This post is in partnership with Worldcrunch, a new global news site that translates stories of  note in foreign languages into English. The article below was originally published in the leading Italian daily La Stampa.

(GENOA) — The latest sex-abuse case to rock the Catholic Church is unfolding in the archdiocese of an influential Italian Cardinal who has been working with Pope Benedict XVI on eforms to respond to prior scandals of pedophile priests.

Father Riccardo Seppia, a 51-year-old parish priest in the village of Sastri Ponente, near Genoa, was arrested last Friday, May 13,
on pedophilia and drug charges. Investigators say that in tapped mobile-phone conversations, Seppia asked a Moroccan drug dealer to arrange sexual encounters
with young and vulnerable boys. “I do not want 16-year-old boys but younger. Fourteen-year-olds are O.K. Look for needy boys who have family issues,” he
allegedly said. Genoa Archbishop Angelo Bagnasco, who is the head of the Italian Bishops Conference, had been working with Benedict to establish a tough new
worldwide policy, released this week, on how bishops should handle accusations of priestly sex abuse. (Read “Vatican Gets Tough on Child Abuse but Not Tough
Enough.)

Bagnasco said that when he met the Pope this weekend, he “asked for a particular blessing for my archdiocese” in light of the alleged crimes, adding
that “like every father toward a son [feels] great pain in seeing a priest who is not faithful to his vocation.”

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi praised Bagnasco’s handling of the
Sastri Ponente case, lauding its “timeliness and competence.” On Saturday, May
14, the Cardinal visited the Santo Spirito church, where Seppia was the parish
priest.

 

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2072613,00.html#ixzz1OJdrOK2f

According to investigators, Seppia told a friend —
a former seminarian and barman who is currently under investigation — that the
town’s malls were the best places to entice minors. In tapped phone
conversations the two cursed and swore against God. The priest is charged with
having attempted to kiss and touch an underage altar boy and of having exchanged
cocaine for sexual intercourse with boys over 18. (See inside Benedict XVI’s daily life.)

 

Seppia’s defense lawyers are expected to argue that those conversations —
monitored since Oct. 20, 2010 — were just words, sex games that were played by
adults. It was just a game even when he claimed to have “kissed on the mouth” a
15-year-old altar boy, according to the defense.

 

On Monday, May 16, during formal questioning by Genoa’s investigating
magistrate Annalisa Giacalone, Seppia chose not to respond. The magistrate
decided to keep him in custody to avoid a risk of relapse or tampering with
evidence. Defense attorney Paolo Bonanni said the defense wants to evaluate all
the charges, reserving the right to respond to public prosecutor Stefano Puppo
in the coming days.

 

Questioned by the investigators, the altar boy
reportedly confirmed the attempted kiss. Another male minor who, according to
the investigators, was stalked with messages and pressing invitations, will be
questioned soon. Psychologists are helping Carabinieri police officers obtain
testimony from the alleged victims. “The boys are ashamed to talk and to admit
what happened,” says one of the investigators. The evidence amounts to at least
50 messages and phone calls. In the tapped phone conversations, the drug dealer
contacted the boys and gave their phone numbers to the priest, who paid them
with cocaine or 50 euros each time for sexual intercourse. (Read “Controversial Study Links Catholic Abuse to ’60s Culture
and Church Hierarchy but Offers Few Solutions.”)

 

“[The investigators] made us listen to that man saying terrifying things
about our children. Things so terrible that I cannot repeat them,” a father of
one of the boys said.

 

Investigators are also examining three confiscated computers: the priest
allegedly looked for partners via chat as well.

 

Seppia is currently being kept in a confinement cell in a Genoa prison. He
met the jail’s priest and psychologist. “He has read the newspapers, and he is
pained by his parishioners’ comments,” says his lawyer. The investigation is
ongoing.

 

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Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2072613,00.html#ixzz1OJdrOK2f

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