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World News

Altar boys say they were sexually abused by priests in the Vatican

by Tola Mbakwe

The allegations will be explored in investigative Italian TV show Le Iene on Sunday.

The accusations date back to the 1980s and 1980s at the Vatican's St Pius X youth seminary. The boys were between the ages of 10 and 14 at the time.

The Guardian reports during the programme one of the accused priests is confronted by a journalist about the allegations.

After he hears the accusations made against him in the audio interviews, he responds: "No, it's not possible. I can't remember ... I'm not saying they're lying, I'm saying they have misunderstood."

The criminal complaints come after the Vatican said in September it would seek to indict 28-year-old Fr Gabriele Martinelli, for allegedly abusing several altar boys in 2012 when he trained at the youth seminary. According to The Guardian, that move was prompted by Le Iene's first investigation into the school in 2017.

The Vatican also said two months ago that it was seeking to indict a former rector at the youth seminary. It was claimed Fr Enrico Radice, assisted someone to commit an offence.

Gaetano Pecoraro, one of the two authors of the investigation said: "We decided to keep digging as we had the feeling that the previous cases were not isolated.

"There were more victims and more priests involved in sexual abuse within the Vatican."

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