An Italian judge on Monday condemned the Catholic Church for its
"deafening silence" over a priest accused of abusing children for 20
years whose case has now expired under Italy's statute of limitations.
Prosecutors
said Lelio Cantini, a former parish priest in Florence who is now 88,
took advantage of the faith of boys and girls aged between 10 and 17
saying they had to have sex with him "to help them grow and purify
themselves."
Judge Paola Belsito said she was forced to throw out
the case because the alleged crimes were too old but she accused the
Church of more than a decade of "inertia and deafening silence" after
the scandal first surfaced.