A Brazilian priest has been accused of sexually abusing children in his parish, Brazil's G1 news website reported on Tuesday, in the latest pedophile allegations to rock the Catholic Church.Jose Afonso De, the 74-year-old priest of the Sao Vicente de Paulo parish in Franca, a town 400km from Sao Paulo, is denying the accusations.
But a prosecutor, Graciela de Lourdes David Ambrosio, told G1 the adolescents involved had given "very coherent statements" incriminating De.
"I have no doubts that the children were abused," she said.
Police have charged the priest with several counts of rapes of minors under the age of 14 and of fraudulently obtaining sexual relations with teenagers over 14.
Some of the alleged victims told G1 that De had lured them into his house under the pretext of Bible studies and the offer of tea and popcorn, but once inside he forced them to kiss him and touch his genitals.
G1 said the priest was suspended from his clerical duties on March 24, when the allegations first surfaced through an anonymous tip-off.
If the police investigation confirms abuse, it would add to a tide of pedophile cases dating back decades that have emerged against other Catholic priests in Austria, Germany, Ireland and the United States in recent months.
The Vatican is struggling to exert damage control over the deepening scandal, which is threatening to overshadow the reign of Pope Benedict XVI, himself accused of protecting predator priests from legal consequences.
Nearly 90 percent of the 190-million strong population in Brazil declares itself Catholic, making the Latin American country the biggest Catholic nation on the planet.
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