The Vatican has recalled one of its U.S diplomats for violating U.S pornography laws after the U.S Department of State notified them last month that a Vatican diplomat possessed child pornography. The Vatican has not released the diplomat's name due to the confidentiality of the matter but stated that it is going to investigate the matter. The diplomat is said to have worked as part of the technical and administrative staff at the Vatican embassy in the U.S. A request by the Vatican to grant the diplomat Diplomatic Immunity on August 21 last month was denied three days later.
If the accusations are true, this will be the third diplomat accused of such charges under Pope Francis, who has zero tolerance for sexual misconduct by Catholic clergymen.
Jozef Wesolowski and George Pell
Jozef was a high-ranking archbishop residing in the Dominica Republic; he was accused of sexually exploiting shoeshine boys. He was also found to have possessed child pornography materials in his computer. Pope Francis recalled him in 2013; Polish authorities later arrested him on February 14, 2015. He stated that the accusations against him were "the work of drug lords that are against his work." He, however, died of a natural cause in 2015 before his trial began.
George Pell was an Australian cardinal who was charged on June 29 this year for sexual assault offenses he committed for several years.
In one of the accusations, he was accused of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old boy in 1961 at a Roman Catholic youth camp.
Sexual abuse by clergymen
According to a CBC news article on July 13, 2014, the Pope stated that about 2 percent of Catholic clergies are sexual abusers. There were over 414,000 Catholic priests worldwide.
According to "John Jay 2004 Report", 10,667 individuals had reported cases of sexual abuse between the year 1950 to 2002. The accusations pointed out that 4 percent of the clergies were involved in child sexual assault misconducts. Less than 0.1 percent of these clergies were later convicted. The report also found out that the sexual wrongdoings were committed to children that are close to the clergymen.
The report also stated that grooming tactics such as buying the minors gifts, taking them to sporting events and letting them drive their car were used in enticing the minors.
Sexual abuse cases in the U.S
The society of Jesus made a $50 million payout in 2007 to over 100 Inuit individuals who were allegedly abused by 14 priests in over 30 years.
A Roman Catholic priest named James Porter who worked in the Diocese of Fall River admitted that he sexually abused about 100 children over a period of 30 years. He was imprisoned for 20 years.
A 2003 report in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee revealed that 60 ordained men were involved in exploiting minors. A Wisconsin priest named Lawrence Murphy was suspected to have molested over 200 deaf boys according to the report. According to the New York Times, four lawsuit cases against the Archdiocese of Milwaukee were still pending as of March 2010.
