Disgraced religious order tried to get abuse victim to lie
Source: AP
By NICOLE WINFIELD and MARÍA VERZA
MILAN (AP) — The cardinal’s response was not what Yolanda Martínez had expected — or could abide.
Her son had been sexually abused by a priest of the Legion of Christ, a disgraced religious order. And now she was calling Cardinal Valasio De Paolis -- the Vatican official appointed by the pope to lead the Legion and to clean it up -- to report the settlement the group was offering, and to express her outrage.
The terms: Martínez’s family would receive 15,000 euros ($16,300) from the order. But in return, her son would have to recant the testimony he gave to Milan prosecutors that the priest had repeatedly assaulted him when he was a 12-year-old student at the order’s youth seminary in northern Italy. He would have to lie.
The cardinal did not seem shocked. He did not share her indignation.
In this picture taken on Friday, Jan. 31, 2020 Yolanda Martinez Garcia cries during an interview with the Associated Press at her home, in Milan. Her son was sexually abused by one of the priests of the Legion of Christ, a disgraced religious order. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Read more: https://apnews.com/8d0cb3ef1cfa0be61378b949811d8c17
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