Vatican Shines Light on Child Abuse as Claims Against Priests Persist<br />5, 2017<br />VATICAN CITY — For a church hierarchy excoriated for decades over the sexual abuse of children in its trust, hosting a conference this week about<br />the spreading scourge of online child pornography was an opportunity to strike a positive note about the Vatican’s role in protecting minors.<br />Cardinal Parolin, speaking to reporters on Tuesday before his address, called the case a "very painful affair, a great trial for all those who are involved." He said the priest’s case was being handled with the "utmost seriousness." The Vatican has also said<br />that the Holy See’s chief prosecutor was investigating and that if the monsignor was tried and convicted, he could be sentenced up to 12 years in a Vatican jail.<br />Last week, as organizers prepared for the congress — with its keynote address by Cardinal Parolin, the second-highest-ranking official after Pope Francis; blanket coverage by the church’s news media;<br />and a papal audience with Francis on Friday — the Canadian police issued an arrest warrant for Monsignor Capella.<br />Cardinal Pietro Parolin said that Yes, yes, yes,<br />y to the fore in the Catholic Church, and extremely grave facts have emerged." Last month, Francis said in unscripted remarks to a commission he had created to advise him on the issue<br />that the church had "arrived late" to the crisis. that over the past few decades, this tragic reality has come powerfull<br />Advocates for abuse victims say they consider the Capella case a shameful echo of an earlier episode involving Josef Wesolowski,<br />a Polish archbishop accused of abusing children in the Dominican Republic, where he served as the Vatican ambassador.
