| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"johac" |
| Date: |
18 Sep 2004 03:15:39 AM |
| Object: |
Priest to Face Investigation in Austria |
Another one. What gives with these Austrians anyway?
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Priest to Face Investigation in Austria
Fri Sep 17, 2:46 PM ET
By WILLIAM J. KOLE, Associated Press Writer
VIENNA, Austria - Roman Catholic officials at a southwestern diocese
said Friday they are investigating a second priest accused of
molesting youths, deepening a series of sex scandals that have rocked
the church in Austria.
Bishop Klaus Kueng, dispatched by the Vatican (news - web sites) to
investigate the discovery of a vast cache of child pornography at a
seminary in another diocese, told the Austria Press Agency that an
internal probe of alleged abuse within the Feldkirchen diocese now
included a second priest.
Kueng's disclosure came a day after police said they had closed a
separate criminal investigation into allegations that a prominent
priest, August Paterno, molested at least 10 youths in the 1980s.
Church officials said Thursday that Paterno, a well-known churchman
who has hosted a television series on religion, had asked to retire.
Authorities said a prosecutor was reviewing police findings to
determine if there is sufficient evidence to press charges against him.
The second priest in the Feldkirchen diocese in the southwestern
province of Voralberg was not identified Friday. The diocese said the
cleric fell under suspicion based on accounts by victims who came
forward to a special church ombudsman for sexual abuse. It did not
elaborate.
The Feldkirchen investigations come as Austria's church is shaken by a
scandal involving child pornography downloaded on computers at a
seminary in St. Poelten, about 50 miles west of Vienna.
Kueng is wrapping up his internal investigation of that affair and is
expected to report back to Pope John Paul (news - web sites) II by the
end of the month.
Calls have mounted on the bishop who oversaw the seminary, Kurt Krenn,
to resign or be fired by the Vatican after his dismissive comments
characterizing the scandal as nothing more than "childish pranks."
Last month, Kueng shut down the seminary, where trainee priests
allegedly hoarded up to 40,000 lurid images some involving children
and snapped photos of each other fondling and kissing one another and
their older religious instructors.
Authorities also are conducting a criminal investigation of the
seminary porn discovery.
Austria's church has been embroiled in scandal since 1998, when
Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer was forced to relinquish all religious
duties and seek exile in Germany amid allegations that he molested
young boys at a monastery in the 1970s.
Krenn was criticized at the time for defending Groer and insisting the
cardinal was innocent of the pedophilia charges. Groer died last year.
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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=518&ncid=732&e=6&u=/ap/
20040917/ap_on_re_eu/austria_church_sex_abuse
--
John Hachmann aa #1782
-The ability to change one's mind, ideas, and opinions when confronted with
new facts is the sign of the rational and intelligent. The inability to do
so is the hallmark of the dimwitted and the fanatic. This applies not only
to science and philosophy, but also to politics.-
.
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