Italian bishops’ head says paedophile cover-up cases to be dealt with severely

(April 12, 2010) The president of the Italian Catholic bishops, responding to mounting pressure on the Vatican, said on Sunday those in the Church who mishandled, minimised and covered up sexual abuse of children should be dismissed. Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, the archbishop of Genoa said in a newspaper interview that paedophilia was a "heinous crime" and even more serious when committed by members of the Church. "Towards each of the people violated, and their families, I feel shame and remorse, particularly in those cases when they were not listened to by those who should have intervened in a timely manner," he told Il Sole 24 Ore daily. "Proven cases of mismanagement, underestimation of the facts, if not outright cover-up, will have to be rigorously prosecuted within and outside the Church and, as has already happened in some cases, will have to result in the removal and dismissal of the people involved." The Vatican has been battling growing allegations that it mishandled and covered up past cases of abuse of children by priests in the United States and several European countries. The latest accusations have focused on the role of Pope Benedict when he was an archbishop in his native Germany and the Vatican's top doctrinal official before his election in 2005, charges the Vatican has denied.