Arrest of Italian priest for abuse may renew calls for national reckoning

Arrest of Italian priest for abuse may renew calls for national reckoning

ROME – An Italian priest has been placed under house arrest on charges of aggravated sexual assault against a minor, while also facing at least five other charges of abuse in other communities said to date from 2011 to 2013. The arrest came after Father Ciro Panigara, 48, stepped down as the pastor of a small parish in the northern Italian province of Brescia earlier this year. The resignation came after a 15-year-old boy reported what media acc…

The Carabineros placed Don Ciro Panigara under house arrest, suspected of sexually assaulting children in the parishes of Adro and San Paolo.

Don Ciro Panigara, 48, resigned last January after a young man from the parish told an educator about the parish priest's special attention to him

He would have lured the victims by taking advantage of the relationship of trust he established with them.

A priest from Brescia was reached by a pre-trial detention order and is under house arrest on charges of sexual violence aggravated by the minor age of the victims. (BEND)