CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times [Chicago IL]
June 6, 2025
By Robert Herguth and Kaitlin Washburn
At the time Pope Francis picked Bishop Gregg Caggianelli, then-Cardinal Robert Prevost — now Pope Leo XIV — was running the Vatican office that selects and vets prospective bishops. Cardinal Blase Cupich also is part of that office.
One of Pope Francis’ last U.S. bishop appointments, who appears to be the first American bishop ordained after Pope Leo XIV’s election, was accused in lawsuits more than a decade ago of failing to sideline a volunteer minister at his Catholic parish following a complaint of inappropriate behavior with an altar boy in 2011.
The volunteer minister, Robert F. Little, later molested another boy from the same Fort Myers, Florida, parish, according to the lawsuits, which were filed by parents of the children and accused the Rev. Gregg Caggianelli and other church officials of not doing enough to keep Little away from minors.
Caggianelli, an Air Force officer long part of the Diocese of Venice, Florida, was appointed by Pope Francis in February to become an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese for the Military Services, the arm of the church serving the U.S. armed forces, veterans hospitals and federal government employees overseas.
He was formally installed on May 9, the day after Cardinal Robert Prevost, a Chicago native, was selected as the next pope following Pope Francis’ death on April 21.
At the time the late pope picked Caggianelli, Prevost was running the Vatican office that selects and vets prospective bishops for the pope. Cardinal Blase Cupich, Chicago’s top Catholic cleric, also is part of that office.
It’s not clear whether either man had any role in Caggianelli’s selection and whether high-ranking church officials knew of the lawsuits that criticized his handling of Little. Neither responded to requests for comment.
A spokesman for Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who heads the military archdiocese as well as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops that’s been squaring off against the Trump administration on immigration issues, referred questions to the Diocese of Venice.
The Venice diocese says in a written statement that, while it’s “been alleged that a complaint in 2011 was mishandled,” that’s “not true.”
Headed by Bishop Frank Dewane, the diocese “takes very seriously the safety of children and follows detailed procedures to protect them,” according to the statement.
Asked about his handling of Little, Caggianelli says, “It’s one of those things you think you did everything right” and “the person proves you wrong later on.”
“It hurts, and it hurts for the people, and I hate that,” Caggianelli says, adding that “now you’re a little wiser, a little smarter.”
Little admitted molesting the second boy and was sent to jail and had to register with the government as a sex offender until his death in November just before he would have turned 85, records show.
Court records describe him as “a layperson who served as Eucharistic minister among other duties for many years” at St. Francis Xavier Church in Fort Myers, where Caggianelli was assigned in 2011. Eucharistic ministers are allowed to dispense consecrated hosts to churchgoers.
Little is accused, before mass one day, of cornering a 10-year-old altar boy and making “contact with” his “genitals through his altar boy robe” with a lighter used to light altar candles, according to the lawsuit filed by the boy’s family.
The suit says Little stopped only when he saw Caggianelli “walking in the distance.”Related
The boy told his parents, and they were “horrified” and worried that Little’s “continued presence . . . posed a threat to the safety of their son and others,” their suit says.
The parents met with Caggianelli, who they said told them he’d inform the diocese about the incident and keep Little away from their son and that the man “could use some training on how to be around children.”
Caggianelli urged the parents “not to say anything about what had occurred to their son for the benefit of the church,” according to the suit, which also says Little “had a sexual interest in boys for decades and was released from a Catholic religious order on account of his deviant sexual interest.”
“Despite the promises of church officials, Robert Little was still seen at the parish, including in and around [the boy’s] school at St. Francis Xavier,” according to the suit, which says Little “would often be seen at the school parking lot at dismissal” and was seen “driving up and down the street” where the boy lived.
Once as the child was playing outdoors with cousins, Little pulled up, “rolled down his car windows and asked the boys when they would be visiting him at his condominium on the beach,” according to the suit.Related
In 2014, Little was arrested and pleaded guilty to molesting another boy from St. Francis, records show. A lawsuit filed by the victim’s mother that year says Little sexually abused her son “multiple times” in 2013 “in the bathroom near the pool of the timeshare when he” and the child “went to change out of their swimming trunks after exiting the pool.”
The abuse included Little fondling the boy’s genitals and “closely examining and plucking” the boy’s “pubic hair as part of an apparent pubic hair fetish.”
The Venice diocese “took no meaningful action to limit” Little’s “access to minors” after Caggianelli and the St. Francis school principal were told about his behavior in 2011, the suit says.
In sworn testimony, Caggianelli acknowledged that Little was able to continue his duties as a minister, and it was “perceivable” that he would continue interacting with children.
The lack of action by the diocese was “a direct and proximate cause” of the abuse suffered by the second boy, then 13, the suit says.
The mother’s suit was later essentially folded into a similar lawsuit filed by the father.
His case said Little was “harbored” by the diocese, which allowed him to live in a church-run senior housing complex that “conveniently abuts” St. Francis’ “elementary school and affords pedophiles, such as Little, both a view of the children on the playground and access to them through the school.”
That case was dismissed “upon the church’s motion for summary judgment, finding that the church had no control over or responsibility for the alleged behavior of a private citizen occurring at his private residence,” according to the Venice diocese, referring to the misconduct at the pool.
Regarding the 2011 accusations, the diocese said “a couple did report that their son ‘felt uncomfortable’ in the presence of Mr. Little” but did not make “a formal report to the Diocesan Victim Assistance Coordinator” even though they were encouraged to do so.
“At no point was there a complaint of an assault,” the diocese says, adding “there is no evidence of any negligence by Bishop Dewane” or Caggianelli.
Little wasn’t charged in that first instance and denied molesting that boy, court records show. The diocese said the county sheriff at the time didn’t believe Little’s behavior constituted a “criminal act.”
Adam Horowitz, the family’s lawyer, says the couple stands by the assertions in their lawsuit, which was settled. The terms of the settlement remain secret under a confidentiality agreement the diocese wanted.
What their case shows, Horowitz says, is that, “when bad behavior goes unpunished, it escalates.”
Court records say Little was once a religious brother with the Society of St. Paul, a Catholic religious order, but quit because of disgust over sexual activity among members who were supposed to be celibate. He aspired to enter a seminary to become a priest but never did. He later spent time as a Cub Scouts leader.
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