It might seem like the script for a new episode of the stories of Father Ralph in “The Thorn Birds”, the successful American TV series that was also very successful in Italy at the end of 1983.
Contents
And instead there is a complaint, an investigation by the Salerno judiciary and a suspended parish priest. This is the summary of the case of the alleged escape of a priest of Eboli with the parishioner. The woman's husband filed a complaint for child abduction and abandonment of the marital home.
“He manipulated my wife, he was a bad guy. He masked his intentions, pretending to do good”, the woman's husband explained to the newspaper La Città di Salerno.
The husband reported the woman for child abduction
Then he wrote to the bishop of Salerno, Andrea Bellandi: “I spoke with one of his close collaborators, who seemed silent to me. In the Curia in Salerno they told me that the priest had been suspended. I noticed a less than severe attitude towards the priest”.
“There was no elopement,” the woman replied to the same newspaper instead. "The priest didn't run away. But he's the only person who listened to me and helped me. I'm a victim of violence, I turned to a center that helps women get out of this tunnel of oppression."
The woman: “No escape, I have been a victim of violence for years”
The woman said she had been a victim of domestic violence by her husband for several years. The priest, who knew the situation, offered to help her.
“He has decided to renounce the priesthood”, the woman said. “But that’s another story.”
The woman also denied rumors circulating in the village, according to which there was a confidential attitude between her and the priest in the sacristy.
“I always went to church with my daughter, just to avoid gossip”, the woman said. “The priest and I were never alone. What they are telling is just lies.”
The case is still under investigation. The prosecutor's office Salerno has opened an investigation to verify the position of the priest, who was suspended by the bishop of Salerno.
@All rights reserved
Article published on 11 December 2023 - 11:02
Video Chronicles
