denied any knowledge of Rugolo’s behaviour, saying: “If I had been aware of these facts, which for me constitute a crime, I would not have hesitated to take action.”
The Italian daily La Stampa said judges in the case accused Gisana of having “clearly failed to take any serious necessary initiative to protect the minors of his community and their parents”.