ALL CALLS ARE STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL

 Reverand Gabriele Martinelli on trial in Vatican Court for alleged child sex abuse

A young priest is currently under trial at the Vatican under charges of sexually abusing an altar boy inside Vatican City walls over a span of 5 years. In this unprecedented criminal trial, which is taking place in the Vatican court,  an older priest is charged with covering up the abuse.

The Vatican court heard graphic descriptions of the charges. According to the charges, the alleged victim, known by his initials, LG, was forced “to undergo carnal acts, acts of sodomy and masturbation at different times and in different places inside Vatican City,”.

The alleged abuse occurred when the victim was 13, from 2007-2012.

Kamil Jarzembowski, who was 15 at the time the abuse took place was the whistleblower because he was victim’s roommate and in 2012. He reported the abuse to church authorities but did not get a response and at the end of the school year he  was kicked out of the seminary.

He went public in 2017; “I saw my roommate being abused by another seminarian,” he told an Italian investigative TV  show. “I was scared. I didn’t understand. It was the first time I saw two people having sex.”

He said that he witnessed his roommate being raped at least 100 times — more or less every other day over the course of the school year.

The Rev. Gabriele Martinelli, 28, who was a seminarian and has since become a priest is the alleged child ex abuser.  Rev. Enrico Radice, the seminary’s former rector , is the  other defendant.  Rev. Enrico Radice is charged with aiding and abetting the alleged abuse. 

Giuseppe Pignatone,  a prominent Italian magistrate, is the presiding judge. Giuseppe Pignatone, formerly one of Italy’s leading anti-mafia prosecutors, was appointed by the pope last year.

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