UNITED KINGDOM
The Freethinker
The Roman Catholic church has lifted the suspension of a Tamil Nadu priest convicted last year of sexually assaulting a 14 year-old girl in the US more than a decade ago.
The suspension of Rev Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul, above, was lifted after the bishop of the Ootacamund Diocese in Tamil Nadu consulted with church authorities at the Vatican, said Rev Sebastian Selvanathan, a spokesman for the diocese.
Bishop Arulappan Amalraj of Ootacamund (Ooty) had referred Jeyapaul’s case to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and the suspension was lifted on the church body’s advice, he added.
The Vatican declined immediate comment.
Jeyapaul was sent to Minnesota in 2004. He was suspended in 2010 after being charged with sexually assaulting two girls who were both 14 at the time.
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