INDIA
Zee News
New Delhi: Children`s activists in India on Wednesday criticised the Vatican for revoking the suspension of a Catholic priest who was convicted by a US court of sexually abusing a minor.
Indian priest Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul, 61, was suspended by his local diocese in India five years ago after being accused of sexually abusing two girls during a posting to Minnesota.
He was later convicted of assaulting one of them, a 16-year-old, and served time in jail.
But the Vatican lifted his suspension in January following a recommendation by an Indian bishop.
“The lifting of the suspension amounts to the Church condoning his actions,” Ranjana Kumari, director of the Centre for Social Research, an NGO working on women`s and girls` rights, told AFP.
The decision was “totally unacceptable”, coming as the Vatican undertook to root out sexual abuse by the Church, she said.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.